build a rocket boys!
Once perennial underdogs and now Mercury Prize winners, Elbow release their first album as a commercial and not just critical force.
For every Coldplay or Snow Patrol that’s able to tug America’s heartstrings from across the Atlantic, there are a dozen British bands that do monster business at home, but can’t get arrested here. Sure, Keane or Doves or South play decent-sized American clubs, but—like Manchester band Elbow—they’ve known the glory of…
Like other American listeners, I came late to Elbow, paying little attention to the veteran Manchester band until picking…
Build a Rocket Boys! is Elbow’s first release since winning the Mercury Prize with The Seldom Seen Kid.
Well if you’re Speech Debelle then you disappear of the face of the earth, but if you’re something special like Elbow, you come back with an even more mature, moving and heartfelt album.
How does one follow up a Mercury Prize-winning album? By dropping the capitals from your album title, the up-tempo rockers from your tracklist, and the angst from your life.
Safe in the knowledge that an audience awaits, Elbow’s fifth album finds the band doing exactly as they please.
<p>They may be unlikely rock stars, but Elbow's latest album shows their success is anything but implausible, says <strong>Alexis Petridis</strong></p>
Mancunian masters follow up their Mercury winner with another high-flyer. CD review by Bruce Dessau