Radiohead – Hail to the Thief (The Gloaming) - Appeared in Portfolio Oct 2003
Radiohead – Hail to the Thief (The Gloaming)
Capitol [2003]
I bought the Special edition of Hail to the Thief. It comes in a cardboard sleeve with a church hymnal – like lyric book, and a poster of the cover art. The poster is reminiscent of a street map New York City. Painted on the tops of the buildings are words like BEEF, TV, OIL, MEDIA, POOR, FEAR, MONEY and WAR. In the middle of the map is an empty space, which looks suspiciously like 9/11’s ground zero. The word “L A N D F I L L” is inscribed over this area.
Thom Yorke has always been politically outspoken so it’s not surprising that this album is so political. The subtitle of Hail to the Thief is “The Gloaming.” I had to pull out the dictionary to find out that gloaming refers to the period before dusk. He’s suggesting that we are entering a dark period as a culture. The first track, 2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm), takes its name from George Orwell’s 1984, in which the government convinces a man to believe faulty math by giving him an electric shock. In the song, we get yelled at us for allowing ourselves to be convinced of something - presumably that going war with Iraq is a good idea. It starts out slow “It’s the devils way now” and climaxes with him screaming “YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION!”
As a rock group, Radiohead is almost in a class by themselves. It’s difficult to make comparisons to other groups you’ve heard. They work with a variety of instruments and the album even credits the laptop among the usual instruments like guitar, bass, drums and piano. This all creates a complex sound, but its Thom Yorke’s vocals that stand out the most. He has an incredible vocal range, and often he half sings, half moans the words.
There’s continuity and darkness to Hail to the Thief that makes it the kind of album that’s best listened to from start to end. There are certainly some good singles, but in my opinion, it’s better listened to as a whole. I’m not sure that this is my absolute favorite Radiohead album, but it’s definitely one of their best.