Cast Of Thousands: Elbow: Amazon.ca: Music

Product Details

Audio CD (Oct 7 2003)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Musicrama
ASIN: B0000APSML
In-Print Editions: Audio CD

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #56,155 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Track Listings

1. Ribcage - Elbow

2. Fallen Angel - Elbow

3. Fugitive Motel

4. Snooks (Progress Report)

5. Switching Off - Elbow

6. Not A Job - Elbow

7. I've Got Your Number - Elbow

8. Whisper Grass

9. Buttons And Zips

10. Lay Down Your Cross

11. Crawling With Idiot

12. Grace Under Pressure

13. Flying Dream

Product Description

From Amazon.co.uk

An astonishingly intense and ambitious album, Elbow's Cast of Thousands is relentlessly experimental. Having toiled for 10 years over their spellbinding Mercury-nominated debut Asleep in the Back, the maverick Bury five-piece--who were initially hailed as the new Radiohead--have produced a worthy sequel in a comparatively short two years. While mirroring their debut's melancholy tone, this album's romantic lyricism and uplifting harmonies inject a fresh dynamic.

From the first bar, Cast of Thousands is enthralling. "Ribcage", an exquisite rousing treasure, builds on a languorous and fragmented melody into a cohesive climax while Garvey listlessly intones (with a flat mic taped to his larynx) the charming mantra, "When the sunshine/ throwing me a lifeline/ finds its way in to my room/ all I need is you". Meanwhile The London Community Gospel choir's spiralling harmonies echo Blur's "Tender" in its lo-fi, mellifluous majesty. But the majority of the album is far less grandiose with the haunting "Snooks (Progress Report)" and "I've Got Your Number" bristling with an unnerving intimacy and brooding dialogue. It's an enchanting return that finds Elbow stretching from despair to lovelorn tenderness. --Christopher Barrett

Chronique amazon.fr

Remarqués avec un premier album Asleep In The Back (2001), dispensant tout en délicatesse des essences pop aux effets lents et envoûtants, les mancuniens d'Elbow auront parfaitement su négocier le tournant glissant du deuxième album. Comprenez que Cast Of Thousands dose la même formule magique que son prédécesseur tout en étoffant un son déjà riche. Quelques ingrédients supplémentaires n'y sont pas étranger : l'album profite en effet de l'apport de chœurs, des collaborations de Jimi Goodwin de Doves, du groupe Alfie ou de la foule de Glastonbury enregistrée l'an passé lors du passage du groupe au dit festival. Dès le titre d'ouverture, un divin "Ribcage", c'est donc en terrain connu que l'on progresse. Ce qui n'empêche pas l'émerveillement. On se perdra volontiers dans les méandres de cette musique aux accents psychédéliques et planants (parfois baroques), qui évoque autant la pop noisy, les explorations extatiques du Talk Talk deuxième période qu'un Pink Floyd ayant oublié de s'engraisser. Toujours admirablement véhiculée par la très belle voix de Guy Garvey, la mélancolie s'immisce alors dans tous les espaces laissés vacants. Le vertige n'est pas loin. --Fabrice Privé

See all Product Description

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

Moving Rock But Probably Not Everyone's Bag Mar 8 2005

By Alan Ranta

Format:Audio CD

It'd been my experience that the more you listen to Elbow, the better they get. When I was given their first album Asleep In The Back, I just had it on in the background while I read a book. Didn't really think too much about it considering how much my flatmate hyped them up. I liked the first track alright but it didn't throw me out of the chair. A week later I listened to it again but this time I really listened to it. "Hey! This is pretty good," I thought and listened to it twice more that day. I liked it more each time. The new album is made the same way. The first time I listened to it I didn't think it was as good as their first. Then I listened to it again and again and so will you.

It sounds a bit more polished than Asleep but is just as moving and it's a bit more psychedelic but just as powerful. Although Elbow sounds relatively familiar, they have a fairly timeless sound, not borrowing too heavily from any one decade's influences. While the first album tended to have a few more all out rock moments, Cast Of Thousands sees Garvey and company matured to a more composed and collected form. Their power lies in their simplicity...but it's pretty much pointless to try to fully explain the movement of Elbow. Their work just needs to be felt. Imagine that! Feelings still exist some 20 years after Satan launched his own channel, MTV. In the words of the Glastonbury 2002 crown at the end of "Grace Under Pressure," an amazingly moving song, "we still believe in love so f**k you!"

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

a thousand times better Jun 15 2004

By alexander laurence

Format:Audio CD

This band should never work. It is a band of misfits. They are from Manchester. They have been playing for years. They put out a very good album a few years ago. They have played to millions. Now they are doing the music that they always wanted to do. Guy Garvey is one of the most interesting dudes in music right now. He sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel. Garvey is no nonense. "Ribcage" comes on like a song played after the party is over. "Fallen Angel" is Elbow at their most intense. There is a lot of noise and experimenting on this record. Elbow is a hybrid of many conflicting ideas. "Not A Job" is a fine song. It combines quietness and mood. They have always been about making beautiful sounds and beauty.

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Awesome Jun 10 2004

By Gregorator

Format:Audio CD

Absolutely amazing. Intensely atmospheric, haunting, moving, mysterious, beautiful. I am so glad to have discovered Elbow thru Amazon's "people also bought..." lists! Much more interesting to me than South or Doves, and light-years beyond wanna-be's like Starsailor. I'd class them with Coldplay, though that group is far more pop-oriented; where Coldplay's music washes over you with its lyricism and grace, Elbow's got a deeply quiet forcefulness that makes you lean forward and listen hard. One of the best albums I've bought in years.

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Listmania!

1 star

4.0 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review