Look y'all - I know any sort of tampering with their highnesses Radiohead is unforgivable but I have thought for years now that a spectacular RH album was lurking within the self admittedly hasty released "Hail to the Thief".

Not unlike Pavement's "Wowie Zowie" the band was slightly shamefacedly but openly willing to admit that while they were no less proud of the songs developed for that album they were all the same ready to admit that some serious editing and re-sequencing really could have made this album less of a high quality stop gap between classics and more of a genuine classic RH album in its own right.

In a flash of arrogance after many years of listening I have determined what would have been the ideal track listening for "Hail to the Thief" - I have had such passion for these songs and general obsessiveness that I was determined to find a flow for the songs on this album that I worked on an order and combo of songs that after a number of run throughs has convinced me that this resulting album could have easily been the equal of any of their other albums if it had been so reorganised - sure there is arrogance in my reorganisation but then again I never wrote these beautiful songs but instead gave them that reshuffle only an outsider can give...

Anyhoo - the tracklisting that IMHO for Hail to the Thief that really works after some 5 years of obsessive roadtesting:

1. 2 + 2 =5
2. Where I End & You Begin
3. A Punch Up at A Wedding
4. Scatterbrain
5. A Wolf at the Door
6. I Will (Los Angeles Version)
7. There, There
8. Sail to the Moon
9. Down is the New Up
10. Backdrifts
11. Gloaming
12. Sit Down, Stand Up

This preserves the opening rock plug in moment but follows it with diverse soulful moments until the final murky rapidly increasing intensity of the closing electro suite makes this one of the more coherent RH albums - thanks to me of course!

Try it out - I am more than confident to assure you that you won't regret it - i have put this revision to some serious RH fans and they have somewhat grumpily admitted that with this genetic modification HTTT has joined if not surpassed RH's other albums.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: melvolume,

I prefer the original listing. Hail To The Thief is my favorite Radiohead album, the track order being part of the reason why.

I did this myself quite a while ago, although left a lot of the original sequence intact and cut to 10 songs. I've listened to this version so much I've nearly forgotten what the original sounds like:

1. 2+2=5
2. Sail to the Moon
3. Backdrifts
4. Where I End and You Begin
5. Myxomatosis
6. A Punchup at a Wedding
7. The Gloaming
8. There There
9. I Will
10. The Wolf at the Door

I hate "Go to Sleep" - my least favorite song on the original, so I'm glad to see you excluded that as well. Surprised you don't have "Myxomatosis" which I absolutely love.

HTTT in general has some of my favorite Radiohead songs; it's just a weak album and far too long. "There There" is one of my favorite songs of all time and the most-played song on my iPod by a mile.

quote:

I prefer the original listing. Hail To The Thief is my favorite Radiohead album, the track order being part of the reason why.

Exactly. Even today, every track feels like a new adventure.

quote:

Originally posted by typewriter:
I prefer the original listing. Hail To The Thief is my favorite Radiohead album, the track order being part of the reason why.

This.

quote:

Originally posted by typewriter:
I prefer the original listing. Hail To The Thief is my favorite Radiohead album, the track order being part of the reason why.

Well, there you go, one person's 'meh' is another's inspiration. HTTT with whatever track listing remains their second weakest album for me - but I agree with others that some of their strongest songs are nestled in this album.

My desire to revise the track listing came from reading an interview with Thom Yorke where he openly discussed how the relatively poor sequencing and mixing of the album let it down for him as an album proper but in the end he wasn't too bothered and made clear it was an experiment in trying less studio time/obsession and more spontaneity and was designed to be perfected live anyway. Having seen that subsequent tour I can't argue how strong a lot of the songs came across live.

This spontaneity and thrown together feel obviously appeals to some of the other posters here - but while I have no probs with each song detouring from the next, keeping things fresh etc, I do have a problem with an overall lack of cohesion and some simply weak song choices.

Perhaps put most simply - if I wanted spontaneous, fragmented genius I would not be going to RH for this - Pavement would be a better destination there!

I like the revised track listing on first glance largely because it cuts out Sucksamatosis, I mean Myxamatosis, which is one of my absolute least-favorite Radiohead songs, including Pablo Honey.

I'll have to try that new order out as an itunes playlist...looks promising.

quote:

Originally posted by Turgidson:
I like the revised track listing on first glance largely because it cuts out Sucksamatosis, I mean Myxamatosis, which is one of my absolute least-favorite Radiohead songs, including Pablo Honey.

I'll have to try that new order out as an itunes playlist...looks promising.

Nice to see someone willing to give it a whirl, hope you enjoy the flow as much as I do - I somewhat overstated how resequencing would put HTTT to the top of RH's albums - it remains a lower tier RH album for me but for me the resequencing does at least lift HTTT above most albums from other bands in the art rock genre.

Also, I agree re myxamatosis - great OTT b-side but a "standing-out-like-a-sore-thumb album track.

Still, as Blueksyoas indicates, some people like this abrasive jolt in the context of a twisty turny style album.

I will say old myxaneurosis at least has some acidic energy going for it, unlike the tepid, uninspired "Go to Sleep" - what possessed them to actually release it as a 2 part single is beyond me - I am hoping EMI was to blame!

I pretty much disagree with everything you've said in this thread mel.

quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence_Of_Suburbia:
I pretty much disagree with everything you've said in this thread mel.

Yes, I got that impression with your impressively concise previous post! Apologies from me and on behalf of others for simply not shutting up in the face of your disapproval!

Still, more seriously, if I loved an album that was being denigrated and dismembered I would probably share your indignation!

On the other hand it would seem that some of us really don't think as highly of it and have no such qualms - ahh the curse of diversity.

Also, on a more philosophical level, I understand that you also may have a fundamental objection to the idea of resequencing or pruning any album, whatever its quality.

Again, while many or most on this forum may very well agree with you, it would seem not all of us share this purist desire for the absolute integrity of the (preferably vinyl) album vs the more modern mix'n'match and shuffle musical magpie culture.

My sympathies lie much more with this purism than magpieism but it is not an either/or thing for me - more a question of balance.

Again, my sense of balance may seem to be sorely off in your book, but if a couple of people get some joy rethinking or even rejigging HTTT, then that's a good thing in my book.

How about that for a constructive response LoS? I would welcome one from you.

Alright, well don't you totally take the punch out of the epic closer (A Wolf At The Door) by putting it at track number 5?

Also, removing Myxomatosis isn't a terribly good idea, seeing as thats a Radiohead track that a whole lot of people love. As for it standing out like a sore thumb, I'd say that the likes of the slow guitar centric songs like "Scatterbrain" and "I Will" stand out more; considering most of the album heavily features electronics and those songs don't.

I like it the way Radiohead originally ordered the album. It feels like a slow descent into madness culminating with one of their finest songs.

quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence_Of_Suburbia:
Alright, well don't you totally take the punch out of the epic closer (A Wolf At The Door) by putting it at track number 5?

Also, removing Myxomatosis isn't a terribly good idea, seeing as thats a Radiohead track that a whole lot of people love. As for it standing out like a sore thumb, I'd say that the likes of the slow guitar centric songs like "Scatterbrain" and "I Will" stand out more; considering most of the album heavily features electronics and those songs don't.

I like it the way Radiohead originally ordered the album. It feels like a slow descent into madness culminating with one of their finest songs.

Lovely to hear a little more from you!

I completely agree about the descent into madness model being the best one but I disagree that this what the existing order achieves.

You see, while I agree with you that "Wolf" is a great and dramatic song it is also a reasonably conventional rock song (spikey take on that Beatles "I Want You" groove) that is better served at the "sane" rockier end of the album before the true descent into fragmented electro glitch madness that is sit down stand up.

In line with this descent model, I agree with you re the safer rockism of scatterbrain and "I wish" which is why I frontloaded them.

As for myxamitosis - I just don't think it is much good and if others do then that is no reason for me to think otherwise - millions love achey brakey heart but I still donna like it!

Having said all that - I still think it is the chop and change model of the actual track list that you dig and I respect that - ironically it is the descent model you refer to that I prefer but don't agree the existing tracklist achieves.

Again, I would never do this to an album I truly adore!