Elbow

[busybeeburns]

Make room for Elbow

 

 

ARE Elbow finally on the brink of achieving the mainstream success their cult acclaim always hinted at I wonder?

 

Firmly back in the public eye thanks to the universal acclaim lavishly dished out to their fourth studio LP, The Seldom Seen Kid, the Bury quintet genuinely appear to be making hefty in-roads into the public’s consciousness.

 

And there’s no arguing the five-piece's wry and much-loved frontman Guy Garvey and co, deserve a big break too.

 

As, after toiling away for the best part of decade – their ethereal, swooning melodies were criminally being largely unheard.

 

But what's different from their previous three offerings I hear you ask? Evidently, new found support.

 

After effectively going on strike until their situation was resolved, Universal sibling and fervent Elbow supporters Fiction stepped into the breach and got the bandwagon back on the road again.

 

This has culminated in a blanket promotional campaign and buoyed by the majesty of comeback single and radio hit, Grounds For Divorce, they arrive home in Manchester on Sunday for a long sold out date at Academy 1.

 

Armed and ready to showcase the tracks which make up the LP dedicated to late friend and musician Bryan Glancy - it appears, in 2008, Elbow will be seldom seen (or heard) no more.

 

http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whatson/2008/04/make_room_for_elbow.html

[Black Rose]

Wednesdays are for drinking to the seldom seen kid.

[bedofroses]

I wish i had seen them live now, but i've only ever heard good things about them live so....

 

and the seldom seen kid sounds really promising, need to listen to it more.

[Black Rose]

Also listen to their earlier stuff :)

 

So throw those curtains wide!

One day like this a year’d see me right!

[bedofroses]

Oh i have, i've been a fan for a fair while now :nice:

i still think asleep in the back is their best, but seldom seen kid may be their second best. what do you reckon?

[Black Rose]

They are all great in my view, as I can't really decide which is the better of the 4 albums because the next day I will change my mind

[bedofroses]

yea i see what you mean. besides new listenings of albums bring into focus new highlights and interesting points not noticed before.

[busybeeburns]

Buckle up on the Elbow fairground

 

ELBOW'S music takes its audience on a rollercoaster of emotions.

 

From atmospheric and emotional to moody and austere, their gigs are a dark indie-pop fairground ride to heaven.

 

Just strap yourself in, and enjoy the adrenaline fuelled journey.

 

Elbow step onto the stage dressed in black, blasting out stark single notes on trumpets to the tune of Starlings.

 

It all seems terribly serious - until the first song ends.

 

'Everyone okay?' asks front man Guy Garvey, looking like a slightly, thinner version of tubby comedian Johnny Vegas.

 

The reply is deafening.

 

This two hour set at Nottingham Rock City has attracted a crowd that ranges from the balding 30-somethings to quirkily inquisitive teenagers. It is a signal of Elbow's wide-ranging appeal.

 

Garvey addresses the crowd as if they are friends down the pub, teasing, joking, probing and, on occasions, heckling.

 

He may be a thinner version of Vegas, but he is funnier. At times the crowd were in stitches listening to Garvey's stories between each song.

 

His free-flowing manner is reflected in the band's music.

 

Garvey is one of the greatest, most consistent, yet unfortunately under-rated songwriters this country has ever produced.

 

Iconically innovative, the set swings serenely through classic hit to classic hit - from 'Switching Off' to 'Red' and 'Newborn'.

 

However, it is the swirling tones emanating from the band's fourth LP 'The Seldom Seen Kid' that impress the most.

 

Garvey's gravel-like tones polish their way through 'Grounds For Divorce', a gargantuan rock offering, while the spine-tingling 'One Day Like This' sees the frontman lead the crowd through a gospel-style singalong.

 

'One day like this a year will see me right' croons Garvey.

 

One gig like this in 2008 has certainly seen me right.

 

The band are louder, prouder and better than ever. Their latest offerings of love and loss have taken them to the next level.

 

It seems as though Elbow have connected to the main body of music they have always wanted to play. The results are spectacular.

 

The only thing that slightly spoilt the fun-fuelled romp was The Fix, and an Audience with the Pope, two of the best tracks from the Seldom Seen Kid, barely getting a look in.

 

However, a spellbinding set - confirming Elbow's status as the best band in Britain - meant they were barely missed.

 

http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-leisure/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=307933

[MrMagpie]

I've started listening to Asleep In The Back alot this week. Its great from start to finish. Best $0.99 I ever paid for a cd :P

[busybeeburns]

[Chicago] The Seldom Seen Band

 

The UK’s Elbow nudges back

 

Often referred to as one of the biggest bands that never made it, Elbow nonetheless has made a steady living cranking out moody atmospheric Brit-rock for the past ten years. Originally signed by Island Records in 1998, the band was dropped after a year, which led it to EMI, who ended up dropping the group after only a couple of months. The band finally broke through in 2001 when V2 Records released its debut full-length, "Asleep at the Back." The record earned the band a Mercury Prize nomination in its home country, which consequently earned some critical buzz in the States leading up to its domestic release in early 2002. It appeared that Elbow was poised to become the next Coldplay, but despite a consistent output of great material in the years to follow, the band never experienced the massive commercial success experienced by its similar-sounding UK peers. In the fall of 2005, it seemed as though Elbow might finally enjoy its moment in the spotlight with the release of the heavily promoted effort, "Leaders of the Free World." Despite containing some of the band’s most pop-friendly material to date, the album only managed to reaffirm Elbow’s steady position on the very outer fringes of the mainstream market. Making matters worse, a year later the band found itself a victim of the industry once again when V2 Records went bust in January of 2007.

 

"You have to make brave decisions in the creative world, they were on the wrong side of a couple calls and it put them in financial dire straights," says Elbow frontman Guy Carvey. "They were a great label…they got us from the bedroom to the Mercury Award, you know? It was a shame." Fortunately, Carvey and the band were able to rebound and find a new home, this time landing on the resurrected Fiction Records imprint. "We were lucky, we had friends on both sides of the agreement," says Carvey. "We had friends at V2 who knew it was more important to let the band go than it was to hold on to for the sake of making a few more pennies… and then we had the people at Fiction who were really enthusiastic about having the band."

 

With the business side of things finally back in order, Elbow is now back to devoting all of its attention to music and the band’s currently hitting the road in support of its latest subtle masterpiece, "The Seldom Seen Kid," which hit domestic store shelves this week.

 

"This is the first album that we’ve written and recorded completely ourselves. We’ve always written them before [ourselves] and co-produced them, but there wasn’t anyone else involved this time. And for that, it’s been the greatest experience," Garvey proudly declares. "Whereas ‘Leaders of the Free World’ was made in a great big space with a lot of money, this one was made in a back room, just the five of us."

 

The change in the recording process is quite evident upon listening "The Seldom Seen Kid." Overall, the album has more of an intimate vibe reminiscent of Elbow’s debut, especially when compared to the bigger rock sound the band flirted with on its last effort.

 

"This one was born in many different atmospheres," Carvey says. "Some great things have happened and some awful things have happened the last three years. V2 going under was pretty terrifying. Our friend Bryan died, which was really heavy duty. And then on the flip side of that, two in the band had babies and fell in love. So that’s all good and hopefully the whole lot is on there."

 

Unfortunately, even with the album peaking at number-five in the UK album charts last month and the lead single, "Grounds for Divorce," breaking the top twenty, realistically Elbow will most likely continue to be the band constantly revered by the critics but seldom seen by the masses. Like any other ambitious musician, Carvey would ideally like to remedy the latter, but in the end he’s really just happy to be able to continue doing what he loves.

 

"I can’t complain about the way it’s gone," he says. "We’ve all lived very comfortably for ten years off writing songs for a living. Really can’t complain about that."

 

Elbow plays April 29 at Park West, 322 West Armitage, (773)929-5959, at 8pm.

 

http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/7690.html

[busybeeburns]

Best-kept secret elbow their way to the big time

 

Striding from the wings to the melancholic flutterings of a trumpet solo, burly north of Englander Guy Garvey looks like Ricky Gervais about to lead a charity singalong.

 

But when the Elbow singer closes his eyes and opens his mouth, something unexpected and quite wonderful happens: he transforms into a stadium crooner whose aching voice rings eerily across the room.

 

There are other contradictions, too. One of the most acclaimed songwriters of the decade -- fans include Coldplay, U2 and REM, who are taking Elbow on tour later this year -- Garvey continues to slog away in the trenches of cult adoration.

 

Tonight, Elbow are roared on by a sellout audience; but really, their yearning anthemic music needs to resonate across roiling arenas to make sense.

 

One of the reasons why Elbow are not spoken of in the same breath as Coldplay and Radiohead is that Garvey doesn't try to cut it as a po-faced frontman.

 

Between songs, he could be a spit and sawdust comedian entertaining a Salford working men's club. His smoothly spun anecdotes suggest a talent for knockabout stand-up -- when he fluffs the intro to one track he staggers backwards in exaggerated horror, swaying giddily from side to side like a human Teletubby.

 

Still, there are indications that Elbow's best-kept secret status may shortly be blown.

 

A moving eulogy to the late Manchester songwriter Bryan Glancy, their fourth album, 'The Seldom Seen Kid' vaulted into the UK album charts at number five.

 

In the flesh, the record positively pleads for mass adoration. Steeped in guitarist Mark Pott's Johnny Greenwood-esque frets and washes of horn from a three-piece brass section, anthems-in-waiting such as 'Grounds For Divorce' and 'Starlings' sound like classic rock songs that you've somehow managed to overlook all these years.

 

If there is any justice in the world, Elbow's belated moment in the sun is finally at hand.

 

- Ed Power

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/bestkept-secret-elbow-their-way-to-the-big-time-1357717.html

[fudge]

I just have to express my love for 'On a Day like this'...it's the most perfect thing I've heard in a long while

[bedofroses]

I wish i'd seen them live now (as i've probably said before so i'm just repeating myself now!)

 

but still enjoying seldom seen kid, its grown on me more than it had before.

[Fixed]

Guy (Garvey) sung backing vocals on Snowden by Doves.

[Black Rose]

^I didn't know that^

[Glossal Fragster]

Great Band! :D theyre new single is very good...videos a bit wierd though...some guy throwing a sign about lol

[Fixed]

Guy (Garvey) sung backing vocals on Snowden by Doves.

^I didn't know that^

 

Yeah, the full scoop's here if you're interested:

 

http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2331410#post2331410

[hihi]

the new albums real good,nothing spectacular about them but they make constant good albums.

[bedofroses]

Guy (Garvey) sung backing vocals on Snowden by Doves.

 

Oh! Thats news to me so thanks haha.

[shesawsparks]

I just have to express my love for 'On a Day like this'...it's the most perfect thing I've heard in a long while

 

 

Absolutely agree with you on that. And btw, how sexy does Guy Garvey sound on An Audience With The Pope? :shocked2:

[Black Rose]

It's time for me to pass judgement on the album, after listening to it quite a lot in the car, at work and at home. My review is that I can't find anything wrong with the album to dock it any points, so in the strange way I do my reviews starting from 10.0 points and docking points for weak parts of the album, my review is 10.0 out of 10.

 

They even got some flow between songs :)

[Jpw48]

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

 

Did you ever manage to track these two songs down Dave?

http://www.imeem.com/groups/RfB8ZbNj/music/1O6RDnz1/elbow_our_little_boat/

http://www.imeem.com/groups/RfB8ZbNj/music/s6opLK2S/elbow_a_regret/

 

I just need to work out how to rip them...

 

B-Sides for the next single One Day Like This (2nd June) include:

Lullaby (CD)

Every Bit The Little Girl (Vinyl)

Li'l Pissed Charmin' Tune (Vinyl)

 

 

EDIT:

Elbow: Our Little Boat

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5RG8K8U0

 

Elbow: A Regret

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=53AN95DR

(both stolen links, thanks to the original uploader)

[Bebop28]

Elbow are absolutely amazing, I saw them a couple of months ago in Birmingham and it was the best concert I have ever been to, the crowd just seemed to be drinking in the music, truly mind-blowing...

Anyway I came here to see if anyone here is going to see them at Delamere Forest in June, I am and I can't wait!

Totally agree fudge;2329468 'One Day Like This' is musical perfection! :D

[MrMagpie]

Listening to the Seldom Seen Kid for the first time.......I'm blown away. Its great.

[RunForTheHills]

Listening to the Seldom Seen Kid for the first time.......I'm blown away. Its great.

That's great! How come it took you this long to listen to it?

 

Hmm I havn't been in this section for a while... looks like I'll have to download some of those Pablo Honey b-sides.