Even the most dedicated Radiohead fan must admit that watching their career progress can be absolutely infuriating. As The Bends and OK Computer proved, the Oxford quintet are quite simply one of the most gifted bands of their generation - and yet they've effectively wasted the last five years in right-on social campaigns, prolonged navel-gazing and two underwhelming albums of atonal electronica. Thankfully, while the pretentiousness of Kid A and Amnesiac hasn't entirely gone away, Hail To The Thief (a reference to George Bush) is far, far more rewarding - largely because the band seem to have belatedly discovered how to use guitars again. The result is a stirring collection of bleak, sinister laments, with Thom Yorke's mournful wail sounding as compelling as ever. The music is raw, visceral and often intensely exciting - which makes it all the more frustrating that so many of the songs here are fundamentally shapeless, with lyrics that seem to value obscurity for its own sake. Radiohead are still stubbornly following their own path, and that can only be applauded. No amount of bravado, however, can hide the fact that Hail To The Thief slumps badly in the middle - and that, as a whole, it's distinctly inferior to their earlier masterpieces.
