build a rocket boys!

Sitting at work, (shouldn't be on here lol)
first listen on drive this morning - thoroughly enjoyed it. Will take me a few listens to
appreicate all the subtleties but i'd already give it an overwhelming thumbs up !

Some parts of the album are almost 'musical score' like if you know what i mean - shades of West Side story knocking about / Age of Aquarius type of thing - you know that upbeat kind of lift you get - (or is it just me again!) Anyway, enough of that.

Its really good, The Birds vocal is a bit difficult to make out - Turned my car stereo up to 15 lol.
Nothing in particular that bothers me - looking forward to the drive home - its gonna be a long Monday !

MagicalTrevor wrote:

Guy tweeted this earlier in regard to the vinyl:

http://twitter.com/#!/Guy_Garvey/statuses/44050641076760576

Yeah, they really should be sorting the vinyl buyers out with a download ASAP.

sparky wrote:

LongLegs wrote:

I agree, disappointed in the 'Deluxe' version. love Oliver's drawings, I thought there were videos, or did I just make that up?

The videos (The River, Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl & Dear Friends) are on the itunes "bonus track version".

They're in the iTunes shop as "album only" - I hope they'll be available separately sometime for those of us that have already bought and paid for the "deluxe" CD.

Like Sparky I don't want to detract from the wonderufl album and wonderful artwork, but I draw the line at buying an album twice and having different bonuses all over the place really isn't fair. Ah well, I'll just have to go and listen to this gorgeous album again to calm myself down.

It drives me absolutely bonkers why are there 3 different versions? So I bought the deluxe physical copy, but I need to now pay for the itunes one so I can get the videos?

God knows who thinks of this stuff, record label people baffle me most days, but this is frustating.

Rant over, Mondays are for drinking to....barb!

evilpixie wrote:

We've played the album several times now. Good work boys and well done Craig for making Mrs Pixie's dad's old stereo sound so good. Shame you replaced our vocals with the Halle Youth Choir but we forgive you. Still think ours was better though!

I second that, we were a lot better! haha

Well I bought the album deluxe version today from ITunes and after it being on repeat since ten o clock this morning my favourite are currently Open Arms (thats one hell of an anthem right there), Dear Friends and The Night Will Always win, I gotta say though, the whole album is absolutely incredible, they've done it again

well i pre-ordered the album but it didnt come today and i couldnt wait so had to pop to asda for a copy, thats two of the standard versions then. ah well one for me and one mr. nellie.

ive just realized i have at least two copies of each of their albums anyway!

I've just listened to this album for the first time and my worries of them chasing more success after Seldom have been completely erased. Extraordinary album, the songs are very melodic and are full of absolute beauty through out. This is very much an album full of hidden gems, just waiting to be unravelled and it is an album that will only get better with each listen in my opinion. My favourite song is hard to pick at the moment although 'The birds,' 'lippy kids,' 'open arms' 'jesus is a rochdale girl' and 'the night will always win' have all taken my breathe away. However i'm still not to sure what to think of 'With love' I think they haven't given themselves enough for it to build to the epic ending which it has, maybe i need to listen to it more to enjoy it.

Overall i'll give the album at the moment an 8/10. Well done lads, phenomenal album

I live in the east coast of the USA and received my deluxe copy today from HMV (shipped on March 2nd). I wasn't expecting it to come in the mail so soon, because I was still waiting for my NLR vinyl! Both arrived today, so I'm a very pleased Elbow fan today.

About the album: the only 'grower' for me on the first listen was "The River", everything else won me over right away. I've been listening to it for almost a week now and all I have to say is that it's a beautiful album. Well done, elboys. However, having the lyrics in front of me now made me realize how unbelievably hard it is to understand Guy on this album. I've never had such difficulty with the lyrics before. :/

ukkonen wrote:

I live in the east coast of the USA and received my deluxe copy today from HMV (shipped on March 2nd).

In Baltimore, I got mine as well from HMV today. I went with the regular edition.

Unfortunately, the CD came un-shrinkwrapped, and it has an HMV sticker I can't remove slapped in the middle of the front of the jewel case.

The former, fortunately, vastly outweighs the latter.

LongLegs wrote:

It drives me absolutely bonkers why are there 3 different versions? So I bought the deluxe physical copy, but I need to now pay for the itunes one so I can get the videos?

God knows who thinks of this stuff, record label people baffle me most days, but this is frustating.

Rant over, Mondays are for drinking to....barb!

Humble, unasked-for suggestion: watch the videos at a friend's house or something. Buying both copies tells the labels that we're all suckers. The exclusivity of iTunes blows pretty hard.

On topic: I'm electing to hold on to the album, unopened, until I graduate in May. So I'm loving hearing everyone's positive reviews.

Amazon.ca only SHIPPED mine today, and it'll prob take ages

In at number 2, as predicted by Mark. Nice one!

Record store doesn't get the album in until the weekend

I'm loving UK imports...
Just listened to it the first time and quite frankly I'm speechless. In a positive way. It blew me away listening to it. It's typical Elbow and yet so much more.

I just LOVE it.

Can't say more for now. Maybe after a while.

THANKS boys.... for such a bright star in music heaven

You're the reason I'll never make music. It can't get better!

i bought the album this morning.

yes, i like it, but it doesn't match the magic of the previous record. BARB! sounds a bit like a compromise solution between the classic Elbow style and the necessity to play the songs in front of many people.
for example i think all that choruses on Open Arms are constrained, d'you know what i mean?

and...where is Mark on this record? i love Mark, he's a great guitarist.
BARB! is basically the record of Guy+Craig.

Of course i havent stopped listening to BARB,loving it, especially the birds. But ehm has anyone else spotted that high ideals has almost the same keyboard sound effect thing as a track from the ABC lexicon of love album called 4 ever 2 gether?! Showing my age and 80s pop dark secrets in my collection i know!

Dano wrote:

i bought the album this morning.

yes, i like it, but it doesn't match the magic of the previous record. BARB! sounds a bit like a compromise solution between the classic Elbow style and the necessity to play the songs in front of many people.
for example i think all that choruses on Open Arms are constrained, d'you know what i mean?

and...where is Mark on this record? i love Mark, he's a great guitarist.
BARB! is basically the record of Guy+Craig.

Well, that's what I said. Elbow and yet so much more.

Please, don't start another discussion about Elbow becoming mainstream. If they would sound excactly the same way they did 10 years ago you would't be happy either....



The only song that didn't click after First time listening was high ideals, but that has nothing to say.

Just putting this out there: is barb! elbow's weakest album, lyrically?

Don't get me wrong, I love it. Musically it is up there with their best, but lyrically...?

Misspelt Yoof wrote:

Just putting this out there: is barb! elbow's weakest album, lyrically?

Don't get me wrong, I love it. Musically it is up there with their best, but lyrically...?

That's my impression after just a couple of listens but, as with all elbow albums, I find that they need a little more time to grow for me. I'm sure the subtleties of the lyrics will reveal themselves over time to me.

I've struggled musically with it too. Maybe I was over excited about it but on first listen |I was quite disappointed. Nothing gave me the hair raising thrill of the opening of Starlings, or the gut kicking riff from GfD, the soar of ODLT or humour of Tower Crane Driver or The Fix.

It's coming together for me now. It's still elbow and I know it will grow. It's just a more subtle album than TSSK. These early niggles are usually a good sign for me. It means it will be an album that I will play for years and not just 6 months.

Interesting. So far I've connected with BARB (most of the songs anyway) both musically and lyrically much more immediately than I did with TSSK. It took seeing them live before I really got into that one. Possibly I think TSSK represented a shift in the "feel" of their albums from their first three, and having got used to that I was more ready for BARB??

Glendarian wrote:

I think TSSK represented a shift in the "feel" of their albums from their first three, and having got used to that I was more ready for BARB??

BARB definitely has some of the feel of the earlier albums. More restrained and minimalist in approach. TSSK was a much more immediate album for me. Possibly 'cos Guy was in the first flush of love. I loved it from the start and still do. It'll just take longer for BARB to sink in, which is no bad thing.

I've only listened to it a dozen times or so, and it is definately a grower. First few listens kind of washed over me, but that is often the case with Elbow. As of now, I much prefer BARB to SSK - but then that was my least favourite ELbow release. Not everything clicks, but the more I have listened I have picked up more and more little details of sound and lyric. Subtle joys abound. This is a mature, majestic record, but not ponderous - quite an achievement. To be honest BARB is better than I dared to hope.
Finally - and this is important - the boys are speaking with a truly northern voice. Not the caricature of Gallagher's northern lads (who live in London now anyway), but something far deeper. The lyrical details, the broader themes, and the actual musical mood - all looking at the world with a northern perspective perhaps. In this age of homogenisation, BARB stands out. Perhaps as someone who was born and brought up in Manchester but who has spent almost all his adult life "darn sarth" I am particular attuned to this, who knows?

Anyway, currently loving a lot:
The Birds
Lippy Kids
Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl
High Ideals
The River (the one with the Eno vibe?)
Open Arms (the nearest we get to populist lighter waving, but who cares, I love it.)
Dear Friends

Loving a bit:
With Love
Neat Little Rows

Not quite so sure:
The Night Will Always Win (Maybe I just need to give this more time, I can't quite work out what I don't love about this one)
The Birds (reprise) OK - but it kind of labours the point.

I'm really happy with the first four tracks,
Jesus isn't doing much for me at the moment, which may be contraversial
to some - I don't mind the song that much, just puts a bit of a break in the album.
The Night Will Win has grown on me, High Ideal is good,
The River , i find a bit flouncy / biblical ??
Open Arms i can live with.
Dear Friends is a good closer.

If you burn a copy like me - add in Ticker Tape somewhere and your good to go

To put it in the words of Q magazine: another EXCELLENT Elbow record!

The track that got me on the first listen was the Birds. Just brilliant in every way. 8 minutes of perfection. Lippy kids is even more emotional, High Ideal was very unique, and Open arms is another great Anthem.

The only disappointments I had with it was "the night will always win". Call me stupid but with a title like that I was expecting something really dark & proggy like 'Coming second' or 'Any Day now'. But the Birds easily makes up for it! Although I found the Reprise a bit odd. I was hoping for a proper part 2, but it was more like flying dream/puncture repair type song in a lot of ways.

But anyhow, another great one from the guys. Though like many have said, it certainly a grower of an album. I'll bet I'll love more tracks as time goes on (I was exactly the same with all the albums to be honest)

And howa bout the album version of NLR?? F**king killer right there! Don't get me wrong, I liked the song at first, but it seemed to be missing something. But the 5 minute plus version on the album is amazing! Why they cut it for radio is beyond me, yet it made the album version that much more rewarding!