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The Seldom Seen Kid | 
 enlarge | Artist: Elbow
Label: Polydor Group
Category: Music
List Price: £16.99
Buy New: £6.94
You Save: £10.05 (59%)
New (36) Used (2) from £6.94
Rating:  95 reviews
Sales Rank: 4
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Running Time: 56 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 602517640986
EAN: 0602517640986
ASIN: B0013F2M52
Release Date: March 17, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Starlings | | • | The Bones Of You | | • | Mirrorball | | • | Grounds For Divorce | | • | An Audience With The Pope | | • | Weather To Fly | | • | The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver | | • | The Fix - Elbow, Richard Hawley | | • | Some Riot | | • | One Day Like This | | • | Friend Of Ours | | • | We're Away |
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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 The Seldom Seen Kid 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 Sound of Music--only substitute the Alpine peaks for a Manchester high-rise) number amongst the best of their career. --James Berry
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| Customer Reviews: Read 90 more reviews...
 Holy Cow! October 14, 2008
J. E. Martin (SE, UK)
Holy Cow I love... this album! Seldom do I buy albums and play ALL the tracks but this is an exception. One Day Like This is a very personal favourite and Grounds for Divorce is technically and musically evergreen. There is no room for disappointment here!
Something New, Something Old...!!!! October 13, 2008
S. T. Jarvis (Chelmsford , Essex)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was spending a well earned lunch break in a very well known record shop, scouting the old and looking for anything new that may have slipped under my radar, when suddenly I heard a voice (not that of an Angel by any means) supported by music that reminded me of something that, at first, eluded me. Then it dawned on me, the voice, being that of Guy Garvey, reminded me of both David Gilmour and Peter Gabriel; there was something compelling in the voice. I couldn't not buy the album and, after listening to it in full, a number of times, I had to ask myself "Is this what Genesis would sound like now if Peter Gabriel had never left them?", "is this the sound that Pink Floyd would have become?" Questions that can never be answered but which do Elbow the credit they deserve. Elbow have a timeless and hypnotic style that draws the listener deeper in and leaves them feeling as if they had just uncovered a favourite memory and are revelling in the moment. The Seldom Seen Kid was my first Elbow album... but definitely not my last; it is a truly wonderous opus and I thank that lucky lunchtime when I first heard Mr Garvey's seductive and compelling voice.
I LIKED IT October 8, 2008
Mr. Samuel Chew
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
WHO SAID FAT MEN CANT SING, NON-COMERCIAL AND BRILLIANT A BREATH OF FRESH AIR BURYING THE PAST AND ITS DEAD BODYS AND PLANTING A FLOWER POT FULL ON THE GRAVESTONE WHILST TAKING A WIZZ.
HE HEE BYE.
Tribute October 8, 2008
Sj Chadwick (uk)
Being a fan of Elbow for many years now I feel the need to write this having being privileged to see them in concert at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on October 6th. Considering the concert had sold out before the Mercury Music Awards winners were announced Guy Garvey admitted he knew he was "Amongst Friends" and indeed he was. The set was immaculate ,inspiring , melodic , awe inspiring. The audience were singing along with every word with tears in their eyes sometimes just nodding their heads in gentle reflection that this was as good as it gets. Elbow are our mates, our friends, absolutely unassuming considering their recent successes . We felt part of an intimate experience. Guy said after each song " Are you all alright?" We were . When a lady fainted near the stage , how many bands would stop playing to ask her name , to check she was okay ? I felt exhilerated at the end after an encore of Newborn and Scattered Black and Whites that left the crowd perfectley satisfied . We shared their first night nerves and look forward to the next chance to share some time with our band, our mate, Guy. Never lose what you have got, its what makes you so special.
See you soon.
Bliss! October 5, 2008
ghostmoth (Isle of Wight, UK)
I have Amazon to thank for bringing Elbow to my attention many years ago. I bought some CD or other and they did their cheeky "if you like that, you might like this ..." and recommended Elbow's debut album Asleep in the Back. I did something I have never done before or since and bought the CD without hearing a note just because I liked their name. And I loved the CD. I then bought Cast of Thousands - Grace Under Pressure is sublime - and Leaders of the Free World and really enjoyed both. Seldom Seen Kid is different though. It is by far their finest work yet and easily the best album I've heard this year. The lyrics and Guy Garvey's voice are wonderful. Grounds for Divorce and One Day Like This are so good they give you shivers but Mirrorball is in a class of its own - pure bliss! I sincerely hope Elbow break the curse of the Mercury Music Prize and continue to produce music of this quality.
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