Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

A special review from our plucky young writer of the "White Chicks on Rap" column. Being British (the ultimate white meat) she couldn't pass up the opportunity to review the new Elbow CD. Thanks to our friends at Geffen for making a young white girl's dream come true!!!

This album is out today, right now as we speak, so go to iTunes, Amazon, etc., and buy it!

The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow - Released: April 22, 2008

Label: Fiction/Geffen
Rating: 3 Guns

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Elbow’s fourth album was recorded in an interesting time for the band -losing their friend Bryan Glancy in January 2006 (who the album is dedicated to), becoming fathers and changing record labels.

The album opens to a crashing orchestra which reminded me of the ending to The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” and from start to the finish is a ride through emotion and sound.

“Grounds For Divorce” is Zeppelin-esque, and “The Fix” with Richard Hawley is a night at the pub with two guys talking about their life. Very English with a dark sense of humor.

“Friend Of Ours” is dedicated to Bryan Glancy, another songwriter from Manchester. As the music fades, you can feel the tender moment of a friend speaking to another friend when he says “So, gentle shoulder-charge, love you mate, love you mate”.

“Weather To Fly” is a beautiful, hypnotic ballad talking about the bands and their struggles.

The two most impressive pieces (in an already impressive album) is “The Loneliness Of A Towercrane Drive” talking about how lonely it can be at the top and gospel-tinged “One Day Like This”. The line “It’s looking like a beautiful day/throw those curtains wide/one day like this a year will see me right” should give the strength and courage to see that there is nothing in this world to hold you back.