Com Lag (2plus2isfive)

Com Lag (2plus2isfive) is an EP by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 24 March 2004. It compiles B-sides from Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), along with remixes by Cristian Vogel and Four Tet and two live performances.

Music
"Paperbag Writer", whose title references the Beatles song "Paperback Writer", features "sinister fractured funk". "I Am a Wicked Child" is a "tainted, eerie missive" with harmonica. "Where Bluebirds Fly" is a "rattling, fidgety" electronic piece Radiohead used as the introduction music for their Hail to the Thief tour. "I Will (Los Angeles Version)" is an alternative version of "I Will" from Hail to the Thief, and "Fog (Again)" is a live performance of the Amnesiac B-side "Fog", rearranged for piano. The EP also includes remixes by Christian Vogel and Four Tet and a live version of "2 + 2 = 5".

Cover art
The cover art is by Stanley Donwood, who has designed all artwork for Radiohead since 1994. Donwood said he imagined a range of Delftware that featured "a modified bear, and a despot sperm monster" and was "loosely inspired by the work of Tadeusz Kantor." A jigsaw puzzle based on the cover was released in 2020.

Release
Com Lag was released in Japan and Australia on 24 March 2004, in Canada on 13 April 2004, the United Kingdom on 16 April 2007, and in the United States on 8 May 2007. Early Japanese pressings were printed with a fault that produced static in some tracks.

Critical reception
Reviewing Com Lag for NME, Anthony Thornton wrote: "Never content with relaxing into an accepted way of doing things, this record, while being flawed – it is a B-sides compilation after all – confirms Radiohead as the true inheritors of the Beatles' legacy rather than Oasis." The Paste critic Jeff Elbel described the Com Lag as "an appealing but inessential curio".

AllMusic's Andy Kellman wrote: "Naturally, the release isn't nearly as cohesive as Hail to the Thief; its apparent intent is to supply the fans with another stream of the band's recordings, regardless of both how they fit together and how mixed the tracks are to begin with." Chris Ott of Pitchfork wrote: "You'd expect more from ideas that Radiohead fleshed out as a unit, but the stolen-time experiments and solo performances on this EP's tail end far outshine its exhausting first half." In 2020, the Guardian named the "thrilling" live version of "2 + 2 = 5" the 31st-greatest Radiohead song.

Personnel

 * Radiohead – production
 * Nigel Godrich – production, engineering
 * Graeme Stewart – engineering
 * Darrell Thorp – engineering
 * Stanley Donwood – design
 * Cristian Vogel – remixing
 * Four Tet – remixing