HAIL TO THE THIEF

I'm sure a lot of Radiohead fans liked the fact that this album is less experimental and louder than their last three albums. My inclination is to give it 4 stars since there are a number of great songs, but the direction taken by the group is a bit unsettling. I think that the decision to spend less time making the album was a natural one, but the results do not justify making that decision. For instance, there is some distortion on an otherwise beautiful guitar part in the middle of "Sail to the Moon" that is obviously not intentional. I already mentioned that the album seemed louder. Maybe I expected these guys to mellow like some of my other favorite bands (XTC, anyone?). I guess the political overtones meant that an angry, brash, in-your-face loudness was a foregone conclusion. My ears are a lot older than those of most of my fellow contributors, and they don't care for that typical "alternative" guitar sound, which gets more airtime on this album. I hope this was a sidestep, not the future path.