Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Any one picked this up?

I've been listening to it all week, and its very much an album of two halves. I've been waiting the best part of three years for a new album from these guys, and I hate to say it as they are one of my favourite contemporary bands, but its a slight let-down.

First, though, the good. The first four tracks are perfect. I've heard people talk some shit about opener Starlings, but I think it harks back to the intermittent melodic beauty and percussive abruptness of Powder Blue. Guy Garvey's lyrics and structure have shifted up another notch with this and second track Bones of You and, while Starlings is certainly unlike anything else on the album, its still one of the standouts.

Bones of You is, at present, the absolute best on the album. A beautiful, clever track about a reminiscence brought on by overhearing a song from years ago, its Elbow at their life-affirming, sing-along best. One of the best songs the band has ever recorded (think My Very Best combined with Forget Myself). Mirrorball is pretty and a grower, while current single Grounds for Divorce was best described as a "modern-day chain-gang". Another anthem.

I'm undecided on Audience with the Pope at the moment. I think it sounds wonderful (Garvey has described it as his version of a Bond theme), but its a little simplistic. All is forgiven though, by the time Weather to Fly comes around. This could well become my favourite in the coming weeks. It has been lambasted for lacking a chorus, but go right back to Any Day Now or Scattered Black and Whites and you won't find a chorus there either. What does it matter when a song is this damn beautiful?

From there, its a real mixed bag for me. I don't really care for The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver or The Fix. While the latter is fun and again displays Garvey's intricate use of words and rhythm in its lyrics, it doesn't really amount to much.

Some Riot is probably a grower as well and I think its probably the last track on the album that i'll listen to with any regularity. One Day Like This is a potential single, and I can see a lot of people liking it. But I can't shake the notion that it would fit right in on Be Here Now , being sung by Noel Gallagher. Not necessarily a bad thing, but that's not what I want from Elbow. I think my main issue with it is that it is a minute or two too long and I don't care for songs that simply repeat and fade as this one does. Album closer Friend of Ours hasn't even registered with me yet, so I can't really comment, but it has left no impression to date.

Overall, I'm thrilled to have 5 or 6 new, excellent Elbow tracks in my collection. And coming off the back of the near-flawless Leaders of the Free World is no easy feat. I just wish this had a bit less filler and a bit more magic. Can't wait to see them live now.

ETA: Just listened to Friend of Ours again. I was wrong - it's beautiful. Similar to Great Expectations.

Fuck yes.

First album, Asleep in the Back, is a sonewhat sombre affair but it has some classic tracks on it. Red, Powder Blue and Scattered Black and Whites are all songs that will make your life richer for having them in it. But the true standout is Newborn, a 6-minute barnstormer that switches from tender lovesong to rock anthem and back again effortlessly. Absolutely phenomenal live. It is worth picking up the album for these tracks alone, and there's other good stuff on there too.

Cast of Thousands is more accessible, but I think it might be the slightest of the four albums. Fallen Angel, Not a Job and Fugitive Motel are all instant sing-along classics, but after a while their lustre fades a little. That said, Switching Off is one of the most beautiful songs they have ever recorded. Plus, you have the treat of the entire crowd of a festival chanting "We believe in love, so fuck you" as the closer to epic Grace Under Pressure.

I sound like i'm being down on them, and I feel I may have been a little harsh on Seldom Seen Kid as it is really growing on me. Its just that when Elbow get it right, there's few that can touch them, so their lesser tracks stand out, even though these are still better, more interesting songs than most out there. Leaders is still their finest work, but if you like that, there's plenty to love on all their albums.

Incidentally, if you pick up Cast of Thousands on DVD you get treated to a track that was dropped from the CD, MacGregor, which is also a wonderful, live favourite.

All the tracks have grown on me since that first week. The only one I tend to skip over is An Audience With the Pope. But the rest, forget about it. I especially like Some Riot now.

Interesting that they won the Mercury Music Prize this year...

Big hit over here, that one.

Also, Kingfan, if you like this and Cast of Thousands you MUST get Leaders of the Free World immediately. As well as being the bridge between the two albums (though I like it, Cast is their weakest LP), it is their best album to date, in my humble.

Agreed.

Seeing them for the fifth time at the end of this month on the last night of their tour. Can't wait.

They don't do the biggest tours over here, to be honest, so until they see some significant sales abroad, it might be a while before they tour over there.

Recently nominated for Best Group at the 2009 Brit awards.