I finally did it. I picked an Elbow album for your listening pleasure.
Slack meme-ing aside, I do think Elbow are a truly innovative band and Asleep in the Back, their debut, is probably the most unique sounding album they've made. From Manchester (England), Elbow formed in 1990 (first as Mr. Soft and then just Soft) and released three EPs after changing their name (finally) to Elbow in 1997. In 2001, they released their first full length, which is what you're going to be listening to.
I'm sorry if you wanted something faster. This whole album is mid-tempo, and I'll admit that I wish a song or two were a bit sped up. It's a minor nit, though, in an otherwise fantastic record. Despite coming from the factory town of Manchester and rainy, gloomy England, I find Elbow's music to be rather uplifting. Guy Garvey's voice can soar with the best of them, but it's the arrangements and textures that make Elbow so special.
Little Beast, for example. The song begins as if Guy Garvey had stolen Geoff Barrow and Clive Deamer from Portishead. You feel like you're underwater, at least for a bit. But then Garvey comes in, and eventually you get a nice little guitar riff, and you can kind of feel that "uplift" that I think Elbow are masters at weaving into otherwise slow, submerged sounding songs.
Elbow can also be jarring, and that is part of their allure. Powder Blue is one of the most beautiful tracks on the album, but towards the very end, dissonant horns mix with Garvey's quiet wailing leading to the sound of broken glass and the end of the song. It's a pretty sudden, uncomfortable end to an otherwise gorgeous song. Coming Second, quite possibly my favorite track on the record, achieves a similar effect towards the end with heavily distorted guitars.
Songs like Bitten by the Tailfly show Elbow's ability to rock out. The rhythm section in this band, made up of drummer Richard Jupp (who, it was just announced, recently left the band to pursue his newly created drum school which I would LOVE to attend (cough cough Christmas is coming up)) and bassist Pete Turner hold very unique grooves and are really good at playing off of one an other. It just adds to the dynamic and atmosphere that the band builds throughout their music.
But really, Guy Garvey is the star of this show. Like I said earlier, he's got an incredible voice (often compared to Peter Gabriel) and is extraordinarily emotive. The band name may suck, and some songs may border on cheesy (especially from some of their later albums), but I truly believe this is one of the best bands to come around in the 2000s and deserve to be up there with the typical names we think of when we think of British rock in the last 20-30 years.
So put on some headphones and wait for a chilly, gray day. This is not an album to put on in the background. If you have the time to really sit down and take in this record, you'll better hear everything the band can do and truly get a better grasp on whether you like it or don't. This is an album that greatly rewards the patient listener, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Sam, dude, I really fucking loved this album. I'll be honest, I came into it thinking I wasn't going to, but I'm so glad you posted this because it was such a great listening experience. Guy's voice is so intriguing, I found myself not expecting what he would do with his vocals on the next track and I loved that it wasn't all uniform but everything still sounded put together. any day now is the perfect opener for me; I love the simple bass line and the drums are so on point.
ReplyDeleteA couple tracks did lose me, bitten by the tailfly felt way too out there in context of this album and I just didn't like don't mix your drinks. But overall, I found this album super engaging and their sound is incredibly refined. I think any day now, asleep in the back, and can't stop are the stand out tracks for me and I'll definitely be coming back to them. Really great pick Sam, thanks!
Turns out Elbow isn't that bad... Who knew! It's actually kind of hard for me to find things to say because your summary of the album is pretty spot on. Just take your original post here, reduce the gushing by about half, and you have my review.
ReplyDeleteI get why you gush about this band though. Aside from it being boilerplate Sam-core, most tracks are extremely well mixed and skillfully instrumented. I wish I had some specific examples, but I'm actually writing this while working through only my third listen and it is a long album. You said that the singer gets compared to Peter Gabriel a lot, but it honestly sounds a lot like later career Bowie.
Also like you said, this album can occasionally get a little cheesy. There are parts that sound like 90's soft rock I guess? I don't really have a band to compare it to, but I guess I would describe it as music that is relying far to much on the beauty of the singer, who himself is hamming it up a bit. This critique aside, it's a good album that I liked much more than I expected to. Nice pick.
So yeah, it turns out Elbow is pretty good. I find this album to be pretty impressive for a debut. I always expect music from the early 2000s to sound pretty dated, but this really holds up in my opinion. Had it been released today, I don't think anyone would be able to tell the difference.
ReplyDeleteWhile this has many elements of the typical Sam pick, it is actually more unique than I was expecting. The minor key and slower tempo of some of the songs sort of brings down the mood, but there's a lot going on in these songs to keep them active. The overall sound is very immediate, and the lead singers voice is present and clear, which is nice. There are also a lot of major and minor 7ths which help contribute to a dreamy and beautiful sound. A lot of these songs have a good... atmosphere, for lack of a better word. Little Beast sticks out to me when thinking of an example of this.
Like I told you earlier, this album almost puts me to sleep, but in a good way. I feel like it's a good album to get lost into. However, it does sort of drag on for a little while longer than I would hope for, but that doesn't necessarily detract from the quality of the content. Basically, this album has quality, but just a little too much quantity for my liking.
Anyway, I really liked this one. I would be interested to know if the other subsequent albums Elbow put out are as good as this album.