HAIL TO THE THIEF

Having matured as a listener of progressive rock, I can't really say that I think this band is a "progressive rock" band. I still hold that this band's music is progressive, but its not prog rock. At one time I was of the naïve opinion that progressive rock was rock that was progressive, but thats clearly not the case... unfortunately. Similar to jazz, prog rock is a genre that has become a family of musicians, and a band cannot be part of that family unless it sounds 99% like their predecessor prog bands... in this manner, prog rock seeks to choke itself to death in a similar fashion that jazz has done in many ways already. Regardless, Radiohead is not a progressive rock band.

Although this album is not necessarily an "excellent addition to any prog music collection", it is indeed very creative music. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Radiohead continues to push the boundaries of rock in ways unseen before. I love the band's incorporation of electronics and sequencers into their music, particularly with their mellower pieces. Beginning with OK Computer, Radiohead started this trend and has only continued to perfect it with each successive release. One must also commend this band for taking large risks- certainly, Kid A and Amnesia were not as commercially successful as OK Computer, and took the band in a slightly different direction. In any case, Tom Yorke has Radiohead returning in many ways to the theme of OK Computer- meaningless and confusion in modern society and the futility of daily life. This is made particularly clear in the album's artwork. George Orwell's famous novel 1984 seeps into Yorke's crazy writing as well, made clear by the album's opener, 2+2=5 (the Lukewarm). Again, not a progressive rock album, but a great addition to any good MUSIC collection.