A Load of Elbow

I have seen the advert for Elbow’s award winning album ‘Seldom Seen Boy’ a good dozen times now, and the news that they’d claimed Mercury and Brit Awards seemed promising. So, having acquired the album over the weekend, I was devastated that I hated it. Only the two ‘crowd pleaser’ tracks, featured in the advert, went anywhere close to likeable. The rest of the album I can best sum up with a single word – dirge.

I have various degrees of albums appreciation. I occasionally find a whole album that I love, while any that offer up a 70% hit rate normally sit comfortably in my ‘regular play’ section. Some I have to grow into, delivering only 40-50% hit rate on first listen, but seeping into my veins over time until I can manage without them. Elbow falls into the big disappointment category, getting a less than 40% hit rate… Heck, it got a less than 15% hit rate. I might benefit from a guided tour by one of the judges that piled awards on the album, because I may well be missing something.

In the meantime, I’m giving this album the elbow (titter)…