|
Volume CXXXII, Number 20 |
 |
Hail to Radiohead
SEAN TURLEY
COLUMNIST
The new Radiohead album is just sublime. "How do you know this if it's released June 9," you ask? Contrary to popular belief, I am not a well informed musical journalist who gets albums two months before release (even though David Fricke from Rolling Stone and I are on a first name basis….well, at least I call him Dave when we chat in my dreams).
Thanks to the marvels of modern technology/thievery, Hail to the Thief, Radiohead's sixth studio album, is available to the world via the internet in a glorious unmastered form.
Although Johnny Greenwood (artistic brains extraordinaire) and Colin Greenwood (bassist) have expressed their disapproval and shock for the albums premature release, they need to start puttingaway their anti-capitalist, anti-barriers rhetoric to work (or maybe they have already done so by leaking the album).
The one thing the band should expect is that their fan base would-and should-be incredibly impatient; two months between final mixing and release is obviously unneeded stress for us fans out there who see every Radiohead album as a chance for modern music to be redefined. Don't they understand that American kids are reared to expect everything now, now, now?
Two of their previous three albums Kid A (2000) and Ok Computer (1997) are, without question, the two most influential albums of the past ten years. The band is transforming into our generation's Beatles- they're a band that somehow transcends the prison of expectations by constantly challenging, provoking, and exploding our notions of where music is today and where it is going tomorrow.
Sadly, it seems that finally Radiohead was incapable of making that quantum leap that defined its previous efforts. Not another benchmark, Thief plays like a seamless aggregate of Radiohead's greatest strengths without an interjection of anything fresh.
Johnny's precise tinkering with sound is omnipresent (the hallmark of Kid A). Colin's bass-too long drowned out in all studio efforts and only allowed to stand out on their live EP I Might Be Wrong-drives robotically throughout, most prominently on "There There" and "Backdrifts." As always, Thom Yorke (vocalist and guitar) plays with his wounded voice above the cacophony, provoking visions of dark dreams and even darker realities, especially on the standout track "Where I End and You Begin." Phil (drums) and Ed (guitar) also continue to brilliantly support.
Although the members' additions weave a beautiful web of mistrust, deceit, and wanderlust, their contributions never mesh into anything more than the sum of their parts. The album never gels into the epic soundscapes that are Kid A and the ultimate anti-modernity mega-opus, Ok Computer. It all starts off oh-so-well too: the opening 20 seconds, in which the guitar flickers in and out until the lead finally stabilizes and jets off towards oblivion, promises something grand but never delivers on such an imposing entry.
Granted, this whole outing might just be an unfair judgment passed on an unmixed edit of what, after June 9, will be deemed another seminal album for countless future musical movements. Perhaps-but unlikely.
Please understand this is written from the expectation of absolute perfection and based on the flawless foundation cast by their previous albums. From this prison of my expectations, Hail to the Thief excites but never excels, leaving the listener breathless yet, shockingly, waiting for more.
*DISCLAIMER: this is a review of the unmastered version of Hail to the Thief.*
|
FastCounter by bCentral |