Radiohead are a band I've always had time for. With each album, they evolve and grow, and it's a pleasure to watch it unfold. I must admit, I roll my eyes every time I hear someone bleat on about how 'The Bends' and/or 'OK Computer' were their best albums and how they should return to that sound instead of all the "bleeps and bloops" they do now (yes, people actually say this).
Don't get me wrong, both of those albums were great, but I would've tired of Radiohead's music a long time ago if they'd just kept on rehashing that formula. And that's what I love about this band; the way they keep it fresh with every album, and you can't help but admire the sheer gall it must've taken for them, at the height of their fame to turn around and throw a curveball like Kid A. It was a like a complete "Fuck you" to every floppy haired, walking indie cliche on the planet. A truly beautiful moment. Weirdly though, I saw it coming. After OKC, I had a feeling they were going to go in a more experimental and more electronic direction. To me, the signs were already there.
Two albums following Kid A, we get to 'Hail to the Thief' which I saw as the perfect marriage of "old" and "new" Radiohead. I bought HTTT on my birthday back in 2003, it was my birthday gift to myself that year.
I'd recently split up with a girl I'd been with for about 9 months, I was obsessively playing Wario Ware on my Gameboy Advance that I took with me everywhere (still one of my all time favourite games), summer was in full swing and all in all, I was in a good place. I spent my birthday having a quiet evening in with a good friend of mine playing Super Monkey Ball and GTA 3 and watching Koyannisquatsi for the first time whilst drinking whiskey and getting stoned off our faces. Of course, none of this has any direct relevance to the album itself. It almost pained me to write all of that because one of my pet hates in other people's writings is oddly specific details that have nothing to do with the topic. But with all this superfluous detail, there is an actual point. I'm trying to provide some context as to how this album fit into my life at the time and what I was doing. In essence, this album is one of the reasons why that particular birthday was so awesome. A month or so later, I was dating another woman I'd met at a fancy dress party (she had a thing for guys wearing masks...) and in the months we were together, I'd listen to '...Thief' as I walked to her flat in the evenings, so I got to hear this album a lot, and even to this day, it brings back these memories, reminding me of just how great everything was at that particular time.
Back to the album itself(!), some have complained that it could do with a bit of editing, but I disagree. Even the weaker, less developed tracks have their place and help make the album what it is.
Beyond this album, Radiohead have continued to evolve, but 'Hail to the Thief' will always be a standout for me, and one that carries with it a lot of very happy memories.
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