The Seldom Seen Kid

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
There are few things in life quite so liberating as the opening track on an Elbow album--they're like airlocks between the plainness of the outside world and the elaborate melancholic heave-ho that you are likely about to submerge yourself in. Following predecessors "Any Day Now", "Ribcage" and "Station Approach", "Starlings" opens their fourth album iThe Seldom Seen Kid/i rising from a bed of tumbling electronic subtlety like a depressed Atari game loading up, adding bare touches of piano, glimpses of ambient guitar, out of body background vocals, an understated pulse and a wisp of strings, before--EXCELSIS!--a fanfare avalanche of horns crashes the gate and elevates things to gasping palatial heights, before Guy Garvey's inimitable gravel tone and wrenchingly poetic reinterpretations of the everyday announce their arrival proper. It's astonishing, by far the most progressive moment on the album and if anything it sets the bar too high. But even when the pace dips, and songs like "Mirrorball" and "Weather to Fly" don't distinguish themselves quite enough, their textural peerlessness remains. This is a beautiful sounding record. Their collaboration with Richard Hawley may be more of a curiosity than a thing of beauty, but the highs, the riffing cross-stitch of "Ground for Divorce", the desolate grandeur of "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver" and the enlightened string-laden anthem "On a Day Like This" (like their own iSound of Music/i--only substitute the Alpine peaks for a Manchester high-rise) number amongst the best of their career. i--James Berry/i

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Customer reviews

review by: pacman date: 2009-07-03 rating:
Mercury Music Prize? I should think so!
Excellent CD... my first introduction to Elbow. It hasn't been out of my car CD changer since I bought it.

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review by: Rik P date: 2009-06-30 rating:
Deserves to be seldom heard
What is the fuss all about? Basically Coldplay with northern accents. A dull dirge throughout.

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review by: The Ambiturner date: 2009-06-22 rating:
Greatest Load of Rubbish in the History of Music
This album is downright rubbish. The sound is awful and the recordings are badly produced - throwing in random orchestral outbursts does not good music make. The lyrics are meandering, pointless, artless and prosaic - who cares what this guy is on about? The songs are utterly tuneless. Imagine some tone-deaf person reading, say, Jose Saramago (yuck!) and putting it to their own stupendously dull self-made "tune" - that might give you a hint of what this album is like. Worst of all is the singer. Whoever he is, I HATE his voice - it is simply HORRIBLE. His heavily accented delivery is absolutely VILE - but no doubt the Mercury Mavens would call it gritty, or something. Look, just take my advice and DON'T buy this album.

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review by: date: 2009-06-07 rating:
Mmh - Something different?
Have been listening to this CD only for a few days - hadn't heard of Elbow before, a friend recommended this CD. br / br /Sound quality is very good. I note they have also released this on high grade vinyl - they obviously take sound quality seriously. br / br /I like the fact that their lyrics seem unpretentious. br / br /The music itself - rather different, but I don't think unique - some songs remind me slightly of other artists. It must be difficult to develope a unique sound. br / br /BUT I think "One day like this" is wonderful, very special. br / br /And they seem nice unassuming people. br / br /The Seldom Seen Kid is a character from Damon Runyan, American short story writer - he is brilliant, and unique, - read his books! br / br / br / br /


review by: date: 2009-06-02 rating:
4 stars (just)
I can't stop listening to Mirrorball, (often with the orchestra, on YouTube.) That's a 5 star track, for me. br /One Day Like This is similarly haunting, if a little repetitive towards the end. br /Otherwise, I rate the tracks as only OKish. Guy Garvey is NO Peter Gabriel, and his lyrics don't impress me. The guitarist and bassist are NOT very impressive, either. br /I can't agree with all the 5 star ratings. Seems over the top to me. I'll be generous and give them 4, because I live in Bury, as they do.

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