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.

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 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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Meh

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.

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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.

high 3 / low 4

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.

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 :,)

Boring album. Aggressively fine.

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.

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.

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.

This sucks it's boring

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.

One of my favorite albums that I’ve been listening to forever. Grounds for Divorce is one of my favorite tracks. Discovered from Left for Dead 2, I believe.

I loved this album. Listed to it for another whole day

Kind of reminds me of Sting, Kind of reminds me of Mumford and sons. Will have to listen again to pick my favorite track.

Digging this. Chill but euphoric at times.

Tämä oli ensikuuntelulla selkeä, joskin erittäin yllättävä, 5* levy. Myöhemmillä kuunteluilla pidin levystä yhä kovasti, mutta alun käsinkosketeltavaan kiimaan ei enää päästy. Erittäin hyvä levy kuitenkin uudelta tuttavuudelta. Rauhallinen äänimaailma ja laulajan ääni miellyttivät kovasti, eikä raukeasta tunnelmasta huolimatta tylsiä kohtia tai täytebiisejä löytynyt. Vaikka jossain vaiheessa kuuntelu-urakkaa käytiin nelosessa, niin kyllä tämä levy lopulta vangitsi vitosen arvoisesti.

I really enjoyed this album! Absolute bangers.

Classic. Not a bad song.

This is a beautiful, milti-genre, journey. Another album I’ve never hear of that I loved. Good lyrics, nice minimalism, epic crescendos. There are a few songs that almost ruin it, the country revival dirge in the middle reminding me of the radio songs of 5 yrs ago, there’s also a couple Nick Cave style songs I didn’t love. At its best this album sounds like a film score with Indy vocals. Nick Cave and country revival songs weren’t enough to ruin this album for me, it was successful despite those songs. 5.

Had to listen to this a second time on the following day. On the first listen I disliked the first song and then didn't listen too attentively, but found myself liking the album more and more as it progressed. Since it's a fairly unobtrusive album I thought it fair to give it another spin the next day and listen more attentively. I'm really glad that I did because this time around I really loved it. It's serene, but has a surprising amount of depth and versatility. I can see myself revisiting this one quite often when I want background music that is relaxing but simultaneously of really high quality.

What an album! So atmospheric and loved listening to it through while driving

Hell yes! Peter Gabriel vibe, but different. Love this album. Even though you have been here since 2006...Welcome to 2021, Mr. Elbow. Really good album.

Great Album!!! I love it

5/5 This was definitely one I really liked that I would never have heard. Sounds kinda like Dave Matthews.

Style and sound I like.

zingers

Somehow actually hadn't heard this before! Great album though

Asleep at the back and THIS … lyrics are so good …

Geweldige band, geweldig album.

Hopla! Een van mijn all-time favorites. Album klopt van top tot teen!!

Perfectie met extra aandacht voor de volgorde van de nummers; het voelt zo geweldig om van het ene in het andere nummer te vallen.

Beautiful and experimental. Full score. Will buy the album on occasion.

Absolutely beautiful. Reminds me of Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear. Amazing combination of strings and traditional rock instruments.

This album led me to a whole new genre of albums and songs. The singer sounds like sting

I was listening to this album a lot when I met my wife, and we had Mirrorball playing at our wedding. Not going to get a fair rating out of me, sorry. It's a crime One Day Like This got so overplayed on telly. Ban TV.

Beautiful album Fav tracks: Starlings, grounds for divorce, the loneliness of a tower crane driver, one day like this, friend of ours.

4.5/5 Nice album, relaxing and nice voice

Lovely

From the first crash of starlings all the way to the triumph of one day like this, beautiful songs with clever lyrics.

Ooooooh I have always loved this album!! Before I really had a music collection or a music taste, before I formed opinions and learned about how music is made. I owned a couple of tracks on iTunes and a few burned CD mixtapes but I had this album! A very dear friend introduced this album to me and it's extremely emotional, the memories tied to it. It's a five stars all the way to me and I can hardly even look at it objectively because of how strongly I immediately feel when I listen to these songs. The timing of this album coming up has been quite spookily meaningful for me. Listening to this with the sun shining after days of rain is magical.

The album is dominated by a melancholic undertone; I got some very slight Radiohead-meets-Leonard-Cohen vibes out of it. On top of that, the singer sounds a bit like Sting at times. Still, there is quite the variation between songs, which keept me engaged. Standouts are Mirrorball, Weather to Fly, The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver and One Day Like This. I will listen to this again. - Very enjoyable 4.5/5.

Elbow are a perfect combination of Mancunian sensibilities with a soft core of romanticism smoothing out the northern swagger. Garvey's voice is like one of those throat lozenges with anaesthetic in it. Soothing. Although this album won the Mercury music prize, it's their earlier work that I'm keenest on. Asleep at the back was one of the greatest debuts of the decade. Live they are incredible too. A national treasure.

This is a brand new band for me, never heard of Elbow before. The first song didn't really grab me, but it quickly picked up and I got very entranced by the music, it's a very pleasant listen and I realized this band reminds me very much of what Coldplay could have become if they didn't go into the mainstream stadium rock path, it's very reminiscent of their early work. In the reviews I see Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Dave Mathews, and Peter Gabriel come up frequently and I think the comparisons make sense. Good album, I could see myself picking this one up if I spot it in a shop. Grounds for Divorce is the standout but it's solid across the board.

Right up my alley!

Grounds for Divorce made this album rocket up to a 4 automatically for me. It started out kind of slow but just kept getting better and better.

Þessi plata er barasta virkilega góð. Fjölbreytt, dramatísk og skemmtileg lög, og ekkert þeirra bara til uppfyllingar. Útsetningar hæfilega flóknar og söngvarinn nær til mín, bæði túlkunin og röddin sjálf. Held ég hendi barasta fimm á þessa.

Chill all the way through.

This album is like an Edward Gorey book come to life.

Fantastic

The first time I listened to this I felt like I knew some of these songs. Later I realized I’d seen a couple of TV shows that used a few of these songs. Otherwise this was the first time I’ve heard this group. This album really clicked with me on the second listen. Catching more clever lyrics like “So yes, I guess I’m asking you to back a horse that’s good for glue” and picking up more of the stories the songs tell really made me fall for this album. The music is really interesting, the vocals unique, and it all came together for me. “ We made the moon our mirrorball The streets, an empty stage The city sirens violins Everything has changed ” There are touches of epic, wistfulness, sadness, drama, sarcasm and joy throughout the songs. I love it! Standout songs: Mirrorball, Weather to Fly, An Audience With the Pope, One Day Like This, A Friend of Ours, Hotel Istanbul

I'd never heard of Elbow, which is either the best band name or the worst. Can't decide. But what a wonderful surprise! I was hooked by the second track (The Bones of You). Many other favorites, including Mirrorball, Grounds for Divorce, Weather to Fly, The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver, and of course One Day Like This.

I very much enjoyed this album. The instrumentation is very interesting, the vocals are pleasant sounding, and all layered together so well. Kind of simple while simultaneously so grand.

I was not familiar with Elbow but happily now I am! I love the grand, orchestral sound and the first lyric, "How dare the Premier ignore my invitations/ he'll have to go." What a wonderful opening song. "Darling, is this love?" Yes. "Mirrorball" is magical and beautiful. "Grounds for Divorce" has a great, gritty rock sound. "An Audience with the Pope" sounds like one of the better James Bond themes. "The Fix" is just great story telling and I love the duet of conspiring voices singing lyrics like "the redoubtable beast has had Pegasus pills." This is definitely a new favorite.

Listning to this album on the 2nd day in May in a public park ! Greatfull for this moment 🙏

Ooh this is good for me, I’ve tried so hard to get into this before and now I hopefully have the time… As an album opener starlings reminds me of the stone roses song I wanna be adored, it takes forever to get going but once you’ve reached the song it’s pretty strong one of the strongest from memory of the rest of the album also the orchestral work is great. The bones of you is a good wake up after starlings an acoustic guitar based track with lots of hand claps. The songs chorus is the best bit. There’s also an instrumental which is like elbow’s most rocky moment ever. Mirrorball is alright it’s the most elbow song so far just a nice soft track but not a huge favourite. Grounds for divorce brings back some energy being a sorta cowboy style bop with some cool synths randomly thrown in. Then is the song an audience with the pope it’s fairly good fairly slow with great lyrics and good guitars what else do you want. Weather to fly ( like mirrorball earlier) is okay just dull and slow the kind of sound I would associate with elbow ( in most cases but I like this album). If it wasn’t a slow band like elbow the loneliness of a tower crane driver would probably be the closer, being a slow song primarily in 3/4 ( waltz time) it’s really epic and grand a probable favourite. Next is the fix with Richard Hawley of the longpigs ( a very good band that should’ve been in the book for their debut) this song is fairly creepy and haunted sounding but also having some thundering drums another top track! Some riot has a cool enough intro and is probably the most sinister sounding on the album works well after the fix but while not the worst it won’t go on any favourites lists any time soon. The gloominess of that that tracks flows perfectly into the happy clappy penultimate track ( and their biggest hit) one day like this. It’s not my favourite song on the album but it’s pretty close and definitely deserves the right to being their big hit! The album closes with the song friend of ours the slowest most elbow-y song of the second half it’s only got a few lyrics but they’re good enough it’s just that a closer should really explode a bit and this doesn’t. Overall it’s better than what I thought about it, a well sequenced good effort!

Absolutely amazing!

Fantastic album, luscious arrangement beautiful melodies

One of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands. Lyrically, musically and vocally flawless. My favourite lyric is the first verse of "Some Riot". Heartbreaking at points, and arguably even more so when you read the story of his friend who it is dedicated to. 5 🌟

Going by Apple Music’s description of this being a cross between U2 and Coldplay, I figured I would either love it or hate it. IMHO it’s much more like Coldplay than U2. This album won me over, though. I was thinking it was a strong 4, but by the time I got halfway through, it became a 5. I look forward to listening to this again. I had never heard of this band before so this is a fun surprise.

I loved this. I told a few people about it. By my metric, that's a 5. Will listen again.

I love this album, haven’t listened to it much recently so when it popped up as the album for the day I was overjoyed. Not a bad track on the album and days like these was the track that my wife and I walked out of the church to on our wedding day. A banger of an album, a 5/5 every day of the week and twice on a Sunday

Superb a classic Cover art 5/5

Nice vocals, sort of downtempo/groovy rock.

Мне понравился альбом. Интересные и красивые аранжировки; обложка классная — как головоломка, а еще в ней что-то от игры botanicula

Starlings - 10/10 The Bones of You - 9/10 Mirrorball - 8/10 Grounds for Divorce - 8/10 Weather to Fly - 8/10 The Fix - 10/10 Some Riot - 9/10 One Day Like This - 10/10 Friend of Ours - 8/10 We're Away - 7/10 Hotel Istanbul - 10/10 Lullaby - 9/10

3 Sure haven't heard of Elbow before, but I mean the music is pretty good. Hey! Richard Hawley! :)) Really beautiful. I wish I had something to link it to right now. 4 I have to listen more to this! "Friend Of Ours" is heartbreaking. Whatever 5

Never heard of this band before. About halfway through the album now, this is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for out of this 1001 albums list! Excellent, and will definitely be looking into their other albums very soon!

This is a great listen all round. Worth your time and repeated listens

Idk how big are in their country, but at least in mine (which isn't an English speaking country), Elbow doesn't seem to be a well known band. Oasis and Blur were definitely the most popular britpop bands but, Elbow? I don't think anyone would recognise then. So, I listened to this album without knowing what this band was like, and I didn't know what to expect. Holy cow This album blew my mind. The combination of classical music and alt-rock is one that I particularly like. The lyrics gave me a nostalgic but melancholic vibe at the same time, like a teenagers memories of growing in a poor neighborhood. The last song, "Friend of Ours", made me burst into tears, but more or less all of the tracks managed to send a chill down my spine. This album is a hidden gem, and I think anyone should give it a listen at least once in their lives.

This was actually really good

This is some really Soft "Rock", and I am really glad I had no preconceived notions going in. This was an incredible and delightful little piece to put on for my morning.

Excellent hidden gem

I genuinely liked it

I think I only know one Elbow song, and as luck would have it, it is on this album! One Day Like This is such an amazing song, so I’m looking forward to hearing the rest. Songs I already knew: One Day Like This, Grounds For Divorce (didn’t know I knew this song until it came on) Favourites: One Day Like This, Grounds For Divorce, Mirrorball What an excellent album! It sits somewhere along the softer side of rock for the most part, with plenty of orchestral strings thrown in for good measure. The call and response between the vocals and strings in One Day Like This is simply perfect. Buttery smooth vocals is always a plus for me, and the fact that the singer’s accent makes him sound like he lives down the road from me isn’t a bad thing (a cursory google search shows they’re from Bury, so yep, just down the road). A very easy recommend, with some incredibly catchy songs.

very cool

10/10 wouldn’t call myself an alternative fan but then again, I love nearly every alternative album I hear so idk

Wonderful record.

Absolutely love this.

Ahhh this is so good. I listened to it while house-cleaning and I think that's part of why I like it so much. I don't like the song Weather to Fly but I love how melodic and earwormy even that song is. A lot of the songs, such as The Fix, also feel so noirish. One Day Like This is definitely the highlight and I've listened to it so many times already.

Cracking

I don’t know exactly what it was, but I fucking loved this album. It just felt cinematic a lot with the music on most of the tracks. There were times where the vocals reminded me of those memes where people annunciate their vowels too much which is common in this genre of music (I don’t know what genre it is). Maybe he’s just British idk. It was nice though overall. Track 6: Weather to Fly and Track 10: One Day Like This were my favorites.

Love this

Loved! Spooky and ethereal and uplifting. Took me to the British countryside as if I knew what it’s like