Build A Rocket Boys!

For the first time in their long career Elbow release an album as one of the mainstays of British music as opposed to a perennial aspiring contender. Its easy to forget that prior to the "Seldom Seen Kid" their album sales would not have been sufficient to fill a large Bury pub as opposed to a football stadium. Ok this is an exaggeration but in every sense Seldom Seen Kid was a game changer for a band who had looked like they might drift out music lauded with critical praise but lacking mass popular acclaim.

On this fifth album they quietly and confidentially produce a record, which shows a band comfortable in its own skin. It does have some echoes of their best album "Leaders of the Free World" which was packed with big songs and thoughtful ballads, which took a while to register with music lovers, but once they got it they were locked into the Elbow "cell" with the key thrown away. There was little chance of the band producing Seldom Seen Kid 2 not least since Guy Garvey has admitted that the lead up to the album consciously felt "like a last-chance effort last time," and as a result they threw in everything and the kitchen sink. Pressure comes in different forms and follow ups can be equally tricky but on "Build a rocket boys" Elbow have succeeded and more.

All Elbow albums can take months to digest and on the first listens the overwhelming impression is of a slow burn. From there on the songs reveal themselves and even at this early stage if Elbow were to release a Greatest Hits album tomorrow at least four of the songs on here would be shoe in's. The most obvious is the gorgeous centerpiece "Lippy Kids" the lyrics of which contain the albums title and which is a poignant meditation on being young where Garvey reflects on "Stealing booze and down long hungry kisses/And nobody knows me at home anymore". It leads to that regretful questioning readily understood to all people over a certain age that "Do they know those days are golden"? "Lippy Kids" is worth the price of admission alone, but it is matched by "Dear Friends" which derives to be played on repeat at least ten times and was is in Garvey's words devised "in the middle of a US tour, telling my friends I was thinking of them that day and it made me feel at home". It is simply breathtaking and will strike chords with anyone missing friends or family. The other songs which screams out on initial listens are the gentle acoustic heartbreak love song "Jesus was a Rochdale girl" which rolls along at a snails pace and is beautifully sung by Garvey while Open Arms is a classic Elbow ballad which I can't wait to hear live at their Cardiff gig later this month.

Throughout the album Craig Potter and the rest of the band weave those intricate haunting melodies and when they step up to the plate it's a force of nature, The big opener "The Birds" literally explodes at 5 minutes and is beautifully reprised later with their piano tuner John Mosley bringing an aged fragility to the song. In between you get the second hypnotic Elbow tribute to the late Brian Clancy "The night will always win" the more expansive mood guitar shifts of High ideals" and the swampy urban blues of the punchy "Neat little rows".

"Build a rocket boys" sees the quality control button on full. Granted it does not represent a huge departure for the band and "With Love" backed by many voices is a bit Elbow by formula. These are nonetheless nit picking complaints since Elbow has hit a winning formula but it is not one of either U2 bombast or Coldplay repetition. Elbow is a band where the music is about shade, nuances and beauty, as such "Build a Rocket boys" is a seductive treat and is destined to be lodged at the top of the album charts for a very long time.

The Seldom seen kid (released in early 2008) elevated Elbow from little known Bury band to Mercury Winning - stadium filling stars. Build a rocket boys! has been several years in the making and I was fortunate enough to have my copy drop through my letterbox several days before release so have managed several listens already. I have to say at this point that It takes me several listens to really appreciate Elbow songs and this album has seen no change. Songs such as Lippy kids have been widely promoted and this track is likely to be more of the band that most people know and love. However further listens show that Elbow know this terrain well, there are slow building songs here that are layered and complex and will take repeated listens to enjoy. The subjects of youth, love, loss and death are all here and Guy Garvey does a wonderful job of injecting so much emotion into his songs with what appears to be such ease. Nowhere else in the album is this so true than in The River a stripped back song of raw emotion that is simply beautiful. There is no change in direction here from Elbow, something that i think they should be highly commended for, they do here what they did so well on the TSSK. An album that propelled them to such a wider audience that there must have been both persuasion and temptation for them to write anthemic stadium songs - the closest that BARB! has is Neat little rows.
This album looks set to follow in the footsteps of TSSK with real pride and that in itself is a real achievement for Elbow to be proud of - and one that we will be enjoying for quite some time to come.

When I first heard this album, I was disappointed. Unfortunately after a few plays, I'm still disappointed. If I'd never heard Elbow before, things might be different, but having been a huge fan of their previous albums (particularly Leaders of the Free World and The Seldon Seen Kid), this just isn't up to scratch in my opinion.

One of the main reasons I've been so impressed by Elbow in the past is the way they produce some of the most complex, perfectly orchestrated harmonies you'll ever hear. Unfortunately those are few and far between on this album.

'The Birds' is a great song and, as far as I'm concerned, saves the album. 'Lippy Kids' and 'Neat Little Rows' are fairly good. And that's pretty much it. 'With Love' is almost good, but personally I can't stand the choir that chant 'with love' every few seconds during the chorus. Just my opinion, but I find it really irritating. 'Open Arms' is a nice song, but it's a bit too obvious, musically and lyrically.

I'd still say Elbow are one of the greatest British bands of the last decade, and this album's worth a listen, but in my opinion it's a long way from their best work. Sorry guys.