This should have broken Elbow in the States, one part U2, one part Radiohead and one part Coldplay -and all Guy Garvey, one of the great English personalities of the decade, but the one part Radiohead seems to have stymied them. I wrote this after catching em at webster Hall early in the year (here) “Elbow are part of the middle class public school toffs that include Coldplay and Radiohead but unlike those two names, and despite the rest of the bands coolness on stage, they are not class conscious. With Elbow none of the things that made Genesis circa The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway such a University Challenge Tory backbencher anti-rock and roll groove thang, effect them. Elbow are a great band because they are an inclusive band. Sometimes a bore, sometimes self-important (though not on stage), and sometimes they really do suck, yet they include you in and have the rouseiness of a football stadium with the subduedness of a manic depressive. They are one hit away from breaking really big in the States so catch em in nightclubs while you can.”
Matthew Van Deventer wrote this in his rock nyc review of the album we are here to celebrate The Take Off And Landing Of Everything (here) “It is epic. It’s cerebral, a little introspective and full of brilliant lyrics. It has a very orchestral sound and can be sort of dreamy at times. It doesn’t have many stadium songs, but that does not mean it is lacking in any way. It’s an album to be reckoned with, to be soaked up”
A big hit in the UK, it is an almost perfect album within its own secret world, a haunting and beautify and, yes, big sound that can move you to tears of joy or boredom with equal ease. But it gets you here and as Guy notes on “My Sad Captain”, what a perfect waste of time.
Or perhaps a verse:
Oh, long before
You and I were born
Others beat these benches with their empty cups
To the night and the stars
To be here, and now, and who we are
