Elbow – Build a Rocket, Boys!
What an utterly schizophrenic record; half incredible, half dull, with the dividing line almost smack in the middle of the album. For some reason, after The Night Will Always Win I seem to find Build a Rocket, Boys! really quite boring. It is very classic Elbow: big, swoonsome, lush waves of orchestration and Guy Garvey’s gorgeous voice, which always makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. By now, with Elbow, you know the score.
The thing is, it’s kinda dull. It’s a bit like an excessive helping of power balladry for middle aged people who still think they’re a bit indie. I suppose Elbow are a bit like that anyway – anthemic, uplifting, choral, emotive – so when the songs don’t click it can all be a bit schmaltzy. This doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re a bloody great band, of course. Because I do.
And the weird thing in this situation is just how good I think the first half of the album is. Almost song for song I find myself wondering if they’ve written better music at any time in their careers. Lippy Kids is utterly beautiful, With Love, Neat Little Rows… it’s absolutely brilliant stuff.
Mind you, Elbow have almost always had songs on their albums which I don’t like. Leaders of the Free World and Asleep in the Back are probably their most consistent records, but often I find myself spellbound by their peaks and indifferent to their troughs. Their Mercury Prize wasn’t even awarded for their best album by any means, and actually felt more like a lifetime achievement award than a prize for The Seldom Seen Kid, in particular.
So I suppose I am saying that their music needs to rouse, and in this case I am only roused fifty percent of the time. And there is little more disappointing than rousing music which fails to take you with it on its journey.
Elbow – Lippy Kids
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Elbow – Jesus is a Rochdale Girl
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Agreed. Very dull. The opener, The Birds, kind of sets the tone. 8+ minutes of crushing boredom. I haven’t made it past 4 minutes more than once. Yet, it’s the kind of song Elbow fans seem to love, yet for someone, like me, not really a fan it is just a real turn off.
i love elbow, but i will have to totally agree with you. i always go back to the seldom seen kid from time to time, it has a “bittersweet memory” effect on me. in this case, i loved “the birds” and “love will always win” but i don’t know if the enthusiasm will last.
very well put though.the album is cut in half indeed.
Simon – I didn’t exactly say I thought it was dull. I absolutely love the first half of the album, just not the second.
SHG – Are you a long-term Elbow fan then? Or did you come to them a bit later on?
well, i stumbled upon “mirrorball” from the seldom seen kid back in 2008 and then i went back to their previous releases, so i guess i am not exactly a long-term fan.still, elbow is one of these bands i can’t get enough of. even if i am a bit disappointed with part of their new record, i can’t say they failed me.
No, the first half is still absolutely brilliant, if you ask me.
I got into them via Asleep in the Back, but I have to admit my attention drifted a bit after that, and I only listened to Leaders of the Free World properly months after it was released, because I thought that bar one or two songs Cast of Thousands was pretty average.
Why not buy it on vinyl and just listen to the A-side, you’ll think it’s a great record! Flippancy aside, there are a number of records in my collection that I just listen to one side of and when I think of them I do only think of the side I listen to. First album that springs to mind of this ilk is Michael Jackson’s ‘Off the Wall’, the A-side is fuckin killer, as good a start to an album as any in music, but the B-side is patchy to say the least. If you were to ask me what I’d think I’d say it’s a great album, yet 40% of it is pretty ropey.
Going back to Elbow, who I happen to really like, I think the problem with so many albums these days is that due to music being obtained and/or previewed digitally sequencers tend to stack the best or most immediate tracks at the start of the album because they reckon that punters will just click on the first couple of tracks and if they’re not grabbed within the first 20 seconds they’ll give it a handful of tunes then not bother, or if they’re taken by the first few tunes they’ll buy the record without bothering to check the rest of it.
I reckon that it’s more than likely that if you take all the chart albums of the past 5 years you’ll find that the vast bulk of them will contain the singles within the first half dozen tracks. Granted, this thinking does come from the Off The Top Of My Head School of thought, which is contentious within certain scientific circles. Actually, I’m looking for a new job and they do throw money at all sorts of pointless research, who do I talk to?
I did actually consider doing that, you know – buying it on vinyl and only playing side one!
I think you may be right about sequencing, although I doubt a band of Elbow’s stature would be subject to such pressures. I notice with a lot of the streams we put up, the listen rate drops off rather precipitously after the first handful of songs.
It’s quite depressing really, but I suppose you just have to have faith that music fans, and people who care about what you do, will take the time.
I’m sure you’re right about Elbow, but yes the general trend is depressing. Only problem with buying the record is that a new LP is about 15 quid dearer than a CD, but that’s another can of worms that could have me rant all day, which would be a tad cheeky as I’m still in gameful employment for the next few weeks. Back to the grind…..
Well I can confirm that making vinyl is an awful lot more expensive than making CDs.
I don’t know about the economies of scale at the sort of numbers Elbow are talking about, but we are about to release a 7″ four-song EP, the cost price to us to manufacture and (modestly) publicise it is going to be around £5, and I doubt we’ll be able to sell it for more than £4.
Obviously, that’s an incredibly short run, which always makes for silly numbers, but nevertheless, vinyl is expensive stuff to make, especially if you package it in something nice, which I think you should.
I’ve never really seen the appeal of this crowd.
I’ve heard Neat Little Rows on the radio quite a bit and I quite like that, that percussive, descending piano refrain into the chorus is great, but on the whole they’re just dull.
I don’t think Garvey’s yawning, just-woken-up singing voice helps matters; and the dense, lush arrangements seem to be padding out what are at best workmanlike melodies.
I understand the affection they’re held in by a lot of people whose taste in music I respect, but – nah – not for me..
I agree with your criticisms for the songs I don’t like. When I don’t click with their music, what you have described is all I really hear.
But when I do it can be nothing short of euphoric. Station Approach, Fugitive Motel… there are loads of brilliant ones. Just quite a few which do more or less what you’re saying as well.
This is something I can live with, but if I were to be buying records instead of sporadic downloads, Leaders of the Free World and Asleep in the Back are the only albums I would buy. The others are way too patchy for me.
It’s worth mentioning that they are really excellent live.
‘Birds’ just takes too long for Guy to open his voice up, ‘With Love’ I just can’t listen too. I think the album gets better as it goes along climaxing with ‘Dear Friends’ which I just can’t stop playing. Once you’ve seen these guys live, as I did 2 weeks ago (utterly breathtaking), you’ll forgive them for anything
Yeah, saw them at Delamere Forest a couple of years back and they were fantastic. From what I’ve read of their latest shows, they’ve done their level best to provide some intimacy in some intimacy-free venues. As to the album, I like it on the whole. Bit wearied of the anthemic lighter-waver at the end (Open Arms) but Lippy Kids could be one of the most beautiful songs you’ll hear in many a year. The only truly coherent album they’ve done imo was their first but there’s been more than enough on them all to merit their purchase.
Yep, the live experience is a bit special, and does indeed make up for some patchy moments on records here and there.
Slackdad – I still rate Leaders of the Free World. Maybe tails off a little toward the end though, but in general it’s their best whole album since their debut, I think.
Yer I tend too agree and I had only listened to a few tracks of Elbow before I was streaming and Build a Rocket Boys was featured.My ears pricked up with it being unusual,then,like you said about half way through….yuk.I will just download the tracks I like.