17 March 2013

17th March - Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid

Artist – Album: Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Released:  17th March 2008         
Sounds Like: A good (gentle) craic


Happy St. Patrick’s Day you guys! If you’re in need of a soundtrack to your Irish session (for some strange reason), check out yesterday’s special post and youtube playlist!

I did most of my partying yesterday, meaning that most of my day has consisted of a small trip to the local for some football and hair of the dog and then wandering around Manchester in a slightly drunken and dishevelled condition hunting for a new coat.

Strangely, in that dazed state I have noticed that I have heard ‘One Day Like This’ - this albums centrepiece - twice already today. In the first instance it was on in the bar, as MTV counted down the “top 100 should’ve been number 1s!”, nestled in between Rihanna and Take That. The second time I encountered it was when I staggered past hip and trendy Manchester pub The Oast House and within some cool indie singer and acoustic guitarist was doing a worthy rendition of it. These two sum up Elbow perfectly – the group tread that fine line between commercial and cool with no little success.

As well as the rip roaring ‘One Day Like This’, ‘Starlings’ and ‘Grounds for Divorce’ are well worth special mention. The first is a lovely gentle welcome to the album, whilst the Ivor Novello award-winning ‘Grounds for Divorce’ is a rocking anthem. The whole album is full of subtle gems and understated beauty, with ‘Weather to Fly’ being another cracker that I feel like I’ve only just discovered. Well worth a listen.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Starlings – 5:05
2.       The Bones of You – 4:49
3.       Mirrorball – 5:50
4.       Grounds of Divorce – 3:39
5.       An Audience with the Pope – 4:27
6.       Weather to Fly – 4:29
7.       The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver – 5:14
8.       The Fix – 4:27
9.       Some Riot – 5:23
10.   One Day Like This – 6:34
11.   Friend of Ours – 4:38
12.   We’re Away – 1:59

Listen to ‘Weather to Fly’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqx4o6QyywU




No comments:

Post a Comment