HAIL TO THE THIEF

Hail to the Thief was seen by some as a creative retreat to safer ground by Radiohead, and hailed by others as a return to guitar rock. Neither is really the case. Guitar rock had never left the Radiohead sound; even in the midst of the arid electronic wilderness of Kid A and Amnesiac, both albums included at least one really tight indie rock number. What is the case is that, having successfully branched out into the electronic arena, Radiohead eventually decided to bring the guitar rock aspect of their sound back to the fore on this album - but they blend it so expertly with electronic departures but this is clearly an evolution, not a regression.