There are few things in life quite so liberating as the opening track on an Elbow album--they're like airlocks between the plainness of the outside world and the elaborate melancholic heave-ho that you are likely about to submerge yourself in. Following predecessors "Any Day Now", "Ribcage" and "Station Approach", "Starlings" opens their fourth album The Seldom Seen Kid rising from a bed of tumbling electronic subtlety like a depressed Atari game loading up, adding bare touches of piano, glimpses of ambient guitar, out of body background vocals, an understated pulse and a wisp of strings, before--EXCELSIS!--a fanfare avalanche of horns crashes the gate and elevates things to gasping palatial heights, before Guy Garvey's inimitable gravel tone and wrenchingly poetic reinterpretations of the everyday announce their arrival proper. It's astonishing, by far the most progressive moment on the album and if anything it sets the bar too high. But even when the pace dips, and songs like "Mirrorball" and "Weather to Fly" don't distinguish themselves quite enough, their textural peerlessness remains. This is a beautiful sounding record. Their collaboration with Richard Hawley may be more of a curiosity than a thing of beauty, but the highs, the riffing cross-stitch of "Ground for Divorce", the desolate grandeur of "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver" and the enlightened string-laden anthem "On a Day Like This" (like their own Sound of Music--only substitute the Alpine peaks for a Manchester high-rise) number amongst the best of their career. --James Berry

I've only just got to hear of this band and like others who've shared their views, I really appreciate the diverse and thoughtful music on this CD and look forward to getting to know it better over the coming months.

The other thing that sets this CD apart is the great sound quality on offer. In my view, so much modern music is ruined by the over-loud, yet anodyne production which saps the music of all emotion and dynamics, making it all sound the same from track to track. I tend to replace the discs in the rack with a yawn and there they stay. Not this CD, which makes me want to play it more, to discover more in the music on offer.

PLEASE give this disc a go. You'll be very pleasantly surprised I guarantee. I hope that future recordings of Elbow's will be at least as well produced too. The music is so much easier to hear and "feel!"

I have to confess I'd never heard of Elbow until I was tuned into the Mercury Prize where I have to confess I was expecting to see The Last Shadow Puppets scoop the prize.

So I immediately bought The Seldom Seen Kid to see why and can honestly say that I have not heard such a diverse, engaging, intelligent, thought and emotion-provoking album since...well, I can't think of an album that has ever made me think or moved me as much as this one.

There are lots of detailed (and brilliantly written) reviews on here that I can't even begin to improve on, but felt compelled to pen a few words for those approaching this album as a newcomer to Elbow.

Buy it. Today.

how on earth did this get so many 5 stars reviews - the world has gone mad.

fair enough they may be ok compared to some of the other popular bands out there - but this offers little that hasnt been done before - and there is nothing wrong with copying a style here or there but if you it has to be done with an engaging delivery and some panache - however this doesnt.

its like a bad mix of the smiths and latter day radiohead with coldplay esque pretentions.

before you go reading all these 5 star reviews i suggest you check out what other albums/artists they reveiwed - it sfunny how the reviwer who has the most helpful votes on this album also gave robbie williams and take that 5 stars.

think wisley before you start paying attention to all these 5 star ratingas - they are very 'throwaway'.

i know music is subjective - but if you think this is as good as it gets - tyhen you really, desperately need to expand your musical horizons coz there are so many band out there who have done or are doing similar things
much more succesfuly.

sorry elbow - sorry elbow fans - time for some home truths.

its ok you can go click on 'no' now....

thanks for listening.

The depth and character of all of these songs is something to behold - many come in from left-field with stunningly orginal and yet familiar arrangements. Lyrically intrigue and often very funny the songs are better than on the last two albums - and they were VERY good songs. And Guy Garvey's voice gets better and better - rich like a properly made mocha and dipping into his native dialect in all the right places.

Fantastic album and easily deserving of the Mercury prize - better than the last 3 winners put together! Well worth buying...

Cheers....


Neil

I only belatedly got around the giving this album the appraisal it deserves in the last week or so. Never previously been over excited by Elbow's output and rather put off by the OTT hype which has been the lot of the Mercury Prize winners since the Seldom Seen Kid juggernaut kicked in and the album started selling by the shed load.
What can I say ? It's a good album but not 'The Album of 2008' as some has claimed and hardly a classic either. To my ears it's a very mellow,easy listening pop album full of relaxed melodic tunes and dreamy strings. Hardly the sort of record that would offend your Gran or find itself too left field for Radio 2 producers planning their schedule. It's mainstream adult orientated rock/pop and that's OK. Although it's so laid back it makes a group like Coldplay sound like a death metal band by contrast !
The one BIG drawback for me is having Richard Hawley co sing/write 'The Fix'. Frankly I can't stand the Sheffield 50's crooner and not surprisingly The Fix is toe curlingly awful!
If you download the album though you could always just skip this piece of aural torture or substitute another Elbow track.

Nice car album. A good antidote to road rage.