Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 102
 Tribute October 8, 2008
Sj Chadwick (uk)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Being a fan of Elbow for many years now I feel the need to write this having being privileged to see them in concert at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on October 6th. Considering the concert had sold out before the Mercury Music Awards winners were announced Guy Garvey admitted he knew he was "Amongst Friends" and indeed he was. The set was immaculate ,inspiring , melodic , awe inspiring. The audience were singing along with every word with tears in their eyes sometimes just nodding their heads in gentle reflection that this was as good as it gets. Elbow are our mates, our friends, absolutely unassuming considering their recent successes . We felt part of an intimate experience. Guy said after each song " Are you all alright?" We were . When a lady fainted near the stage , how many bands would stop playing to ask her name , to check she was okay ? I felt exhilerated at the end after an encore of Newborn and Scattered Black and Whites that left the crowd perfectly satisfied . We shared their first night nerves and look forward to the next chance to share some time with our band, our mate, Guy. Never lose what you have got, its what makes you so special.
See you soon.
Bliss! October 5, 2008
ghostmoth (Isle of Wight, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have Amazon to thank for bringing Elbow to my attention many years ago. I bought some CD or other and they did their cheeky "if you like that, you might like this ..." and recommended Elbow's debut album Asleep in the Back. I did something I have never done before or since and bought the CD without hearing a note just because I liked their name. And I loved the CD. I then bought Cast of Thousands - Grace Under Pressure is sublime - and Leaders of the Free World and really enjoyed both. Seldom Seen Kid is different though. It is by far their finest work yet and easily the best album I've heard this year. The lyrics and Guy Garvey's voice are wonderful. Grounds for Divorce and One Day Like This are so good they give you shivers but Mirrorball is in a class of its own - pure bliss! I sincerely hope Elbow break the curse of the Mercury Music Prize and continue to produce music of this quality.
Simply a great album. October 3, 2008
P. Bennett (Southend, Essex, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was recommended this by a chap who went to school with Guy Garvey. He couldn't praise it enough, although I did wonder how partisan he was...Then I heard "Grounds for Divorce" on Radcliffe and Maconie and that was it.
Very glad I bought it too, as it's now my favourite album of the year, by far. If it's true that their old record company passed on this, then they must be feeling pretty sick now.
The music is gorgeous,finely wrought stuff from a band that have grown together over the past 15 years or so, much in the same way as Radiohead. This music is an excellent counterpoint to the lyrics, which can be deeply effecting. So much so that I've even quoted them to my wife, it's that easy for them relate them to your own life. (Before you ask, that'll be the love songs on the album.)
The album moves from love songs to story songs and back again - the track order helps the dynamic of the album too.
I have an hour's drive to work, so I get to hear this in one sitting and invariably there is one track that I shall be shouting it's welcome. As you do. At the moment it's "One Day Like This", but could easily be one of the other songs next week.
A masterpiece.
The Best of British October 2, 2008
P. A. Kirk (uk)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Elbow have what it takes to become one of the biggest bands for some time.
Few bands have all the ingredients but Elbow do, the biggest being the lyrics of Guy Garvey and that voice, that delivery.
They probably shouldn't have opened this album with 'Starlings' as it is impossible to get better than this I feel, after lonely piano, trumpets, backgrond vocals Garvey steps to the fore delivering lyrics so simple but so touching, this is why this man is a poet
'you are the only thing, in any room your ever in, i'm selfish, stubborn and too old'
'find a man thats truer than, find a man that needs you more than i'
The rest of the album is truly five star, and Elbow go from strength to strength. Four albums in and Garvey's songwriting shows no signs of drying up, long may it continue
 Joint pain September 29, 2008
Young Offender (Westbury, Wilts)
4 out of 12 found this review helpful
I know it's heretical, and I'll probably end up with about 100 unhelpful votes, but I do wonder whether Elbow are really that good. Admittedly this record is better than their debut, but it still contains too much in the way of sludgy, overlong, beery blokishness. In the same way that Dizzee Rascal's Mercury was an attempt by the white middle-class music industry to get down with the urban kids, so Elbow's is a patronising nod to a 'rather charming' Simon Armitage-ish North by the metropolitan media. Frankly, Cherry Ghost's debut does this kind of thing a lot more enjoyably.
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