Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything

The British alternative rock band Elbow was formed in the Manchester area in the 1990s. They released their first album, Asleep in the Back in 2001, following it with Cast of Thousands (2003), Leaders of the Free World (2005), The Seldom Seen Kid (2008), and Build a Rocket Boys! (2011), all of which have been critically well received and, especially in the past few years, commercially successful. Their profile among mainstream audiences was boosted when their song “One Day Like This” won an Ivor Novello award for Best Song and was used in coverage of the 2008 Olympics; it reached the UK top 5 after the band performed at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012 and still gets frequent airplay in the UK. Many listeners have remarked that Elbow’s lead singer Guy Garvey sounds very much like Peter Gabriel, and Garvey himself has said that he was a big fan of Genesis, Gabriel’s former band, and that the song “Newborn”, a key track from Elbow’s first album, was influenced by the Genesis song “Entangled”, from the first post-Gabriel Genesis album with Phil Collins on lead vocals. More recently, Elbow has recorded at Gabriel’s Real World Studios and participated in his Scratch My Back/And I’ll Scratch Yours project, with Gabriel covering Elbow’s “Mirrorball” and Elbow covering Gabriel’s “Mercy Street”. Aside from Genesis, Elbow has acknowledged being influenced by Radiohead and Talk Talk. Critics have also occasionally compared them to fellow Manchester bands Coldplay and Doves, classic rockers like Pink Floyd, and even Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Rós. But ultimately Elbow have their own distinctive sound, with thoughtful lyrics and a musical depth to match. Elbow’s latest album, The Take Off and Landing of Everything, features the evocative, atmospheric rock that the band has become known for, without being merely a retread of their previous albums. Much of the album has a slightly melancholy feel, perhaps in part influenced by the break-up of Garvey’s long-term romance during its recording, but it is more reflective than depressing. The opener “This Blue World” is a case in point, with Mark Potter’s guitar serving as a perfect counterpoint to Garvey’s bittersweet lyrics telling of the history of a romance. On “Charge”, Craig Potter’s keyboards similarly meld nicely with Garvey’s lyrics from the viewpoint of an older man ignored by the younger people in his favorite bar. Other notable tracks include “Fly Boy Blue/Lunette”, where an offbeat, rhythmic first section is followed by a ballad ending; “New York Morning”, where Garvey’s take on New York City is given a musical backing that slowly builds up into an anthem-like chorus; and the melodic “My Sad Captains”, with its Shakespearean title and lyrics about wasting time drinking with friends. “Honey Sun” is like a mash-up of electronica with Crosby, Stills and Nash and the title track brings to mind the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows”. The dreamy “The Blanket of Night” is a lovely closing to an album which may not have any of the up-tempo, danceable pop that usually features on the music charts, but is full of a varied mix of well-crafted songs that demonstrate why Elbow has become one of the most popular bands in Britain.