Elbow - Cast of Thousands
This album was a Christmas present from my brother, and came with the added bonus of a DVD pairing every song on the album with footage of Elbow playing live or fooling about in the studio, which was surprisingly interesting as these kinds of extras go. I’ve gotâand love to bitsâanother of their albums, “Asleep in the Back”, so I was really looking forward to hearing this one.
One of the things that I love about their music is the fact that they are clearly not super-attractive young menâno offence meant, guys! They seem to live life well, enjoy their food, and dress in slightly crumpled clothes, as if someone forgot to do the ironing. I like that. I also like the fact that they sing in their own (Northern) accents, rather than some odd mid-Atlantic drawl. This is particularly obvious on one or two of the tracks, and I find it really cheering.
Some people think that Elbow are similar to Coldplay and the like, but I think that they have a wryer, more laid-back, less tortured attitude. That’s not to say that they are lightweight, though. Take the following lyric from the glorious ‘Ribcage’:
We blew the doors didn’t we? Pissed in their champagne And did a real thing didn’t we? Gave ourselves a name And peeled away the shame I wanted to explode To pull my ribs apart And let the sun inside
I love those last two linesâgruesome, but also somehow beautiful. The track starts off in a slightly plodding way, but builds up to a glorious gospel choir climax. ‘Fallen Angel’ has a driving, dirty rhythm whichâfor some reasonâreally makes me want to dance. The line “Choose your favourite shoes/And keep your blues on cruise control” reminds me inexplicably of Richard Burton reading the line in Under Milk Wood that goes “sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack”.
There are very few weak songs on this album; ‘Fugitive Motel’ is a beautiful, yearning, lonely song, with a very pretty melody, and ‘Switching Off’ touches me in ways I can’t explain. ‘I’ve Got Your Number’ is rather sinister and creepy, with some great mad organ playing. Even the chanted ‘Grace Under Pressure’ (with a backing band of the crowd at Glastonbury in 2002âthey are the cast of thousands, individually named in the liner notes) is fun.
It’s really worth listening to the lyrics closely. I’d heard the album a few times before I caught the following lines in ‘Flying Dream (143)’, which made me laugh out loud:
Flying dream 143 I stretched out my arms And my feet left the floor And how all fifteen (ahem) stone flew to you I don’t know
They’re all right, are Elbow.
1
great review.
So a few days after Halloween, on the way to get my tires changed due to having a bubble that could KILL ME IF I EXCEEDED 70 MPH (so the mechanics said), I was backing out of my house and right when I mentally told myself "don't forget yr brother-in-law's car is parked right where you pull out every morning" I smackd into his car.
So I go to the tire place, and while I have an hour to spend I go to the bookstore and pick up this month's "Uncut" magazine, with U2 on the cover. After a few days, I find the article (with pictures) of Elbow, a Mancunian 5-piece, and the author compares them along the lines of "heirs apparent to Joy Division, but they'll never 'shift' the numbers Coldplay does". As a Level 1 Joy Division fan, I am immediately, tremendously interested. And as a person who absolutely abhors that idiot fuckmouth "Clocks" song, and for that matter all that COldplay stands for / represents, etc., I am piqued.
So, I manage to find an import version of "Cast of Thousands", and it destroys me. Ribcage takes a while to mesh, and the choral vocals are a bit overt he top but it all does work - the opening electro notes remind me, for some reason, of a call to prayer. More on that later.
So for about 2 months, I waited for the album to come out stateside. Then, on fine day at the cooolest, hands fucking down record store in Arizona (Stinkweeds, Tempe) I found the import (i.e., UK release) version.
[side note 1: Stinkweeks is right next to one of metropolitan Phoenix's premier Mid-Eastern restaraunts, "Pita Jungle", and on my trip the fine young men of Jimmy Eat World were about 15 feet, i.e., 4.5 metres away from out table. Kinda cool.]
(Side note 2, also picked up the Wilco "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" DVD. See it. Now. What are you waiting for? I said NOW.)
So I had the import, but a few days ago picked up the US version. Naturally, it had two new songs and a video CD. So it was unusual in that the tracking I'd gotten used to (see "call to prayer" comments, supra) was now changed.
Off the bit, "Fallen Angel" struck me. You don't hear songs that like these days. "Fugitive Motel" is a huge, swelling, evocative song - 'blow you a kiss, it could reach you tomorrow..."
You have to admire the use of "could" - as in "it will reach you tomorrow" is the safe, Top 40 move, but he's saying "I ache for you, i'm thinking of you, I blew you a kiss and hopefully, if all goes well, ideally, barring a horrific, Shakespearian tragedy, it may reach you at some point in the future....." I mean, who hasn't been there?
Snooks struck me as the weakest song at first listen. It's redeeming factor is the lyrics - 'I got deep warm drunk - and I lost my words - and it does not hurt - and that moon is absurd'. Who hasn't been there, yet again!
'Switching Off' is a gem. Is this making sense - what am I trying to say?' Buttons and Zips has a great melody and feel. I'm no musician, but it's rhythm is kinda here, kinda there, just unusual.
Anyways, it's a great, wonderfully textured album. My only complaint is that the recording seems a bit muffled - there's lots of low end but the highs seen attenuated.
And the point of my intro is that if I hadn't decided to get my tires changed on a certain day, I never would have bought the magazine that led me to this album.----- p. Chuck: Glad to know Elbow are appreciated in the US! You know that on 'Ribcage', the lead singer has a throat mike wired up to make his voice sound a bit weird? I don't mind Coldplay (in small quantities, though you hear them every 5 minutes on adverts and TV programmes), but Elbow are infinitely better.
by bsag @ 16/02/2004 9:02 pm • Permalink •
Page 1 of 1 pages