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ASLEEP AT THE BACK
Elbow
(V2)
It's tempting to describe this British band as Radiohead meets Pink Floyd - but if you've listened to Radiohead's last two albums, you'll know this has already happened.
Elbow, hailing from Manchester - home of Oasis, soccer yobs and steel mills - delivers an experimental, haunting rock album with Asleep at the Back. It's aptly titled for its trance-inducing feel, but is filled with passion, romance and dark drama. Imagine Pink Floyd's Animals as it might have been produced by Mitchell Froom.
The variety of instrumentation is remarkable. The opener, Any Day Now, builds slowly from a sinister Hammond organ pad, fuzz bass and gritty drum loop, shifting into a beautiful melody and chanting, choir-like vocals. Powder Blue starts with muted tones of piano and heavily vibratoed guitar, rises to a climax of Guy Garvey's plaintive vocals before ending in a sudden crash of broken glass. Bitten by the Tailfly consists of little but rolling tom-toms and vocals for three minutes until the payoff, a grand climax of distorted guitar and horns like something out of an over-produced Oasis record.
It's followed by the folky Newborn - song about a couple growing old together - and the unlikely opening line, "I'll be the corpse in your bathtub."
Slightly marred by some dreary moments and prog-rock self-indulgence, Elbow isn't the most exciting band to come out of the Britpop world, but it is one of the most inventive.
Track Listing
1. Any Day Now
2. Red
3. Little Beast
4. Powder Blue
5. Bitten By The Tailfly
6. New Born
7. Don't Mix Your Drinks
8. Presuming Ed (Rest Easy)
9. Coming Second
10. Can't Stop
11. Scattered Black And Whites