NME gives Radiohead's Com Lag 7 out of 10, Pitchfork 4.0

The first reviews of Com Lag (2plus2isfive), Radiohead's Japanese EP of Hail to the Thief B-sides and remixes, are in, with 7 out of 10 from NME and 4.0 from Pitchfork.

Anthony Thornton, reviewing it for NME, starts from the band's contract. Their deal with EMI is up and no more albums are owed, so this Japanese release, which can be ordered online elsewhere, could be their last full-length record on a major label. What comes next is open, he says: a label of their own, any other label, the EPs they have hinted at, or everything over the internet.

He calls it a strong set, flawed only as any B-sides compilation is. The live “2+2=5” from Earls Court that opens it, the one track that was never a B-side, catches the band on stage better than I Might Be Wrong did. He spots two Beatles nods, the title “Paperbag Writer” (the music has nothing in common with “Paperback Writer”) and the line from “Let It Be” that opens “I Am a Wicked Child”. The disc ends on “Where Bluebirds Fly”, the band's walk-on music on the 2003 tour.

Peter Menocal in Defy Magazine points out that committed fans have had most of these B-sides for months, though he gives the band credit for treating B-sides as more than an obligation.

Chris Ott in Pitchfork calls the EP uneven, a collection of demos, remixes and experiments. He confirms the digital glitch on Four Tet's “Skttrbrain” remix and that EMI Toshiba will not recall the EP, but leaves it out of his score, since the remix is also on the UK “2+2=5” single and the new Australian edition is said to be fixed.

His favourites come near the end, a solo piano “Fog” played for television and the acoustic “Gagging Order”, once called “Move Along”, which he dates to the months after OK Computer. Even so, he rates the import worth buying only for the band's richest fans.