Radiohead have surprise released a new live album centred around their 2003 LP Hail To The Thief.
Spanning 12 tracks, Hail To The Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) collects live renditions of tracks from the original album captured during shows in London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and Dublin. It documents the band’s progression from putting the record out through to finishing the touring of their subsequent LP, 2008’s In Rainbows.
The live recordings featured have been newly mixed and mastered by Ben Baptie and Matt Colton respectively, and a physical release is set to follow on October 31.
In a statement outlining how the live album came about, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke said: “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.”
Yorke recently adapted the tracks on Hail To The Thief to form part of the soundtrack for a new take on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which opened in Manchester in May.
That same month, Yorke issued a statement on Israel and Gaza, in which he publicly addressed an incident involving a pro-Palestine concertgoer at his Melbourne show last year.
Hail To The Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) is out now on XL Recordings.
