 | Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid
3.8
excellent
| Ranking: #50 for 2008 | |
| |
| | Full Review | Ratings (315) |
Give your Rating |
| 4.5 superb | lwatkins | April 28th 08 |
This album is different to all of their others in that; it conveys a different mood.It contains songs that are more like "Coming Second" with that odd guitar part and "Little Beast". They have been before compared to Coldplay, but I think this album shows you that they most certainly are not Coldplay. Songs like "The Fix" that sounds like it should be in a cockney heist film just seem to be more powerful. I think that on other albums, songs could get lost in melody and forget the true meanings and passions that the song was trying to reflect - like "Red" or "Newborn" for example.
This album shows how they have progressed musically, and how Guy has matured lyrically and vocally. In an interview he stated that this album was "in the memory of a good friend of ours who passed away recently", hense the "Seldom Seen Kid". It is because of this that the album takes on a muck darker feeling. His lyrics have moved slightly away from the "love song" style to a more "Thom Yorke" kind of meaningfulness. Lines like "my friend grows his very own branches" and "charging around with a juggernaught brow" seem to posses more power and meaning than his past poems. He also sounds a lot more husky and well, old? I like it.
The band back him up well also, the Potters providing intertwining melodies that are truly astonishing. Turner seems to use his "fuzz" bass a lot more aswell on this album. I think this is to create that darker more evocative sense through the music.
Elbow are the only other band i know of apart from Radiohead who can dynamically change the music soo much. They can get 9, 10 parts all going at once and then just drop them to 1 orr 2. Its astonishing. Songs like "Starlings" for example. Theyve never been afraid to use brass and orchestras in songs which i think is absolutely brilliant.
Top Album - buy it!!
oh and im only 15 and this is my first reciew so dont be tooo harsh!!
4 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.5 superb | cmackey34 | May 13th 10 |
Wonderfully produced, meticulously played and beautifully sung. Elbow's "The Seldom Seen Kid" takes the best pieces of what has made them, easily, the best British band outside of Radiohead and combines them to create an intimate yet expansive classic.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | Rudy K. EMERITUS | September 16th 09 |
Manchester Britpop band Elbow is one of the most critically acclaimed bands on their side of Atlantic, but commercial success has continued to elude them, and the group is practically unknown in America. The Seldom Seen Kid, their fourth album, aims to reach wider audiences with its epic brand of indie rock, with vocalist/guitarist Guy Garvey’s distinctive British tenor leading the way.
The record starts off with slow burner “Starlings,” mostly a bubbling synthesizer and Garvey’s tender voice punctuated by occasional blasts of horn. Ultimately boring, the band luckily picks up the pace with the quintessentially British-sounding “The Bones of You,” which sounds like a mix of the Verve’s intelligent witticisms and Blur’s innovative instrumentation.
The highlight of the record is obviously Garvey, whose velvet pipes expertly complement his dreamy storytelling, as is most evident on lead single “Grounds for Divorce,” where he describes feelings of nostalgia as “there’s a hole in my neighborhood / down which of late I cannot help but fall.”
Sadly, Garvey’s talents as a songwriter can only go so far, and unfortunately The Seldom Seen Kid suffers from the same affliction as its starting record: it is too ponderous to hold the listener’s attention for long. Songs drag along on waves of noise and guitar, with only Garvey’s voice to lead a path through the musical bog.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | DJKoRo | April 19th 13 |
4.2rHere comes the boom....of Garvey's voice I mean. Probably their most accessible album and it does contain some of their potential best songs. Mirrorball is a wondrous love song filled with one of the better violin usage of any of their songs, One Day Like This is their magnum opus, and Friend of Ours is one of the greatest eulogies composed in a long time. The rest of the album is ok with no real weak songs but the flow of their previous album is not there.rHIGHLY recommendedr3. Mirrorballr10. One Day Like Thisr11. Friend of OursrDefinitely RecommendedrGrounds for DivorcerThe Loneliness of a Tower Crane DriverrSome RiotrRecommendedrThe Bones of YourAn Audience with the PoperThe Loneliness of a Tower Crane DriverrNot so muchrStarlingsrThe Fixr"Low-light"rWeather to Fly
Bump |
| 4.5 superb | swapdand | March 4th 12 |
A solid album by ELBOW...though comparisons with any third party exists one should not
forget that the versatility that ELBOW shows hardly anyone do so...at the end there are
exceptions in this case..
MIRRORBALL is my personal fav..
Bump |
| 3.5 great | doofy | January 8th 24 |
| 3.0 good | fog CONTRIBUTOR | November 21st 23 |
| 4.0 excellent | Matty CONTRIBUTOR | August 6th 23 |
| 5.0 classic | Momus2 | September 3rd 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | Josh | January 10th 21 |
| 3.5 great | degina | February 29th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | Flomink | July 31st 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | GazAldo | January 11th 19 |
| 3.5 great | Alexxx | November 6th 18 |
| 3.5 great | Jan555 | July 24th 18 |
| 3.5 great | Juanpa | June 27th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Gueero | February 28th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | YayoG1 | October 5th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | PaabL | July 13th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | wg98 | May 12th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | ADNIS | February 22nd 17 |
| 3.5 great | Cayit | February 14th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Ben STAFF | September 7th 16 |
| 5.0 classic | Zohar | April 24th 16 |
| 4.5 superb | jesper STAFF | March 16th 16 |
| 2.5 average | jmh886 | February 24th 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | jtswope | February 15th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | oahmed | August 30th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Surtur | July 27th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | tef | May 19th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Wadlez | April 3rd 14 |
| 2.0 poor | ProfC | March 13th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Amry | February 10th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Rory32 | February 5th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | CamCar | December 17th 13 |
| 4.5 superb | bulk | November 15th 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | Closk | July 13th 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | djbytes | June 23rd 13 |
| 5.0 classic | MF79 | June 12th 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | Glokta | April 12th 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | zakalwe | March 18th 13 |
| 4.5 superb | JS19 | February 3rd 13 |
| 3.5 great | Gard3n | January 22nd 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | Shimana | December 19th 12 |
| 4.5 superb | foxxxy | October 11th 12 |
| 3.0 good | Aids | August 31st 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | Cielo | August 2nd 12 |
| 3.5 great | Velcro | June 25th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | jpot123 | June 13th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | scotto | June 10th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | Eons | May 4th 12 |
| 3.0 good | sehguh | January 4th 12 |
| 3.5 great | vivapo | December 12th 11 |
| 3.5 great | Dunnus | November 29th 11 |
| 5.0 classic | bnard | October 24th 11 |
| 5.0 classic | Lolages | August 31st 11 |
| 4.5 superb | kayu | July 26th 11 |
| 2.5 average | zillah | June 28th 11 |
| 2.5 average | nick77 | April 7th 11 |
| 3.0 good | itchy | February 15th 11 |
| 2.5 average | geng | February 13th 11 |
| 1.0 awful | iPim | February 4th 11 |
| 4.5 superb | Oddsy | February 3rd 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | KP23 | February 3rd 11 |
| 3.5 great | des | January 19th 11 |
| 5.0 classic | AlecF | November 15th 10 |
| 3.5 great | mehd10s | November 14th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | Leyland | September 19th 10 |
| 3.5 great | cvrcmrc | September 1st 10 |
| 4.5 superb | neo99 | July 5th 10 |
| 4.5 superb | SkyMan | April 10th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | Ramos29 | April 7th 10 |
| 2.5 average | Yotimi | April 5th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | niat | March 5th 10 |
| 4.5 superb | Jordish | February 24th 10 |
| 4.5 superb | Smevin | February 7th 10 |
| 4.0 excellent | Mendigo | January 26th 10 |
| 2.5 average | suturno | January 20th 10 |
| 2.5 average | kroglor | January 7th 10 |
| 3.5 great | kubikzz | December 27th 09 |
| 1.5 very poor | splurge | December 2nd 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | tom123 | May 21st 09 |
| 4.5 superb | cody72 | April 28th 09 |
| 3.5 great | Sempel | April 26th 09 |
| 3.5 great | RJayZ | March 22nd 09 |
| 3.0 good | tables | January 23rd 09 |
| 3.5 great | RedSky | December 18th 08 |
| 3.5 great | natey | November 8th 08 |
| 3.5 great | Clara | September 23rd 08 |
| 4.0 excellent | webbtje | August 4th 08 |
| 3.5 great | Iai EMERITUS | July 31st 08 |
| 4.5 superb | donovr | April 5th 08 |
| |
Give Your Opinion on The Seldom Seen Kid
|
