He also produces their albums. Some of them anyway.
I didn’t actually think it was punk as all hell. After he did it we were like, well that wasn’t very nice was it, what did you do that for.
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Thom Yorkie
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When our neighbours lad came home from a leeds festival in the small hours he talked about Elbow loudly outside our bedroom and woke me up.
Some good songs, probably worth a 3 but … that neighbour 1/5
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He has, and won awards for it too. Just felt like belittling him by excluding that information.
Could whoever just very kindly donated to the draw pool please let me know if they want to be included in the draw part cause your username wasn’t in the note.
Hovered over the 5 and went for it.
Was really pleased when they broke through after two superb first albums. Cast of Thousands an all time fave, reinforced by being named in the sleeve notes for singing the refrain for Grace Under Pressure at Glastonbury 2002(?). Wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see them live, despite recent albums not quite hitting the mark of the debut two.
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I have a lot of time for Elbow. They’re a bit like comfort food at times. Like I need a hug from a duvet. Which sounds sort of disparaging, but it’s not meant to be. I love ‘Cast of Thousands’ a lot. That was the one that cemented things for me a bit. I lost interest around the middle period, but have come back to the fold in recent times. I particularly loved ‘Little Fictions’, so that’s a go-to as well at times
I get why people don’t like them. But i’m not one of them.
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I’ve only really invested my listening time with The Seldom seen kid and Asleep in the back. Two cracking albums. Guy has a great voice and the overall vibe is really special. For some reason I haven’t really listened a great deal to anything else by them. My wife says that Elbow is the worst band name ever. 4
Ask her if she’s heard of The Beatles.
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Is Elbow a play on words?
Yes their full name is Idris Elbow.
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Then it is indeed a worse name
God I used to love them so much, and still have a great fondness for them. Asleep In The Back is probably my favourite album by anyone ever. I feel a bit embarrassed saying that, because it’s Elbow. But it’s just so creepy and beautiful and bruised and it just has such a mood. And it feels incredibly nostalgic to me. They haven’t topped that, but they’ve consistently released great songs (if not always great albums), and Garvey really does have a wonderful way with words, eyes aside. I think Switching Off is absolutely stunning - I sang that to my wife on our wedding day (much to her embarrassment).
I think they lost their way a bit with Build A Rocket Boys, but there’s been lots to love on everything since. I’m glad they’ve stopped aiming for the Radio 2 playlist (or maybe they’ve just made it less obvious) because they can do moody really well, and I much prefer that to stuff like One Day Like This.
They’re not as good as they were on their first two albums, which is understandable really. And sometimes they feel a bit smug. But then they do something like This Blue World or Weightless and everything’s ok again. They’re one of those bands that will always be close to my heart, and are a true comfort. 5
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They seem like a decent bunch of lads and there is clearly some talent there, but I find them a very disappointing band. The first album is really good and there are glimpses of something decent thereafter but I feel that they are band ruined by the bit of success they have had.
Too often they seem to settle for the what they find easy to do and what the public like - the swelling anthemic chorus, the bland platitudinous lyric, the syrupy overwhelming string arrangement- instead of doing something more interesting. Everything just ends up a bit bland and tasteful like a magnolia wall in a show home.
Would like to see a histogram of the votes in this thread.
My ex had an affair with the bass player… was pretty tedious and heartbreaking at the time but I’m over it now 
5 because I’m not bitter…
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this has got to be the most magnanimous HGATR vote I’ve seen yet
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top band
4 for me; really hard to pick a fave album but plumped for the ‘big’ one
outside of ol’ blighty, i don’t “one day like this” had the same level of cultural ubiquity - it’s just another fab elbow song