Category Archives: elbow

another elbow drop

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There are five things I love about Elbow:

1. Asleep In The Back (2001)
2. Cast Of Thousands (2003)
3. Leaders Of The Free World (2005)
4. The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)
5. Build A Rocket Boys (2011)

Well actually, there are quite a few more. The band makes excellent music, chooses great songs to cover, and is generally a class act. I wrote about them here before so use the search feature before you read ahead if you’re not familiar.

Elbow’s new release, Build A Rocket Boys does nothing to tarnish their reputation. After a few listens it falls around the same place as Leaders Of The Free World on the Kilter Lists Elbow’s Profundity To Order (KLEPTO) scale. That’s actually on the low end of the scale, but let me qualify that statement: A) It’s still new to me and it generally takes me a while to really digest an album by these guys, and B) that’s like being on the low end of the Times I Had Awesome Sex With A Supermodel scale. When you’ve been as consistent as Elbow has over the years it’s not a question of whether the album is good. It’s just a new chance to see what these guys have been up to and remember how touching they can be.

Click to play Elbow – Lippy Kids

I won’t gush about this release. I’ll just post a couple more songs for you. This one reminds me of something Erik Satie would have whipped up.

Click to play Elbow – The River

Here’s one of the more upbeat songs, which was also the first single:

Click to play Elbow – Neat Little Rows

On an unrelated note, other than they’re another of my favorite bands, Veto released their new album in late February. It’s called Everything Is Amplified . I haven’t been able to find it for sale in the US yet, so I’ll admit to checking it out via other methods. It’s very interesting, as they’re going in a more experimental direction. Once I find a copy that doesn’t require me to use babelfish to purchase it I’ll write a full review. All I can say is that if you find it out there you need to buy it and support this band. They’re one of the freshest things out there, if you ask me.

a new(?) joint

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A friend recently told me about a new band he heard and has fallen in love with. He sent me a bunch of youtube clips to watch. He raved about their songwriting and production. He got me really excited about this new group, so I opened the emailed links with great anticipation. Before the music even started I saw the album cover and the name of the group: Elbow.

“Wait, these guys aren’t new,” I thought, “they’ve been around forever.” Then I realized that what I’d been taking for granted may be the next big thing for someone else. That’s the point of this kind of blog anyway, right? So I’d like to introduce you to Elbow if you haven’t heard them yet. If you’re already a fan you may still learn something here, but you can also just put on your favorite Elbow album and spend your time listening again instead of taking my word for it.

The band formed as a bunch of teenagers in 1990. It took them 10 years to release their debut album, Asleep In The Back , due to a takeover of their record label by a bigger player. This may be just as well, since their melodic Brit-pop sound probably had more of a place in 2001 than it would have up against the likes of Nirvana and the Grunge movement. Here’s a pretty little track from that debut:

Click to play Elbow – Red

From there things started to blossom. In the last decade they’ve toured with some great bands, won a few awards, traded covers with Peter Gabriel, and generally made a great name for themselves. I’ll just drop a track from each of their full-length albums here so you can get a sample.

From Cast Of Thousands (2003):

Click to play Elbow – Fugitive Motel

From Leaders Of The Free World (2005):

Click to play Elbow – Station Approach

From The Seldom Seen Kid (2008):

Click to play Elbow – Grounds For Divorce

These aren’t my favorite songs from any of those albums, but they’re a good start for each. Hopefully they’re enough to make you go out and buy more.

If a bit of randomness will help you commit, here you go:

Click to play Elbow – Independent Woman

Elbow is an amazing band. That’s basically all I have to say. I’m sure you’ll hear all about it when their next album drops in 2011, from me if nowhere else.

By the way, in case anyone out there is troubled enough to actually check for my post every Sunday, I have to apologize for missing last week. I had to travel for work and couldn’t quite make the time to put a good post together for you. Oh, the hard life of an international supermodel…