Radiohead Surprise Drop New Live Album ‘Hail To The Thief’

Radiohead has released a new album featuring live recordings of tracks from their 2003 album ‘Hail To The Thief’, spanning 2003-2009.

Someone, somewhere, wished on a monkey’s paw that we’d get a new Radiohead album this year. Well, that paw has furled and given us a surprising live album from one of Radiohead’s more divisive eras. However, it’s sure to be a treat for most fans who are fond of the group’s extensive discography.

Radiohead has just released a new album featuring live recordings from their 2003 album, Hail To The Thief. The recordings were made between 2003 and 2009 and were mixed and mastered by Ben Baptie and Matt Colton.

You can listen to the album here.

Now, for the less cultured Radiohead fans here (or someone who hasn’t gone on a date with one and had to hear their entire Wikipedia page dictated to them), most know Hail To The Thief is a bit of a peculiar album.

Like any Radiohead album, some fans consider it a masterpiece and a solid statement on Former US President George W Bush’s time in office. Others say it’s a bit too messy and overly long – a sentiment shared by both vocalist Thom Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Goldrich. Goldrich himself has even gone on to say it’s his least favourite album due to its lack of editing.

Nevertheless, Yorke would still repurpose the album into a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet earlier this year. The singer would deconstruct the songs and rearrange them to fit a brand new narrative driven by paranoia and tragedy.

Following the release of the live album, Yorke would release a statement explaining how the record came about, “In the process of thinking how to build arrangements for the Shakespeare Hamlet/Hail to the Thief theatre production I asked to hear some archive live recordings of the songs. I was shocked by the kind of energy behind the way we played and it really helped me find a way forward. For us, back in the day, the finishing of this record was particularly messy and fraught, we were very proud of it but there was a taste left in our mouths, it was a dark time in so many ways. Anyway we decided to get these live recordings mixed (it would have been insane to keep them for ourselves) by Ben Baptie, who did an amazing job. It has all been a very cathartic process, we very much hope you enjoy them.”

This live album is the first release from Radiohead following the band’s formation of a new business entity this year. Usually, the formation of this business identity (an LLP) signals a tour; however, we’ve yet to hear any hints that the band is looking to embark on one any time soon.