'The best band in the world', 'spokesmen for their generation' ... the accolades have been heard so many times they have almost lost their meaning.

Yet while the reams of copy surrounding their latest album veer between gushing praise, reverence, and a vague fear of not being quite sure what it all means, the former Abingdon School mates have remained, as ever, thoughtful, composed and solidly down to earth.

There can scarcely have been an album as keenly awaited as Hail To The Thief - yet the fanatical loyalty the band inspire threatened to take the shine off its release.

Although Hail didn't hit the shelves until a minute past midnight last Monday, its content was one of the worst-kept secrets in rock, having been leaked on the Internet, where tracks could be downloaded by fans who couldn't bear to wait.

Hail is a return to form for the lads, following their sojourn into experimental electronica which produced albums Kid A and Amnesiac.

But nothing is ever that simple with a band like Radiohead.

Hail To The Thief is an exhilarating flight of fancy, that plumbs the depths of your soul while simultaneously rocketing you into the heavens.

It's old fashioned rock 'n' roll coupled with throbbing techno. It is melodious and discordant, comforting and disturbing, ethereal and deeply political.

It is, to quote Winston Churchill, "A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma". Of course, Churchill was talking about Russia, but if he were still around today, Blenheim's most famous son would surely have had a similar view of this piece of work by his fellow county-men.

The album starts, appropriately enough, with the sound of Jonny Greenwood plugging his guitar into an amp - followed by a percussion track from a lap-top. It was all recorded live, which is fitting because much of the material for the album has been

performed at European shows over the past year.

It was inspired by live EP I Might Be Wrong -- a compilation of songs from Kid A and Amnesiac recorded on tour -- including at the band's huge Oxford home-coming gig in South Park.

The band's Colin Greenwood explained: "One of the starting points for the new album was I Might Be Wrong. It gave us an idea of what could happen if we recorded songs for Hail To The Thief after playing them in concert." In September 2002 the group flew out for recording sessions in Los Angeles at the insistence of producer Nigel Goodrich.

"I remember us recording Kid A in a country house in the middle of nowhere and Nigel would keep telling us 'We should be doing this in LA ... we could be eating sushi right now'," adds brother Jonny Greenwood.

"We'd be standing in some Oxfordshire market square at midnight and there weren't even any street lights! So we said 'Nigel, you can have it your way this time - but only for two weeks'."

Ed O'Brien added: "Nigel dragged us out to LA because he'd done three records there - two with Beck and one with Travis. We'd always been hesitant about working in Los Angeles because, let's face it, Radiohead mixing in with the Hotel California mind-set doesn't sound like a potential marriage made in heaven.

"But we quickly realised you can function out there without becoming tarnished by whatever else is going on.

"It was the best recording experience we ever had. We finished one song each day we were booked.

"We didn't over-scrutinize. We didn't get too cerebral. We trusted in ourselves, Nigel, the studio and the songs and just let go, really."

But how did the songs develop? Drummer and north Oxford

resident Phil Selway explains: "During time off from touring Kid A and Amnesiac, Thom (Yorke) started distributing CDs with new songs - just a vocal, guitar or piano.

"We'd listen to them, let the songs seep in and, over time, ideas would form about how to develop them. This was the

opposite of Kid A, which involved no preparation beforehand and enormous pressure in the studio. "Occasionally that can be stimulating, but too often it becomes incredibly daunting.

"Two months of pre-production meant we could work much faster in Los Angeles. On Kid A, we were recording one track every one-and-a-half months."

The Californian sun fails to hide the darkness of Thom Yorke's images, which pervade much of the album.

Much has been made of the album's title - reported as being a reference to George Bush's alleged 'theft' of the US presidential race.

Although Thom and the band make no secret of their loathing for Bush, Blair and other politicians they consider less than sincere, it's not that simple. Jonny explains: "We'd never name a record after one political event.

"The record is bigger than that. Hopefully it will last longer than Bush - unless he's getting a dynasty together.

"One of the things Thom's singing about is whether or not you choose to deal with what's happening.

"There are a lot of lines about escaping and avoiding issues, about keeping your head down and waiting.

"Everybody feels like that from time to time, as much as they feel frustrated about things they can't change.

"It's a confusing time, but that doesn't mean we're issuing a manifesto. We're summing up what it's like to be around in 2003."

Thom adds: "We don't have to stand on a soap box, because hopefully, we are channelling that through the new record.

"We didn't start out to make a protest record - that would have been too shallow. It was simply a case of absorbing what's going on around us.

"The tile goes so much deeper than just being some anti-Bush propaganda.

"If we were threatened in any way for simply making a piece of art, that would be too bad. It would be time to move somewhere obscure. Like the moon."