The Take Off And Landing Of Everything-Album Review

How does a band follow up a Mercury Prize winning album?

Elbow have continuously flown the flag with pride for British music. The Mercury Prize winning The Seldom Seen Kid gained Platinum status and famously remained in the UK album charts for 3 years. An impressive feat. But how does a band follow up an album such as The Seldom Seen Kid? Was the answer Build a Rocket Boys? In my opinion, no it was not. Though a fine album, it seemed to reduce the noise of the band and become somewhat of a Guy Garvey solo album. This was made evident through the chronicling Garvey’s youth in songs such as Lippy Kids that were so riddle with nostalgia that it felt like the soundtrack to a Hovis Advert. The B-Side compilation Dead in the Boot was not the answer either. It certainly was an excellent B-side compilation album and felt like far more than a stop-gap between albums, but lacked the characteristics that had made The Seldom Seen Kid and Leaders of the Free World the excellent albums that they are. Don’t get me wrong, Dead in the Boot and Build A Rocket Boys are both fine albums, they merely lacked the same qualities demonstrated in The Seldom Seen Kid. I am not suggesting that Elbow simply should have released an album of “stadium anthems”, because that would be an awful waste of talent.

Keep calm and buy this Album.

But there is an answer to how does a band follow up a Mercury Prize winning album and, though it may have taken Elbow two releases to discover the answer, Elbow have indeed answered the question; The Take Off and Landing Of Everything. This album was not released for the next big hit, such as One Day Like This, but for the masses of fans who have come to appreciate and love Elbow’s distinctive and pleasant sound. Garvey sticks, lyrically, to themes and topics close to his heart. The album’s second track ,Charge, charts Garvey’s irritation with being from “Another Century”, he puts it, whilst trying to remain relevant and, though this is certainly not an attempt to create the next anthem, one can’t help but imagine “Glory be these fuckers are ignoring me” being chanted by the masses at a festival or arena. The album’s opening track This Blue World almost seems the opposite to One Day Like This both tonally and with respects to the lyrical content, which concerns Garvey’s split from long-time girlfriend Jane Unsworth. Though a gentle and soft song, This Blue World paints the image of the morning after One Day Like This when everything has gone to shit. But don’t be deterred if you dislike any slightly depressing music, the album has plenty of pleasant cheerful moments.

Though I personally found some criticism to be unfounded, such as the band being boring and unchanged *cough* NME *cough*, it is obvious the Garvey has a tendency to slip into a discussion of his love of all things booze related. It is arguable that this is relevant in an album that concerns going through and overcoming a mid-life crisis, but it wears thin after a while. In fact, six of the ten songs contain references to, to borrow a phrase from Roger the Alien, “The Devils Nectar”. A few of the compositions did feel rather reminiscent of some Elbow classics. Fly Boy Blues certainly emulated the sheer epic riffs found in Grounds for Divorce or Leaders of the Free World whilst This Blue World “borrows” a small section of One Day Like This as the Guitar climbs its way back down the major pentatonic.

The Take Off And Landing Of Everything is a good album, there is no doubt. It is not however as “friendly” as The Seldom Seen Ki” and perhaps not the best place for a budding Elbow fan to start. Despite this, a solid album deserving of a solid score, The Take Off And Landing Of Everything earns its 8/10 rating.