Radiohead are no longer tied to their record company’s contract. 2003’s ‘Hail To The Thief’ marked the end of this deal with Parlophone and in that time they have recorded some of the greatest, most astonishing and timeless music of the twentieth and twenty-first century. The group has an unorthodox and uncomfortable relationship with the media but one thing that are not short of is devoted fans who want to be buried with their copy of ‘OK Computer’ when they snuff it. I am one of said sad fans, and I for one would certainly sell my internal organs to procure a copy of their next album, which they have the complete freedom to release, possibly on their own label or across the Internet. Although, the group have been plagued with impatient net-surfers such as myself, clawing through the binary jungle just to hear some of that magic. This is a collection of ‘Hail To The Thief’ off-cuts. It is, quite simply, magnificent. But also at times it isn’t. But some of the stuff on this is just really, truly magnificent, so pay attention.

Originally an import, it is available for everyone across the globe now in a nice but cheaply packaged cardboard CD wallet, with an inlay that doesn’t know where to put itself. It boasts fine live performances, many new songs, some re-workings of ‘Hail’ material from mates of the band and some creepy instrumentals that don’t really blow you away but couldn’t really be done any better than by a group who have stayed one of the biggest bands in the world for nearly a decade now.

1. 2 + 2 = 5 (Live)

Faultless because it’s a live number from the greatest live band in existence. Probably the most raucous and instantly piercing track from ‘Hail,’ this track opens with a computerised drum beat followed by the most ominous, slightly discordant guitar tune ever recorded, before Yorke’s effortlessly chilling and unrestrained emotional vocals come in, instantly sending them shivers down your spine. “Are you such a dreamer, to put the world to rights? I’ll stay home forever, where two and two always makes up five,” is the grim opening line. ‘Hail To The Thief’ obviously borrowed heavily from this band’s musical influences here, and the album gives a respectful nod to Bowie’s ‘Diamond Dogs’ throughout, not just for its Orwellian imagery but also for much of its lyrical and melodic timbre. The message of this track is a typically bleak one, and is a clear assault on the Bush administration and the fear coming from the dictator-like government of America and the terrifying warmongering after the calamity of 9/11.

Radiohead have never been an overtly political group, but here they simply present the fear and the panic, two emotions they have licked musically, with professional aplomb and the lyrics are direct enough not to be forcefully polemical, just restrained and elusory enough for you to get the message and not feel manipulated. This is therefore a wonderful track – arresting from start to finish, and most captivating when it leaps into the urgent third half loudly and Yorke starts to let rip on the vocals, his words indecipherable at times but still terrifying enough to stop you dead. Remarkable.

2. Remyxomatosis

One of the two remixes of tracks from ‘Hail’ this is the weaker of the two. Christian Vogel, who I believe is a techno-survivor turned producer, or the other way round, gives his unique take on this very aggressive and quite vituperative track from ‘Hail.’ He begins his remix with a repeated use of the drum beat, which he fiddles with immensely, dragging the track on a little bit before warping it enough for it to sound much less impressive than the original. The second remix actually manages to give the song and extra dimension and improve on it somewhat, drawing upon its strengths that make it such a unique track. This version removes the loud, snarling bass and the tumultuous guitar but concentrates on warping Yorke’s voice and garnishing it with a lot more electrical plonks and sound effects. It is actually quite satisfying, and he doesn’t tear the tune apart, just fiddles with it for a bit in a sort of self-indulgent way. It also includes the extra verse that was mistakenly included in the lyric booklet in ‘Hail,’ just in case you were interested. It is brooding and ominous enough and still captures the anger and feeling of the original and I rather like it.

3. I Will (L.A. Version)

Why did Radiohead only do this version for the wealthy glitterati and plastic nobodies of California? This song is too good for them and to good for a shrewd generalisation such as the one I just made. This version is less dark and lugubrious than the original, which just has Yorke’s voice as the main feature of it with a very quiet and melancholy guitar playing behind him. Instead this is a slightly quicker version with more guitar melody and a beat to it. It is just as moving as the original, and I think I prefer this version to the original. “I will lay me down in a bunker underground, I won’t let this happen to my children,” are the opening lines of the first verse. Again, another gloomy message to the song, which seems to be about outlandish self-protection and disillusionment with the world, again, containing some prickly and pertinent moral and political overtones just for good measure. The closing lines of “Little babies’ eyes” are less chilling here but actually more sympathetic and open, whereas on the original they were sung much lower and more ominously with a pang of aching melancholy at the end. This is a worthy reworking of one of the more obscure tracks from ‘Hail.’

4. Paperbag Writer

The poorly punned glib title is perhaps is little off-putting, and this track sort of dangles across that self-parodying line a track such as ‘We Suck Young Blood’ did on ‘Hail.’ The aforementioned song was probably the weakest track on ‘Hail,’ a sort of unpleasant attempt to compose this deliberately eerie vampire-movie music just because of the lack of creativity the band had or out of personal frustration. They proved to be just as creative on ‘Hail,’ but ‘We Suck Young Blood’ saw Yorke trying to sound like Vincent Price and the music was faux-creepy and unintentionally humorous. This was the only real lull they had – a moment of writer’s block perhaps – and this seems to be another one of those moments, although this track is actually superior to ‘We Suck Young Blood’ in every way. It uses some suspended strings to create that ‘spooky’ sound and Yorke again tries to sound menacing and weird on the vocals, which isn’t a mammoth task for him, poor spiky-haired misanthrope. He sings “Blow into this paper bag, go home and stop grinning at everyone,” which is somewhat meaningless and the star here is the delicious bass line, which takes centre stage mostly towards the end where it repeats itself a lot. If you don’t take this seriously, then this will be fun, and rarely on recordings do Radiohead attempt more light-hearted things. This track just seems to be fooling around with their gloomy image, and to me is a nice jest. But who knows, perhaps they were serious with this.

5. I Am A Wicked Child

A hastily recorded live take, this sounds like a B-side that never made it. When I say live, I mean in the studio, as Yorke begins this unremarkable track with a countdown. A neat but softly played guitar tune runs throughout this, with some awkward drumming and largely unimpressive lyrics. I don’t particularly dislike this track, I am just unenthusiastic about it as it doesn’t really do anything remotely extraordinary and is overshadowed by the stronger stuff around it.

6. I Am A Citizen Insane

Jonny Greenwood recorded the music for a documentary available on an album called ‘Bodysong,’ full of lavish instrumental work and one wonders whether this sort of thing was the genesis of his ideas for this documentary. This is an instrumental, very mechanical and filled with technologically advanced weirdness and samples and sound effects, the most prominent being a ‘Hey’ voice that runs throughout this. This is something you might want to skip. Again, it isn’t bad, it is actually quite pleasing to listen to, but there is better stuff than this on here. It pleasantly pads out this disc and is worth a listen.

7. Skttrbrn (Four Tet Remix)

This remix of ‘Scatterbrain,’ the atypically miserable penultimate track from ‘Hail,’ is a triumph from this ambient dance group who I gather probably worked with Radiohead at some point. This remix employs a technique of dragging out the countermelody of this song, which is far more emotionally effective, and thrusting it into the limelight. The bells noises that this group have also added make a nice touch to the very pensive original. This makes the song sound grander but still makes it retain its emotional peak. Yorke’s vocals are deliberately a little out of time, which also seems to work. “I’m walking out in a force ten gale, a storm around, bullets for hail,” is the opening line, but this track boasts some far more impressive and depressive lyrics, especially such as the line “Any fool can easy pick a hole… I only wish I could fall in,” which is pessimistic and pitch-dark quite frankly, and that is why Radiohead are so successful.

This is simply astonishing and makes the original blush at times, and simply gets everything right, especially using the mousy descending guitar melody which sounds so innocent and pathetic to be almost disturbingly child-like. Faultless imagery in this song, remixed faultlessly to show what the band should have done. Yes.

8. Gagging Order

There is something magical about Yorke’s acoustic numbers. Just this man and a guitar is simply breathtaking. Think of the impassioned live version of ‘Creep’ from the ‘My Iron Lung’ EP, or the wonderful and haunting ‘True Love Waits’ from the ‘I Might Be Wrong’ live album. And there are many more I could name, such as the most moving track ever recorded, the simply deadening ‘Exit Music (For A Film)’ from ‘OK Computer.’ You know the moments, you know what happens to your body when this man opens his mouth to sing over the painful and frightfully sad guitar tunes. This is another one of those special moments where all of your senses are arrested for 3 and a half minutes. This is an astonishing piece of music that I can only assume was written after ‘Hail’ was released, otherwise it would have been criminal to omit it from that album. This track is merely an acoustic number accompanied by an equally magnificent bass.

The star here is of course Yorke’s wonderful vocals and incredible emotional delivery, his voice managing to reach incredible levels of emotional intensity that very few could only dream of achieving throughout their entire singing careers. The chorus is the most haunting part of this track, which has the grim subtext of murder at its core. “Move along, there’s nothing left to see, just a body, all pouring down the street,” he sings, stretching out the word ‘see’ with such a heightened and shrill weight as to make this one of the best tracks that showcase just how incredible and unique this man’s voice is. Truly magnificent, and a must-have Radiohead classic that proves the band don’t need any technology in their music and that they can still write incredible guitar-led songs without the aid of an Apple Mac.

9. Fog (Again) (Live)

This does what the previous track did but on the piano and in a live environment. A new track not from any albums, this is a piano ballad that would make Coldplay, Keane or any of the groups from the new wave of bland piano bands run inside and never touch ivory ever again. It almost reaches the intensity of ‘Like Spinning Plates’ from the ‘I Might Be Wrong’ live album, but is a little short and is the track the band closed their set with. “Some things will never wash away… did you go bad?” Yorke sings with a child-like sadness and this is another triumph, marred somewhat by the noisy, rapturous applause afterwards.

10. Where Bluebirds Fly

This is the only thing here I dislike. It is some eerie music in the style of the track ‘The Gloaming,’ but dominated by Yorke’s odd vocal noises which sound as if he is singing something but is just humming in a funny sort of way. Either way it is too long and annoying and rounds the album off badly.

So ‘Com Lag’ should be purchased immediately by all Radiohead fans, even casual ones who enjoyed ‘Hail To The Thief’ and require more music in this style. All Radiohead lunatics like myself already own this, so there’s no point in recommending it to these sensible people. As extras, live selections and strange remixes go, you really won’t find a better disc than this, and it even comes with an enhanced section of the band playing '2 + 2 = 5' at the Belford Festival, so there.

In Rainbows (2007)

Recommended: Yes