The Seldom Seen Kid

One of my all-time faves. Every time I listen I'm reminded of my first Glastonbury festival when the Guardian was giving out bags with 'Throw those curtains wide/One day like this a year would see me right' on the side. Elbow were playing the Pyramid stage after Paolo Nutini, who was sloppy drunk and pretty terrible, but I met a nice girl who gave me one of those little packs of raisins. So anyway, I left partway through Nutini's set because I didn't know who Elbow were back then and I wanted to go and see Noah and the Whale or some shit. So now every time I listen to this masterpiece I get to remember how much of a moron I used to be. 10/10.

Like wanking in a wheelbarrow. Uncomfortable and perverse.

Like if Radiohead and Coldplay had a failson.

Britain, what the fuck. Do you guys just eat up anything that comes along and sounds like Radiohead? Have some self-respect. Oh, and…users of this site? You’re not off the hook on this one, either…this record has *the same* rating as Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth, one of the most influential records of the last 40 years; both currently sit at 3.29. It has higher ratings than The Stooges’ debut album and Funhouse (3.28 and 3.27, respectively) and Sly and the Family Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” (3.27)….You’re off your rockers.

Holy shit this hit me like a tonne of bricks. What a beautiful record. It's what post X&Y Coldplay could've been but never were. Emotive, evocative, poetic observations of the examined life. "Straight to my head like the first cigarette of the day." " We kissed like we invited it" "Yes I'm asking you to invest in a horse that's only good for glue." Never tepid, every song has an edge layered somewhere within it that captivates eg the Alt J style dirty baseline in The Bones of You or the straight up foals style shred monster that is Grounds for Divorce - it's fucking orchestral. THIS is a contemporary record that deserves to be here.

This is a beautiful record. Epic but fragile, romantic but truthful, outward looking but visceral. I wouldn't be surprised if this is found to have healing qualities. An hour listening and I feel soothed. And moved. Catharsis in sound. 5/5

Not much to say about this one. I listened to the album on Friday and now it's Monday and I can barely even remember what it sounded like.

Not heard this before. Largely comes off as Radiohead-lite to me with flashes of Blur here and there. Got to respect the ambition though. Love it when the British don't hold back their accents while singing. Perhaps my favorite track is "The loneliness of a Tower crane driver."

Never heard of this. Wasn't missing much. It's mediocre "rock" music with a Northern accent. The breathy vocals become grating and creepy a few tracks in. There is a sparse smattering of interesting moments in here that aren't ruined by the vocals. I will happily skip over the bonus tracks at the end of this. Yet another album whose presence on this list confuses me.

Best new find yet. I listened to it three times already and I’m liking it more each time. Peter Gabrielish voice, clever lyrics, good stuff.

Boring album. Aggressively fine.

Meh

You know that saying 'you don't know your arse from your elbow'? Well, it's pretty apt here, because this is shit.

Fantastic album, I was very hesitant at first after turning up my volume during the first song to hear it better only to have my ears blasted by those trumpets but The Bones of You was such a great song that I forgave the first song. After that, the songs really just keep getting better and it's like each song feels like a different genre, and I was surprised that I liked most of the songs that had that country vibe to them. Definitely gonna add this to the rotation.

I’m a little more than a quarter of the way through this list and this is by far the most generic, dull and bland music I’ve heard. There have been albums I’ve disliked but are important to their genre, or represent an era and just haven’t aged well, or were cultural phenomena, or by iconic artists - this is none of that. This music is so lacking in anything its boringness is overwhelming.

Elbow have an interesting sound, not quite what I was expecting. I know I've heard the odd track here or there, but I don't really remember them at all. The instrumentation is pretty cool and the layered vocals add another element. Grounds for Divorce is my favourite track so far.

Delicately balancing between a Pixar movie and a coked out Tim Burton film, this album resonates with that late 2008 art rock baroque folk scene. It’s beautiful yet eerie in parts- vague yet also grounded both in lyrically and instrumentally. All the songs are different enough to leave different impressions but similar enough to be considered as part of the same statement. Mirrorball and Audience With the Pope are the standouts to me- along with the fix. A great album

I had no clue who these guys were and had absolutely zero idea of what to expect, but damn, this was really great. Hearing lots of Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, and Radiohead influences, but with a lot more dramatic and expansive soundscape. I saw them described as a “cinematic” pop group and I think that’s a great adjective as every song feels like a story bursting open. Each song has a unique timbre and mix of instrumentation/effects while the album still sounds pretty cohesive. Cant really say it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before but it’s definitely really well done.

I was puzzled at first by this selection (pun intended), but then I read that it's a British band. Never heard of these blokes, but they're okay I guess. Nothing less than decent, but not many tracks that jump above decent either. The distorted guitar sound near the end of "Audience with the Pope" stood out to me. And "Lullaby" was nice, almost sounded like a different band. Overall this comes off like a generic amalgam of countless other indie/alternative bands. Music for commercials, or as the Brits would say, adverts. I wish I had a stronger opinion on this, but it was kind of in one ear and out the other. Extremely okay music. Favorite tracks: Lullaby, One Day Like This, Bones of You. Album art: As much as I love Rubik's cubes, this cover doesn't do it for me. Maybe it's too monochromatic. Maybe the drawing is just sloppy. Maybe it's Maybelline. Sorry, bad joke. I'm pretty bored listening to this. 3/5

The attention to detail on this album is incredible. From the quirky intro of Starlings to the outro of The Bones of You. Add in the beautiful lyrics. Put that all to one side. Guy Garvey has a unique and wonderful voice. This album is perfect and rightfully won the Mercury award when it came out.

Absolutely gripped me, like a schoolyard bully picking a nerd up by the collar to shake him down for lunch money. This would be an easy 5 stars, but there is juuuuussstttt a bit too much bloat for me to be quite so generous.

Heard Before? No. I listened to "Cast of Thousands" when it came out, then ignored them. Notes: - mallet percussion, layered background vocals and sudden horn stabs had me right from the intro. - dense, complex and subtle production with near-constant little tweaks to the arrangements. someone in the booth really cares about how these songs sound. - lots of 6/8, which makes me happy. - personally I'd rather not have pretty-crooning-guy lead vocals so far forward in the mix, but maybe that's just my singer's envy. - front-loaded, too long and at least half the songs, while lovely, go absolutely nowhere. Verdict: While obviously a member of the Radiohead-Coldplay axis of excess, they lack the preening pretentiousness of the former and the starry-eyed sentimentality of the latter. Cause for some celebration. Listen Again? Just maybe. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this. I'm even interested in hearing more of them. Thanks, 1001!

It's like Coldplay only, and I can't believe this is even possible, musically less interesting (with one weird watered-down-Jack-White-impression in the middle). I like this guy's voice. And his arrangements are interesting. But I don't find the music engaging in the slightest. And the tracks are SO robotic; it sounds like the band members record snippets of themselves and then cut and paste to build songs up Lego-block style in a DAW. Yawn, Next!

Felt like if Coldplay and Radiohead adopted a kid at maybe a discounted price Highlights: grounds for divorce, one day like this

I’m ready to take all the copies of this book I can find and throw them in Boston Harbor. The avalanche of bland boring British mediocrity that you are buried under when listening to the albums on this list is thoroughly demoralizing. The Britishness of the author of this book is a systematic flaw in this project that almost requires the entire thing be scrapped and replaced with a list of 1001 albums made by a person who was not a complete fuckwit. In sum, this album was a waste of everyone’s time and attention and I am sad.

What a wonderful album this is, one of my best discoveries on this project! Keeping this as favourite, that's for sure :-)

I’m giving this a 5 solely based on One Day Like This. As soon as it was over I had to pause the album and rewind to listen to that song again. As someone who loves Coldplay and Keane, how have I never heard of this band before?

I cannot convey my love for this in words. I wandered into a tent at Reading festival around 99 and discovered Elbow on their Cast of Thousands album. I was blown away. By this album i was a proper fan and saw them play this live a few times. My favourite was at the octagon in Sheffield when Richard Hawley came on to sing 'The Fix'. Its the album that played in the early part of my relationship with my now wife, so the romance is baked in. Elbow make music that paints with every colour. And the pictures they paint are of my home, my childhood and my life.

Cant parse words here. All clichés apply. Masterpiece, hidden gem, diamond in the ruff, magnum opus, no skips. Almost every track has multiple moments you could listen to on repeat for 5 min.

Awesome from start to finish! Not a bad song on this track, the band are awesome (and tremendous live) but the real star is Guy Garvey and his lyrics! The man can write, the man can deliver the lines and hold you in the warm embrace of his astoundingly beautiful vocals. Breathtaking.

I love this album. I've been working on a cocktail called egg in a pint Ooooooooh oohh it's just an egg in a pint it's an ancient Chinese secret that I picked up in Leeds Ooooooooh ooohh it's just an egg in a pint.

Experimental enough to not be dull and familiar enough to not be annoying Did not expect it to be this good! A modern white band I like. How strange.

I liked their creative musical landscape! Dude sounds a bit like Peter Gabriel when he sings but it’s infinitely better than sounding like Billy Bragg / Robert Smith / etc like so many other British bandleaders do.

This was very good do you get to be a little much. I have no idea who the elbow is as I ever heard of them but I think they’re sounds a little ahead of their time. 2007 is a dark time for music, you could not pull out of the air anything you wanted, MTV had long stopped playing music, YouTube did not have music videos you can go find, and mp3 sharing services had been shut down. That’s why I think elbow remained all these years. This is a very gloomy sound but not entirely sleepy which is very soothing to me. I need to wallow in my exhaustion and sadness but still have enough rhythm to scoot me forward, accepting the reality that is the cold dark morning that starts every day.

high 3 / low 4

Not on par with how I’ve been rating 4s, but nevertheless a stronger 3. Never heard of the band before and was overall pleased.

the radiohead & coldplay comparisons are too funny. great artists copy? ok, elbow is not great, but you get the point. It's brit sad rock boy? it's just very fine

1st & 4th -May-2026 3/5 Elbow = The Seldom Seen Kid (2008) I liked the melodies, often in a minor key, giving them a kind of melancholic quality In some of the songs, the base lines often give them a jazz quartet feeling. I also liked to voice quality - here and there sounding like old Peter Gabriel?

There were 4 or 5 songs that were just fantastic! I honestly was baffled that I had never heard of this band before. I was trying to decide if I would rate it 4 or 5 stars as each song was a banger! Then the second half of the album was just boring background music

Cosy, easy listen. I don't consider this to be their best work, but I can relax while listening to it. It could do with a bit more edge, but I suppose that's not what they're aiming for.

Pretty good album that I have never heard. Kind of reminds me of Peter Gabriel on some songs. Great lyrics and excellent, not too aggressive, music. I will be listening to this one again.

Like it. Nunca había escuchado hablar de ellos. Pretty great.

It's good stuff - the kind of album that probably deserves multiple listens to appreciate. A lot of it captures a moody tone, with slower beats, and then there's tracks like 'One Day Like This' that is just a certified banger. Favourites: The Bones Of You Mirrorball Weather To Fly One Day Like This

I enjoyed this, I would be hopeful to enjoy more of their work

The songs in this album don't really tie into each other in tone. Some are very alt rock, but some are country-ish or meloncholy. Very hit or miss.

Plodding.

Nothing special British band

Soft ‘00’s rock

Before the first word was sung, I thought "now here's a record that didn't get caught up in the loudness war." And in reading the Wikipedia article, it seems they were specifically after that with the "turn it up!" notice on the packaging. Well done on that front. Further listening revealed not-very-subtle notes of Radiohead with the occasional whiff of blues and lo-fi garage rock. Smooth and full-bodied with an easy finish that left me looking forward to the next swallow. Like other tasty things, you can definitely overdo it, and I think after 2/3 of the way through the album, I had my fill and any more was just cramming it down so I could feel OK about no having leftovers that will certainly have gone bad. 3.49

Bit too artsy for my taste

3.5

I need a few more listens and this might go up to a 4. Has a Peter Gabriel feel to me - art damaged orchestral pop.

A friend described this as a step below Coldplay, and I'm in line to agree.

The Elbow albums I have heard all feature one great song ("Grounds For Divorce" here, which elevates the rating below) that are distinct enough from the plodding sameyness of the remainder to catch my attention. You wish they would be more bold more often, but instead seem content being a bit better the Coldplay, if infinitely better than the wretched Doves (who would kill for an ounce of Elbow's talent). Guy Garvey was born with the gift of a golden voice (a recent call-back for you, Mark!) but overall it's too grey and English for my patience these days.

It took me a few songs to warm to this album. It has a lovely warm sounds and has a great voice but none of these songs are memorable.

This band's level of popularity is baffling to me. The guy (yeah, I know) is a good lyricist, with a lovely mellow singing voice. But the overall effect to me is somehow less than the sum of its parts. Lounge music, but a wee bit more introspective and ultimately a bit of a downer.

really cool vibes already, raspy main vocals and kind of ethereal indie rock feel. I LOVE THIS ALBUM BASED ON THE FIRST SONG. cool orchestral feeling. oooooo I love it!!! i don't think it objectively deserves more than a 3 so i'll give it that but i love her :,)

I'd never heard of Elbow before. As I listened to this I thought, it sounds like they're trying to do Talk Talk, Peter Gabriel, and OK Computer. I check the band's wikipedia and what'd'ya know are the three bands listed under "influences"?! They certainly wear these influences heavily on their sleeves. It's fine, they're decent enough songwriters and performers, but it's extremely uncool music. Way too blandly palatable and ready-made for commercial TV/film syncs.

Mercury Prize strikes again! As a Radiohead fan I think this probably sounds like Radiohead to those people who don't like Radiohead. Only thing saving this from one star was I liked The Bones of You some.

Quite o.k. but what's the deal with this one? favourite: "Grounds For Divorce"

This unfortunately didn’t hit the marks for me. But it’s cool to discover a new to me artist.

Not horrible but a boring waste of time

Crap

Ännu ett intetsägande indierockband från 00-talet som ingen längre minns.

I’ve never heard this before and knew nothing about it going in. It sounds like they recorded this after receiving a noise complaint and all of the instruments are turned down. It plods along, hardly ever getting out of second gear. The singer sounds like Chris Martin. If this was a color it would be beige. If it was food it would be oatmeal. If it was a feeling it would be malaise. For a moment in Tower Crane Driver it seemed like it turned a corner. The somehow the next track sounded like a show tune. One Day Like This finally has some urgency, but it’s too little too late. Overall very boring with nothing to make you want to listen again. 1.5 for One Day Like This.

A couple songs caught my attention, but overall it was drab and boring. Much like my review.

It's not a bad album, but it is like a discount Coldplay. I don't really see the need to listen to Elbow if Coldplay is better and also right there.

I wanted to like this but it rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like it was derivative and contrived. Pretentious without being self-effacing, a sort of "know-it-all" attitude. There's a haziness over it all, and they HAD to throw in a *stompclap* song because it's the mid-aughts and that's what all indie rock was doing. Well executed, interesting and subtle production, but not very creative or novel.

Starting to see this list has two pools of boring general-rock music: 60s prog and 00s indie

I don't like this dude he annoys me

I have no desire to analyse why this well-made, intelligent record does nothing for me, though I admire how it captures the damp, cold texture of a smudgy cloud falling from the other side of the Pennines.

How did this album make the cut?

It’s very hard to believe that the sun never set on the British Empire when they willingly subject themselves to this shit.

This sucks it's boring

Love Elbow, every album of theirs seem to have a good number of great songs. This one has the excellent The Bones Of You, Grounds For Divorce and One Day Like This. Such great songwriting and great vocals too. Possibly their best album.

Not many albums I've gotten while doing the 1001 album journey with my group have made me want to check out the artist's discography, but goddamn, this is certainly one of those exceptions. 5.5 bumped down to 5.

I’m at a 10. It’s just a great, great album. I’ve never heard of Elbow until now. I've also never heard a set of tracks that so accurately capture both the struggle & delight that comes in the search for comfort until now. At its very core, this album is about trying to find comfortability, whether it’s in terms of heartbreak, total romance, financial stability via rigging a horse race, breaking the trauma of a family cycle, or coping after the death of a friend. This is a wide variety of tracks meant to cover the extent of that search, and every single one of them are all brilliantly written & performed. Instrumentally, we have a Coldplay record with a Peter Gabriel lean; the depth of the instrumental work here in terms of how it enhances the mood of each track cannot be understated. It’s one where I can’t totally find the words to bring it all together, but when this album lifts up or drops down, it’s got a sense of weight to it that I haven’t heard from an album on the list in a while. Guy Garvey’s vocals carry that weight well, being able to shift between a softer tone that feels almost like Winnie the Pooh mixed with Jack Johnson & a more impactful tone that, once again, feels a lot like Peter Gabriel. I think that’s all I need to say, really. If you like Peter Gabriel’s sort of “broken heart art” approach to music, if you enjoy Coldplay’s sense of musical scale & atmosphere (at least from their “A Rush of Blood to the Head” era), and if you can catch the lyricism to the extent of getting the general vibe / intent of each track, then this will be 54 minutes that glide by wonderfully. If you’re not in the mood for it, or if you think it’s sappy contrite nonsense meant to appeal to the softies of the world… I don’t know what to tell you. The floor here should be a 4, bare minimum, solely on account of some outros going a little long. For me, the emotional push & pull of the album combined with the technical skill at hand here leaves me at a 10. This might be the best Mercury Prize winning pick on the entire list, and it’s one of the best ones to pop up so far, even 876 albums deep. This was delightful, this was inventive, this was happy, this was sad, and perhaps most of all, this was just comforting. I need to hear more of Elbow, I think.

Brilliant

Elegantly crafted, beautiful songs with deep meanings and plangent poetic lyrics. Not for me though. I just don't like it! I have to agree with another reviewer who said this sounds like what Coldplay might have become if they hadn't turned to shit. Subjective personal feelings aside, I'm giving it 5 stars because it's objectively a great record.

Rules.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, indeed, there is a lot here to enjoy. Sumptuously produced and artfully arranged, this album sounds gorgeous, and luckily the songwriting is mostly deserving of the dressing: Ambitious but not pretentious, cinematic but still personal, meticulous while still feeling lived in and warm. Special mention to the lyrics, which are really terrific from top to bottom. My only complaint is a few songs, namely The Fix, lean too far into musical territory and stand out as not sounding of a piece with the rest of the album. Still, that's nitpicking what is a fine piece of work by any metric. Bravo.

Listened in the car. I was so ready to dismiss this thing on first blush. It beat In Rainbows for the Mercury Prize? If they were so great, why wasn't Pitchfork talking about them at the time? And to be fair, the first track stinks with its horrible midi brass chords which really didn't give me a great first impression. But by the end of its (slightly long) runtime I found myself charmed by their symphonic soundscapes and Guy Garvey's gorgeous voice. Discard the obvious Coldplay comparisons and you'll find a charmingly beautiful record here. Will listen again.

Really enjoyed this album. Had not heard of this group but it was well worth the listen.

Voor mij ligt dit tussen de 4.5 en 5, maar ik geef hem toch voor nostalgie. Een van mijn eerste live optredens ooit, met pa, waar een extended orchestral versie van 'One Dat Like This' werd gespeeld zal me altijd bijblijven.

Grounds for divorce is a banger.

I had never heard of Elbow before now, but I thought this was great. It reminded me of what it would sound like if Sting, Peter Gabriel and Muse fused into a single musical act. I found the songs pretty musically varied and enjoyable to listen to. Very creative writing and performances, and the record sounded crisp and luxe without seeming overbearing or pompous. I listened to it twice. Five stars.

Great

Lyrically and musically perfect

This album consists of an absolute banger sandwiched between two halves of deeply introspective, melancholic, heartfelt songs. The first few tracks are beautiful and intimate. Then Grounds for Divorce blasts you out of nowhere before the album pulls you back into that introspective headspace with the mischievous An Audience With the Pope and takes you on a mystical journey. I use words like melancholic but this album is incredibly grandiose at times. Tracks like An Audience With the Pope and The Fix made me feel like I was the protagonist in a musical, about to uncover some secrets, or preparing to make a deal that might not turn out in my best interests, but finding a way to make everything work out in the end. This isn't the kind of music I listen to because it's entertaining. This is the kind of music that makes me feel something. That resonates with me on a deep level.

No conocía a Elbow pero qué cosa tan genial. Me encantaron las canciones, las letras, los arreglos. Toda la propuesta me pareció solidísima. Fan desde ahora de los Codo.

lyrical, feels like spring, love it

I love Elbow and consider this to be one of the truly great albums of all time. Their albums before TSSK were good, but this represented a step up to a new level which manages to produce beautiful intimate songs with sweeping arrangements that sound at home in arenas and festivals. There is no weak point on this album. From the get go Starlings throws down the gauntlet with great lyrics “i guess i’m asking you to back a horse thats good for glue and nothing else” and explosive brass. The Bones Of You snd Mirrorball ensure there’s no let up before the pounding bass and Guy Garvey’s smoky vocals introduces you to the seldom seen kid and the undeniably catchy Grounds for Divorce. The addition of Sheffield laureate, Richard Hawley add yet another level with The Fix. Whilst Starlings is my favourite track you have to acknowledge that One Day Like This is the star that shines brightest in an album of stars. Whilst i would say this is Elbow’s best work they make damn fine albums both before and after this and their consistency is incredible.

Another album where I only knew the singles (one of which has been stuck in my head for the last 3 weeks due to a cover I heard) so I was really happy to see this appear. "You are the only thing, in any room you're ever in, I'm stubborn, selfish and too old" from Starlings is such a great lyric to set a mood. Mind you that track already set the mood by deafening me as I'd turned up the volume on the gentle bits only to be attacked by the horns. Loved it. And the lyrics that make me smile continue into track 2: "Overdraft speeches and deadlines to make, cramming commitments like cats in a sack". They have a way with words. I continued to really enjoy the tracks until we got to Grounds For Divorce: I ADORE Grounds For Divorce. The lyrics are great, the hook is incredible. It's an insanely catchy song with a really interesting melody. If I could give it more than a 5 as a single track, I absolutely would. There's then, for me, a slight lull but only because it would be impossible to keep up that level. I still really enjoyed the songs though. Of the album tracks I didn't know, I think my favourite would be The Fix, with local lad Richard Hawley. I very much enjoyed the Specials-like backing vocals. One Day Like This is a behemoth that broke containment. I think basically any person in the UK would recognise the hook, even if they couldn't name the song. I once heard the band play this as I lay in the grass in the sun and confetti gently floated down on top of me. I remember nothing else about their set (my fault not theirs, I was sleep deprived and drunk) but that one moment formed a core memory for me. That song is meant to be sung by crowds. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a sucker for brass and there's a lot sprinkled throughout this album. And strings! I went into this thinking I'd probably like this album, but now I'm considering buying a copy. 5/5

Fantastic album. Beautiful music, interesting, the vocals were delicate with real substance. Some lovely lyrics, with lines like "We kissed like we invented it" and "So yes I guess I'm asking you, to back a horse that's good for glue". My first 5 in this musical journey.

Beautiful, never heard it before. Absolutely grand. It reminds me of Peter Gabriel in the best way. Lovely. I'm keeping it.

Coldplay is the pop version of this. Where coldplay is more poppy and commercial, this is not. It’s more chill, rustic, experimental, less catchy.

With a band name like Elbow I didn't expect this to be such a banger, or as beautiful as it really is. The arrangements are really nice. "Grounds for Divorce" is like what if commercial music was actually good

I was aware of Elbow but I honestly can't remember listening to them before this popped up as my next album. The Seldom Seen Kid is an absolutely phenomenal record with skillfully layered songs and and emotional punch. It will be getting plenty of rotation going forward!

Beautful

Love Starlings so much. This whole album is beautiful.