Before 2008, no-one had even heard of them. They were 'counter-culture', if you were. Now they're 'mainstream', and everyone wants a piece of them. Mainly their elbows.
God I need a new sense of humour.
For those of you who have been living under some large rock for the last three years, this is Elbow. Their new album, 'Build A Rocket Boys!' was released earlier this month, and is another absolute masterpiece.
I'm an absolutely massive Elbow fan - and I didn't think they'd better 'The Seldom Seen Kid', their previous album. It won a hell of a lot of awards, including the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize, as it was then, which propelled them onto the cover of every music magazine, and onto every radio station. Then 'One Day Like This' arrived, and people began urinating at quite how good that song was. Six minutes of incredible ingenuity to display the talents of Guy Garvey, Mr Frontman himself, to a world stage.
So what am I going to whittle on about tonight? Well, the new record. Obvs.
So let's go through it, in a nice logical, tracklist order. Like most normal people would. We begin with the 8-minute epic that is 'The Birds', which has an infectious hook threaded through it that sends you into a trance. Next is 'Lippy Kids', a song written by Guy to represent the British youths; a song that combats 'the anti-hoody shit that goes on in the media, the thought that if you hang around on a street corner you're a criminal.' It's a beautiful song, that includes an amazing storyline that musters up all sorts of personal memories stored in your head. Third is 'With Love', which starts heavy, and ends it too, and has a thumping beat that will have you whistling along in no time.
Next was the first single, 'Neat Little Rows', which has some very odd effects layered over it, and for me, isn't single material. Doesn't take away from the song though. The wonderfully-titled 'Jesus is a Rochdale Girl' follows, and is a stripped down love song, basically. It sounds very summery, put it that way.
'The Night Will Always Win' is a slow burner, but is a haunting song, that stops you thinking about all the heavy drums and beats, and just takes you back to another beautiful grown-up love song. Just oozes gorgeousness. Then 'High Ideals' comes next, and that returns with a brilliant, almost Brazilian-style beat and horns that just set the song up for constant smiles. Or what about the piano simplicity of 'The River', which has a beautiful choir that sets Guy's vocals to something new. I dunno if it was intended, but I can only think of rivers and water when this is on. Stunning.
Track 9 was featured last Friday on Comic Relief, for those of you who saw it. Titled 'Open Arms', again this features a choir and a rather-techno beat that thuds along with fast-paced drums, and is by far my favourite song on the album. Never fails to make me smile. A reprise of 'The Birds' manages to sneak in just before the end, with vocals from John Moseley, that sound like it should be at a funeral. It is truly, truly beautiful. One of those tracks you just have to sit back and listen to. Until it's destroyed by a Spotify advert. Finally, wrapping up the album, and indeed this post, is 'Dear Friends', which sums up tonight's mood. A beautiful, serene track that plods on and makes everything better. A genius way to end.
I'm seeing Elbow next Tuesday, so keep an eye on my Twitter feed for photos and videos, when I can be arsed to get my phone out. So the majority of the time.
If you haven't heard of Elbow, then why not?! You can listen to them on Spotify right here, have a listen on iTunes here, find them on MySpace by clicking on this one, follow them on Twitter here, or just visit their own website here. HYPERLINK CRAZINESS.
Anyway, this is a live version of 'Open Arms'. Please enjoy.
Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com
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