Elbow

[bedofroses]

yep same here, its due out spring i hear

[Ted]

[J.]

Few weeks ago I was listening to three songs (just those three songs): "i've got your number", "buttons&zips" and "ripcage". My fav. ones from "a cast of..."

[Ted]

My favourites from Cast Of Thousands if that is possible to decide would be Ribcage, Switching Off and Not A Job. Those last two especially are just wonderful...cannot love them enough.

[busybeeburns]

Elbow: Wide Awake In America

 

If you haven't heard of Elbow yet, you will. A five-piece out of Manchester, England, they were nominated for “Best British Newcomer” in this spring’s Brit Awards (England’s equivalent of the Grammys) and named “Breakthrough live Band of the Year” by Britain’s Time Out magazine. Prior to the release of Asleep in the Back in England last year, NME proclaimed: “With nods to Radiohead and Talk Talk, passion overrides traditional song structure in these intense, unquiet swells of whirring organ, rustic prog textures and celestial guitars.” And after its release, The Times declared, “Asleep in the Back is all about the smouldering slowburn rather than the instant fix.” The album has since been certified silver in the U.K.

 

Though they seem to have come out of nowhere, Elbow have, in fact, been playing together for ten years now. All of them childhood friends—Mark Potter on guitar, his brother Craig on keyboards, Pete Turner on bass and Richard Jupp on drums—save for singer/songwriter Guy Garvey, whom they met in sixth form college. Initially they called themselves Soft and played funk-fusion, though their hearts weren't in the music. “We were just writing to get deals, so the songs we were writing weren’t very honest songs,” Turner explains. “It didn’t work out like that at all, so we decided to change the name of the band and start writing the kind of music that we loved.”

 

And music that the fans love, apparently. Though that’s getting ahead of ourselves; it wasn’t that simple. With a new name (chosen by Garvey from “The Singing Detective,” in which a nurse proclaims “elbow” to be the loveliest word) and a truer sound, the band was quickly noticed and signed to Island. They finished recording their album just as Island was acquired by Universal, whereupon Elbow was dropped in a corporate game of shuffle-the-deck. Another near-signing followed, this time by EMI, and then another heartbreaking withdrawal. It took Manchester indies Uglyman to finally take a chance on the lads, releasing two EPs, New Born and Any Day Now. With supporting gigs for British heavyweights Doves and Granddaddy and “record of the week” honors on the revered Radio 1, Elbow was soon signed to another album deal, this time with V2. Asleep in the Back was released May 2001 in the United Kingdom and this January in the States.

 

Whereas the years of hardship and heartbreak might have forced some bands to call it quits, Elbow is its own beast; the fivesome is the best of friends and rarely take time off from each other, much less playing music. “The one constant I’ve had all my adult life is the band, and I absolutely do not know what I would be doing without them,” Garvey admits (he also admits to a less-than-dependable family life growing up). Instead of splintering apart, the bandmates became even closer, believing in themselves and their abilities. There was another positive side for songwriter Garvey: “The big kick is that I’ve turned a negative experience into good songs—I can’t think of another job where you get to do that. Exorcising your demons, screaming at 200 or 300 people every night about the things closest to your heart, is fantastic therapy. It just leaves you very relaxed.”

 

Elbow’s songs aren’t your run-of-the-mill girl-meets-boy drivel; they’re deeper, more personal. Garvey writes about the things that touch him personally, moments that have affected his life, from witnessing a junkie being comforted by her partner in the midst of a bad trip (“Powder Blue”) to a destructive relationship Garvey had to pull himself away from (the swelling, symphonic, and hauntingly beautiful “Red”); from the desperation inherent in growing up in a working-class town with no career path (“Any Day Now”) to the gang mentality in which fear is an unfortunate and desperate substitute for respect (“Little Beasts”); to the unparalleled beauty and simultaneous horror of growing old together (“New Born”). “I don’t write irresponsibly, because I don’t like music that does,” Garvey explains. “It’s got to be honest.”

 

And honest it is. Garvey’s voice assumes a breathy, gentle air just before breaking into anguished howls, reminiscent of Peter Gabriel when he was with Genesis. The music is experimental and beautiful, orchestral and surreal, led by the Potter brothers’ mournful organ strains and carefully placed guitar. The songs are introspective yet universal, highly personal yet ubiquitous. Asleep in the Back is a sort of soundtrack for your life.

 

The PlaybackSTL Interview

with Pete Turner of Elbow

 

PS: Tell me about the Pete Yorn tour. How did that come about?

 

PT: He came and saw us at L.A. at the Troubadour and then at the in-store the day after, and he just asked us. We weren’t really too familiar with his stuff, because in England he’s not as well known as he is over here, but people were saying, listen, it’s a really good tour to get on, so you should go on it. I think it’s quite a different audience, and the gigs have been going really well, so it’s definitely worth doing.

 

PS: Back in February, you said you were heading home to work on your second album. I guess that’s been postponed because of this tour with Pete Yorn?

 

PT: Yeah. Twenty-one dates [with Yorn], we’ve got about a month off, and then we’re back out with Doves [another U.S. tour, from June 2 to 21, Seattle to New York]. Things keep popping up. We worked so hard touring Europe last year, and because the album came out over here in January, we’re pretty much doing the same thing in the States. We’ve got lots of bits and bobs that we’ve been working on individually, so we just to get together and bandalize them. We just need a writing period of maybe a couple of months to get into that frame of mind.

 

PS: How do you work on stuff individually when you’re always together touring?

 

PT: We’ll get maybe two weeks in between tours here and there, and everyone’s got little eight-track recording studios, so when we’re at home, we just kind of drop a guitar or a synth or a bass or whatever.

 

PS: You guys have been playing together for a long time. Was there ever anything else you saw yourselves becoming besides musicians?

 

PT: I went to college and studied graphic design, but it was just a backup plan, I suppose. When people ask us, you know, if you weren’t doing this then what would you be doing, it’s quite hard to say because from the age of 16 we were doing it together, so I can’t really imagine doing anything else other than this. If I wasn’t doing this, then I think I’d be screwed. We’re lucky that we get on so well, so that makes it a really good thing.

 

PS: Were you into the Manchester sound when you were in high school, or was that too close to home to be cool?

 

PT: No it wasn’t; everyone was. The summer we were finishing school, everyone would be listening to the Stone Roses or the Mondays, Spacemen Three—no, they’re not from Manchester, so that’s no good. And before that you have New Order and Joy Division, so there’s always been good stuff coming out of Manchester. It’s unfortunate that occasionally you get someone like Simply Red coming out as well, but we tend to sort of leave them out.

 

There’s a good vibe there now; we’ve got a lot of bands like Doves and I Am Kloot and Alfie, lots of good bands coming out and starting to do well.

 

PS: And they all kind of encourage each other and grow from each other, you think?

 

PT: Yeah. There’s no rivalry or anything, it’s cool; it’s a nice environment to be in. Good, good fun.

 

PS: There’s a quote by Chris Martin of Coldplay in the current NME, saying how their next album might be their last: “We’ll only do another album if we think it’ll be better. I don’t really care about the whole 15-album thing. I like the Joy Division approach, two albums then…well, not hang yourself!” You’ve been compared to Coldplay, so it got me thinking: Can you already see past the second album for Elbow?

 

PT: Definitely not. I think because of the experience with record companies and the way that the music industry is, until something actually happens then we tend not to dwell too much on it, really. The next album we’re thinking about at the moment, but until it’s actually down and recorded then we don’t really know what it’s going to be like.

 

PS: So when do you start recording the next album?

 

PT: Ooh, good question. I don’t know at all. As soon as we get just a little bit of spare time, we’ll do it then.

 

http://www.playbackstl.com/content/view/3431/162/

[busybeeburns]

The Everthere | Elbow's Guy Garvey

 

 

“It’s difficult, because it was that stuff [drinking] that inspired the writing and it became really important through this illness. So, I suppose musically, this goal we set out all those years ago is more melancholy than I actually am, than any of us are.”

 

All too often, Elbow frontman Guy Garvey appears to be on the verge of some great breakdown, either physical or mental. His songs are always full of passion, grief, and brutal honesty. So of course, my first concern when talking with him is happiness. “Generally speaking, I am happy,” laughs Garvey. “I’ve got a massive, crazy, lovely family and a big bunch of very good friends that I work with. After 15 years now, the band are practically my brothers. I’m surrounded by people who care about me.”

 

More importantly, Garvey has curtailed some of his more alcohol-fueled endeavors. “Generally speaking, I don’t slide off the plate completely and start commiserating with alcohol like I used to.” The renewed and refreshed Garvey also appears to have a better picture of his muse. “It’s difficult, because it was that stuff [drinking] that inspired the writing and it became really important through this illness. So, I suppose musically, this goal we set out all those years ago is more melancholy than I actually am, than any of us are.”

 

Elbow’s third CD, Leaders of the Free World, opens with the beautiful “Station Approach,” a love song to the city and the idea of being home. “It’s exactly what we were all feeling the day it was written,” says Garvey. “The equipment was working, the room was beautiful, and we knew we were home for at least 12 months.” Leaders reflects that sense of belonging, revealing some of the band’s most assured work.

 

The band, while not a household name in the United States, sells albums moderately well and has toured to appreciative crowds. “People ask, ‘Do you wish you were Coldplay?’ and the answer is, ‘No, not really,’” Garvey reveals. “As much as I respect them for what they do and the level of fame they achieved in such a short time, my head would have exploded. I’m really much happier sort of making my discreet music that fits somewhere special for people; that’s the idea, anyway.

 

“We seem to have a special place, and that’s just the most flattering thing in the world.”

 

http://www.playbackstl.com/content/view/1655/157/

[Ted]

Thanks for that! :D

[Black Rose]

Ted, there is a new Elbow song on the "Magicians" Soundtrack album.

[Ted]

Black Magic Woman? Surely a cover isn't it? Cannot wait for new album or tour!

[Black Rose]

I think so.

 

Do you have it?

 

Also do you have "Beats For Two" from the "Inside I'm Dancing." film?

[erick]

anybody got all their albums?

[Ted]

Yes and they are all superb. Buy them. I have started getting their singles and eps too because I adore them.

[bedofroses]

so.....hopefully an album this year then, i read in a music magazine a while back it would expect a spring release, but obviously this will not happen now which is a shame

[Black Rose]

So I was in HMV this afternoon when I picked up a "new releases" leaflet.

 

Buried deep inside the "other album releases" list I found:

 

Elbow - The B-sides album released on 3rd September.

 

I remember last year Guy was on about releasing a b-side collection, but heard nothing else from it, so anybody got any ideas on it?

 

(doesn't worry me though as I have most of the b-sides)

[Black Rose]

 

 

After two years recording in our studio in Manchester we have finally finished album four which will be released in March. In honour of the new album we have decided to embark on our first UK tour since February 2006.

 

To whet your appetite there is also an audio clip of one of the new album tracks 'The Bones Of You' at http://www.elbow.co.uk do let us know what you think and we will see you in April.

 

Love,

Elbow

 

 

That little clip of The Bones Of You is amazing :D

 

And going off the tabs in WMP, the album is called "The Seldom Seen Kid"

[Black Rose]

The Album Has Leaked...

 

...And on first listen, it is their best album to date, and is a front runner for album of the quarter.

[RadioMad]

Agreed. It's really, really good.

 

P.s.

The album apparently already leaked about a week ago.

[RunForTheHills]

Its definately their best album, I was pretty much blown away on first listen. Well done lads.

[busybeeburns]

Q&A: Guy Garvey of Elbow

 

Ed Power has the questions. Elbow's Guy Garvey has the answers...

 

- There are numerous references to death and divorce on your new album, The Seldom Seen Kid. Have you been through tough times?

 

The album is about personal experiences. There have been good and bad things happening. Both the Potter brothers [guitarist Mark and keyboard player Craig] have had babies again. At the same time, we lost a friend of ours. Bryan Glancy, a singer-songwriter, died a couple of years ago. There's nothing that makes you appreciate your mates more than losing one.

 

- The standard line on Elbow is that you're an "anthemic" band, in the tradition of Coldplay and Travis. Do the comparisons annoy you?

 

I think one of our jobs is to tackle the slightly bigger questions that a lot of contemporary music doesn't. We're an album band. I guess this record is about what's happened to Elbow as we move into our thirties. Fatherhood and the loss of a friend both make you reconsider your mortality and re-evaluate your priorities. When I wrote [2001's] Asleep In The Back, I couldn't see past getting out of Bury and getting off my head.

 

- One of the best songs on the record, The Fix, is a duet with [sheffield bluesman] Richard Hawley. How did you hook up?

 

Me and Hawley went over to Tennessee to do a sponsored gig for a whiskey company that doesn't need any more publicity. Frank Black did it as well -- the three of us got on like a house on fire. Travelling back together, Rich and I were on the same flight. We share a love of old songs. We also share a love of battleships. We were on a long-haul flight shouting F3! or C5! across the aisle and doing quite politically incorrect impressions of German sailors drowning: "Acthung, you English pig dog!" So we decided to work together.

 

- You've described The Seldom Seen Kid as the most important album of your career. Do you need to take things to a higher level sales-wise?

 

It's not like we're just solely about the art. There are little Elbows to feed. We had the luxury at 17 of saying "f**k the man" -- these days it's more like "the baby needs new shoes". But you can only compromise so much or you should be in a different area of work. You can only compromise to a degree -- like taking a big sponsorship off whiskey companies. (laughs)

 

- You must have been honoured when [former Velvet Underground guitarist] John Cale chose your song Switching Off as one of his Desert Island Discs?

 

It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I remember watching a television programme called the Seven Ages Of Rock. One episode was called the Art Rockers -- it started with the Velvet Underground and moved through to David Bowie and early Roxy Music. We were watching it and thought "that's our heritage, this is where we come from". And John is a guy who very much has his finger on the pulse. I met Tony Christie and asked him what kind of music he liked. He was like: [adopts fogey-ish accent] "I like the old guys". John's a bit more open-minded.

 

- Elbow is one of the few Western bands to have toured Cuba. Your impressions?

 

It's not what it's projected to be. It is very much a secret police culture, much like the Soviet Union used to be. It's terrifying -- the propaganda used to be that every third Cuban national is a government informer. Locals are discouraged from mixing with tourists. We met three hip-hop guys who we really got on with. They had a little too much to say for themselves politically and were picked up in front of us and carted away. Don't give that place your money.

 

- As a self-proclaimed "album" band, do you fear download culture threatens the survival of the LP as we know it today?

 

Yes, it worries me greatly that downloading single songs is killing off the album as an art form. I don't know if you're aware of this but, with the biggest download sites, the ones you really need to get your music out there, the artist doesn't have a choice as to how you bundle the songs. You don't have the option of bundling your whole album. Which is what I understand led Radiohead to release In Rainbows elsewhere -- so that the whole album wouldn't be available as individual tracks.

 

- Care to comment on rumours that Shrek and Shrek II are the most popular DVDs on the Elbow tour bus?

 

Yes, that's right. It's down to the fact that the lads have kids. I also enjoy an old war movie. Something with John Mills in it, like We Dive At Dawn. There isn't a man alive who can watch Noel Coward in In Which We Serve without cracking up with emotion. n

 

- Ed Power

 

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/day-and-night/features/qampa-guy-garvey-of-elbow-1302290.html

[Texasluvsjonny]

http://www.rathergood.com/independent_woman/

:P

[busybeeburns]

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

 

 

Quiet, steady and without much fuss, Elbow have gradually developed into one of the country's finest bands. From their debut Asleep At The Back to 2005's magnificent Leaders Of The Free World, each Elbow album has shown more depth and emotion than most bands could hope to display in their whole careers.

The Seldom Seen Kid keeps the band on this upward trajectory. This time, keyboard player Craig Potter has taken over production duties and while he's not installed any major changes in the band's sound, there's a freshness about the album that sounds instantly appealing.

 

As ever with Elbow, serious subjects dominate. Several members of the band have recently become fathers, and the album is dedicated to their close friend Bryan Glancy, a Mancunian singer/songwriter who died in 2006. Of course, there's also the usual Guy Garvey ruminations on love, loss and relationships, written as usual with his heart firmly on his sleeve.

 

Starlings sets the tone from the off, punctuated by big blasts of noise, until it settles down for Garvey to tell a beautifully written tale of pursuing a would-be lover: "You are the only thing in every room you're in, I'm stubborn, selfish and too old". The self-deprecation runs deep ("I'm asking you to back a horse that's good for glue") and Garvey's emotion-filled vocals make it all desperately moving.

 

There's an unlikely flamenco feel to The Bones Of You - boisterous, jostling and loud, but with that touch of vulnerability never far away, while the heavy industrial crunch of Grounds For Divorce could be the most rocky thing that the band have ever done. As ever, Garvey's lyrics shine on the latter, perfectly describing the threatening yet homely feel of an underground pub.

 

Although the feel of the album is very recognisable, there are moments of musical departure, such as the almost jaunty ballad with Richard Hawley, The Fix. Hawley and Garvey pair up to make the perfect alcohol-sodden team planning a horse-riding scam. As the duo swap lyrics like "the redoubtable beast has had pegasus pills, we'll buy him the patch in the Tuscany hills", Hawley's unmistakable '50s style guitar riffs echo all around.

 

The whispered ballad of Mirrorball is more traditional Elbow territory, as Garvey ruminates on a new arrival to the family ("all down to you, everything has changed") while the jazzy mid-paced feel of An Audience With The Pope almost feels sinister. Fans of the big 'stadium' moment won't be disappointed either by One Day Like This, a spellbinding, soaring, uplifting 6 and a half minutes that owes rather a lot to Grace Under Pressure from Cast Of Thousands.

 

There is definitely a quiet, stately sort of elegance to Elbow's music, as perfectly encapsulated in a song title such as The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver, and especially in the closing elegy to Glancy, Friends Of Ours. The way Garvey murmurs "love you mate" as a string section hovers nearby is enough to break the hardest of hearts.

 

They may never become massive in the way that their mistakenly compared contemporaries Coldplay have become, but it's likely that stardom would sit uneasily upon their shoulders. Instead, cherish this group of resolutely unstarry men from Manchester for what they are - one of this country's hidden treasures.

 

http://www.musicomh.com/albums/elbow-4_0308.htm

[busybeeburns]

Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid

 

Elbow's fourth album proves the importance of the LP format.

 

Polydor, out March 17th

In a nutshell… 8/10

Autobiographical poetry of love and loss

 

What's it all about?

 

Elbow's fourth album opens with Starlings, and a disarming burst of tuning up before miniscule glockenspiel heartbeats are punctuated by a horn section signalling intent. Rather wonderfully, it's got the air of waking on a beautiful Sunday morning, with one's head mercifully clear. We're transported to another time with the sunny Spanish rhythms of The Bones of You, before the string-laden ballad regrettably plods rather than envelops.

 

Lead single Grounds For Divorce bursts in with a bluesy swagger and a refrain that seems drenched in scotch and Mancunian rain. It's unsettling at first as it's so at odds with the sombre, gentle facets of Elbow's work until a mournful chorus reveals Guy Garvey can still be as melancholic as the best of them. Audience with the Pope seems like a northern Bond theme thanks to its ominous strings and though Weather to Fly does reveal that Guy's had a bit of a listen to Staralfur by Sigur Ros, it's still beautifully subtle and slow-building.

 

Garvey shows his lyrics are still superbly vicarious, vicious and vivid on Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver before The Fix, a duet with fellow northern troubadour Richard Hawley that carries with it a feel of the down at heel reaching a last chance saloon.

 

Some Riot bewitches with its piano before the chirpy, hopeful and lovelorn One Day Like This can't help but provoke a grin at the wondrous joy of a soaring, MGM string section.

 

And fittingly, Friend of Ours closes the album with a touching tribute to Richard Glancy, the Seldom Seen Kid of the title and a Manchester singer-songwriter who died last year. There won't be a dry eye in the house.

 

Who's it by?

 

Resolutely northern, Elbow formed when frontman Guy Garvey met guitarist Mark Potter while at sixth form college, (though they didn't adopt the name until 1997). Rapturously received EPs at the close of the 20th century preceded the Mercury-nominated debut Asleep in the Back in 2001, with the "I'll be the corpse in your bathtub" darkness of Newborn announcing Garvey as a unique British lyricist. Second album Cast of Thousands was drenched with romance while centrepiece Grace Under Pressure featured a Glastonbury crowd crying along with the Bush-baiting line "we still believe in love, so f**k you". The five-piece self-produced their third album Leaders of the Free World while their Live Lounge cover of Independent Woman memorably sound-tracked a rathergood.com sketch of flatcap-clad kittens.

 

As an example…

 

"You are the only thing in any room you're ever in/I'm stubborn, selfish and too old." - Starlings

 

"The fix is in, the snaps of the stewards so candid/The fix is in, yes our pigeons have finally landed" - The Fix

 

"Throw those curtains open wide/One day like this a year will see me right." - One Day Like This

 

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

 

Well, it's Elbow. So the critical response will be gushing, the hardcore fans will lap it up and mainstream recognition will almost certainly remain out of reach. Grounds for Divorce is expected to go top 20 this week, which'll do for Garvey and co presumably. Let Coldplay take the awards for navel-gazing indie, Elbow can earn the respect the hard way.

 

What the others say

 

"Garvey's voice is what most distinguishes Elbow, its sweet and scruffy soulfulness projecting real empathy and lyrical wit. 'I've been working on a cocktail called Grounds for Divorce,' he sings in the single Grounds For Divorce. It's surely one of the best opening lines of any pop song in years – and typical of a record that shows Elbow at the top of their game." - Sharon O'Connell, Uncut

 

"Those who find Elbow drab will still probably be unmoved by this Talk Talk-inspired band's latest. But for everyone else who likes to be moved, relaxed, and cheered by superior, soulful Mancunian lullabies, The Seldom Seen Kid is essential." - Lou Thomas, BBC

 

So is it any good?

 

Deceptively so. It meanders and muddles along like every other album, and while moments like Grounds For Divorce and Weather To Fly are exemplary portraits of a band whose skill only increases with each album, it never feels like an album that will astonish. Until the end.

 

One Day Like This has an uplifting quiver and is this album's equivalent to Grace Under Pressure, set for thousands-strong singalongs at this summer's festivals. As its defiant, sun-worshipping refrain powers the song that you realise you've just drunk in a superbly-rendered, hugely affecting and undeniably heartfelt piece of work. The cinematic feel of the closing Friend of Ours elicits a lump in the throat and you realise that from its startling opening, through its sprightly mid-section to its mournful close that this has been an all-encompassing experience. Garvey might have seemed curmudgeonly for his recent claims that iTunes should stop selling singles, but a listen to The Seldom Seen Kid in its entirety reveals that the album still is, and should indeed be preserved as an art form.

 

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/entertainment/reviews/non-fiction/music/rockindie/elbow-seldom-seen-kid-$1212559.htm

[Rad-Cold]

Ooh where can i download the new album?! :wideeyed:

[Black Rose]

Buy it, the boys need the money

[Black Rose]

Anyone know anywhere I can download the Grounds for Divorce Vinyl B-Sides from?