Best and Worst from each Album

What's your favourite and least favourite song from each album?
Mine:

Best...
Asleep in the Back - Asleep in the Back
Cast of Thousands - Fugative Motel
Leaders of the Free World - Station Approach
The Seldom Seen Kid - Mirrorball
Build A Rocket Boys - Dear Friends

Worst...
Asleep in the Back - Any Day Now
Cast of Thousands - Grace Under Pressure (I'm not counting Flying Dream 143, as I feel it's not meant to be a good song as such.)
Leader's of the Free World - Mexican Standoff
The Seldom Seen Kid - The Fix
Build A Rocket Boys - Jesus is a Rochdale Girl

Feel free to discuss!

I'll play! Mainly because so much of your worst list was in contention for my best list!

Best...
Asleep in the Back - Any Day Now
Cast of Thousands - I've Got Your Number
Leaders of the Free World - Station Approach (or Mexican Standoff? Or Great Ex?)
The Seldom Seen Kid - Friend of Ours (or The Fix, if I'm not in the mood for that)
Build A Rocket Boys - The Birds

Worst...
Asleep in the Back - Presuming Ed (Rest Easy)
Cast of Thousands - Crawling With Idiot
Leader's of the Free World - An Imagined Affair / The Everthere (always stood out as the 2 weak tracks to me - in fact thinking about it, maybe the only 2 songs in the whole Elbow catalogue that feel like "filler")
The Seldom Seen Kid - One Day Like This (sue me. I like songs that require more than one listen, growers. Songs written to be singles aren't my bag)
Build A Rocket Boys - Open Arms (see previous)

Picking worst tracks is hard as Elbow can take pride in trying to do something with every song they put onto record.

Best...
(It's truly diffificult to pick one particular favourite song from an album where all the songs are equally great and I think Elbow's got at least three albums like that...)

Asleep in the Back - Powder Blue/Red
Cast of Thousands - Fugitive Motel
Leaders of the Free World - Great Expectations
The Seldom Seen Kid - Friend of Ours/Mirrorball/The Fix
Build A Rocket Boys - Dear Friends/Lippy Kids


Worst...
Asleep in the Back - Coming Second
Cast of Thousands - Buttons and Zips
Leader's of the Free World - Picky Bugger
The Seldom Seen Kid - Starlings (I choose this one as my least favourite only because the trumpets sound way too loud for me...)
Build A Rocket Boys - The Birds (Reprise)

Best...

Newborn - AITB
Fugitive Motel - COT
Great Expectations - LOTFW
Friend Of Ours - TSSK
Dear Friends - barb!

Worst...

Little Beast - AITB
Crawling with idiot - COT
Mexican Standoff - LOTFW
Audience with the Pope - TSSK
The Birds (reprise) - barb!

Best:
Newborn
Fugitive Motel
My very Best
Tower crane driver
The Birds

worst (or I rather say least favorite)
Powder Blue
Grace under Pressure
An imagined affair
One day like this
Open arms

Outstanding:

Scattered Black and Whites
Switching Off
Great Expectations
Mirrorball
The Birds

Not so Great:

Red
Grace Under Pressure
My Very Best
Audience with the Pope
With Love

All the songs I used to always pass over by the band have become some of my favorites. The biggest offender was Snooks (Progress Report). Now there's a bit of a charm to it, especially the ba da da dum dums.

Best:
AITB - Scattered Black and Whites
CoT - Not a Job/Whisper Grass
LotFW - Picky Bugger ... kind of funny for me to see this be placed for the worst on more than one list
TSSK - Tower Crane Driver
barb! - The Birds

Least favorite:
AITB - Coming Second
CoT - Crawling with Idiot
LotFW - My Very Best
TSSK - The Fix
barb! - The Birds (reprise)

The songs aren't horrible, but they're the ones I have the tendency to skip over if I'm not listening to the albums in full.

ukkonen wrote:

LotFW - Picky Bugger ... kind of funny for me to see this be placed for the worst on more than one list

Same, and same for me with new born who is the best on a lot of lists

Best :

Asleep in the Back - Red, Powder Blue
Cast of Thousands - Fugitive Motel
Leaders of the Free world - hard to say, love them all but maybe Picky Bugger or Station Approach
The Seldom seen kid - Some Riot
BARB - Open Arms



Worse :

Asleep in the Back - New Born (yes I hate this track, it bores me, don't understand why people love it)
Cast of Thousands - All except maybe not a job ( lol, don't like this album...)
Leaders of the Free world - Hard to say, love them all, but maybe great expectations
The Seldom seen kid - Friend of ours
BARB - Jesus Is a Rochdale Girl

Open arms wrote:

ukkonen wrote:

LotFW - Picky Bugger ... kind of funny for me to see this be placed for the worst on more than one list

Same, and same for me with new born who is the best on a lot of lists

Best :

Asleep in the Back - Red, Powder Blue
Cast of Thousands - Fugitive Motel
Leaders of the Free world - hard to say, love them all but maybe Picky Bugger or Station Approach
The Seldom seen kid - Some Riot
BARB - Open Arms



Worse :

Asleep in the Back - New Born (yes I hate this track, it bores me, don't understand why people love it)
Cast of Thousands - All except maybe not a job ( lol, don't like this album...)
Leaders of the Free world - Hard to say, love them all, but maybe great expectations
The Seldom seen kid - Friend of ours
BARB - Jesus Is a Rochdale Girl

Wow Open Arms ! - the worst, Newborn, Great Expectations and Friend Of Ours !

Probably my 3 favourite songs by the boys !

Goes to sit down in a darkened room

Just shows you what certain songs mean to certain people and that we are all different !

My Bury Vest wrote:

Just shows you what certain songs mean to certain people and that we are all different !

Yeah,definitely.This thread is becoming more and more interesting as we now see even though we all love Elbow's music,our opinions and feelings can vary greatly.

Great Expectations and Friend of Ours have both made me cry a couple of times.Great Expectations is definitely on top of my favourite Elbow songs list.

For Great expectations it was very hard to say as I love all the songs of this album, it's still a song I like a lot but as I had to choose...

Yes it's very interesting to see the different opinions ^^
If we all had the same tastes, there will be just a few bands on earth and those few bands would have ALL people fans of them, that would be too difficult to assume

Maybe I don't appreciate the songs the same way as you do because I'm french, it takes some times to me before undurstanding the meaning of some songs,
so I tend to base my first judgement on the melody and not lyrics, except for a few ones like some riot and Open arms where I really love the touching lyrics.
This is the best explanation I can find for our taste differences.

Yeah, Great Expectations and Newborn are my top 2 songs of all time by anyone, ever - however what shoots it even more into the stratosphere for me, is that Guy's talking about the scene, on GE - a bus (135 Bury to Manchester) ride I've been on a million times in my life, so can really visualise the lyrics even more.

I agree with Open Arms that any song by anyone first has to hit me with the melody, generally.

Open arms wrote:

Maybe I don't appreciate the songs the same way as you do because I'm french, it takes some times to me before undurstanding the meaning of some songs,
so I tend to base my first judgement on the melody and not lyrics, except for a few ones like some riot and Open arms where I really love the touching lyrics.
This is the best explanation I can find for our taste differences.

funnily enough I do exactly the same, even though I'm English.
A song with a great tune but crap lyrics is far more likely to move me than a song with a crap tune and great lyrics. I have a friend who's the opposite - the lyrics mean more to him than the music.

Although thankfully Elbow have both, most of the time

Lee
can't be bothered to do the list thing

Ooh, tough one!

Amaaazing:
AITB - Scattered Black and Whites
COT - Switching Off
Leaders - My Very Best (I'm having some difficulty with this as this is my favourite album ever and I have a few favourites on this: Picky Bugger, An Imagined Affair, Great Ex, Station Approach...)
SSK - WEATHER TO FLY my absolute fave!
BARB - High Ideals / The Birds (can't choose)

Meh:
AITB - Powder Blue
COT - I've Got Your Number
Leaders - The Stops
SSK - Audience With The Pope
BARB - The Birds Reprise (although, does that really count?)


I think it's great to see so many different opinions, it shows how diverse the fanbase is!


Can I just make an honourable mention of: Gentle As, Lay Down Your Cross, My Finger and The Long war Shuffle - all in my favourites too!

don't understand the lack of love for crawling with idiot... the idiot>grace duo is the absolute highlight of CoT for me, just perfection. unto each their own I guess!

fav:
aitb - scattered black and whites
cot - crawling with idiot
lotfw - the stops
tssk - friend of ours
barb - neat little rows

least fav:
aitb - coming second
cot - buttons and zips
lotfw - leaders of the free world
tssk - audience with the pope
barb - with love

i should probably also add that imho scattered black and whites is one of the finest songs ever written. the lyrics are just... well let's just say that very few pieces of music make me proper tearful. guy garvey has it... jane taylor has it... can't think of any more off top of head

fascinating to read everyone else's fav / least fav. do carry on

My very best
AITB: Scattered Black And Whites
COT: Switching Off
LOTFW: Great Expectations
TSSK: Mirrorball
BARB: The Birds

Second on my list of things to play
AITB: Don't Mix Your Drinks
COT: Flying Dream 143
LOTFW: Picky Bugger
TSSK: Audience With The Pope
BARB: The River

Favourite track: Scattered Black And Whites
Favourite Album (ever): Leaders
Least Favourite elbow Album : BARB

best
asleep in the back - powder blue
cast of thousands - fugitive motel
leaders of the free world - forget myself
the seldom seen kid - bones of you
build a rocket boys - the birds

worst
asleep in the back - can't stop
cast of thousands - lay down your cross
leaders of the free world - puncture repair
the seldom seen kid - the fix
build a rocket boys - the river

best
asleep in the back - powder blue
cast of thousands - fugitive motel
leaders of the free world - great expectations
the seldom seen kid - some riot
build a rocket boys - the birds

worst
asleep in the back - coming second
cast of thousands - buttons and zips
leaders of the free world - an imagined affair
the seldom seen kid - the fix
build a rocket boys - with love

Well, I try...
best
asleep in the back - Red
cast of thousands - Switching off
leaders of the free world - great expectations
the seldom seen kid - The bones of you
build a rocket boys - Neat little rows
worst
asleep in the back - can't stop
cast of thousands - Snooks (progress report)
leaders of the free world - Puncture repair
the seldom seen kid - Friend of ours
build a rocket boys - The birds (reprise)

Best
AITB - Scattered Black and Whites
COT - Switching Off
LOTFW - Great Expectations
SSK - Friend of Ours (Weather to Fly is a close second!)
BARB! - Dear Friends

Less appreciated...
AITB - Little Beast
COT - I've Got Your Number
LOTFW - An Imagined Affair
SSK - An Audience with the Pope
BARB! - The Birds (reprise)

And I have to say best B-side is a tie between Lucky with Disease, Stumble and George Lassos the Moon. Great idea PunctureRepair, and really interesting to see everyone's choices !

Another funny thing I notice, a LOT of you don't like the fix, it's one of my fave and it brings memory cause I started to learn bass guitar with this song. I like the 2 voices on it, the rythme and lyrics.


Other funny detail, a lot of you seem to like scattered black and whites, but this song bores me.

So yes, so different opinions are funny.

Faves:

Asleep in the Back: Newborn (although the title track comes mightily close)
Cast of Thousands: Not a Job
Leaders of the Free World: Great Expectations
The Seldom Seen Kid: Starlings/Mirrorball lyrically, Friend of Ours for its sentiment
build a rocket boys! : Dear Friends but I have really grown to love Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl

Least favourite:

Asleep in the Back: Presuming Ed
Cast of Thousands: Flying Dream 143 (I know it's less than two minutes but I just don't feel it needs to be there, the chants of Grace Under Pressure and the fact it inspired the album title should end it)
Leaders of the Free World: Puncture Repair (controversial, I love the lyrics but otherwise I find it quite repetitive, I don't think there's a bad song otherwise)
The Seldom Seen Kid: The Fix (good song but just doesn't fit the theme of the album)
build a rocket boys! : With Love (tacky, think it was made solely for the purpose of arenas)

You look like paying a lot of intention to the lyrics.
If someone could explain to me why great expectations and new born are so much appreciated by all of us, it would be awesome
maybe I just didn't catch the song properly...


And I think it could be a good idea to do something like an array, a statistic thing with all songs already voted here to have a global sight of the songs appreciation. ( Arf, my english is so poor I'm not sure I managed to be understood this time x) if anybody does it, I'll try to do one and update it each time a people adds his tastes )

Open arms wrote:

You look like paying a lot of intention to the lyrics.
If someone could explain to me why great expectations and new born are so much appreciated by all of us, it would be awesome
maybe I just didn't catch the song properly...


And I think it could be a good idea to do something like an array, a statistic thing with all songs already voted here to have a global sight of the songs appreciation. ( Arf, my english is so poor I'm not sure I managed to be understood this time x) if anybody does it, I'll try to do one and update it each time a people adds his tastes )

Newborn is an incredible song. The two parts work together seemlessly and the last minute of the song is without question the most epic thing the music industry has ever given man.
I've never loved Great Expectations as everyone on the forum seems to, but it's one of the better one's on the album.

As for the statistics thing, everyone could list their top 10 favourite songs, and points could be awarded each song, 10 points for number one, 9 points for number 2 etc.
That way it takes into account all of the songs in the list.
But it'd be a heck of a lot of work to tally them all up.
Just an idea.

Open arms wrote:

You look like paying a lot of intention to the lyrics.
If someone could explain to me why great expectations and new born are so much appreciated by all of us, it would be awesome
maybe I just didn't catch the song properly...

I like Great Expectations (and also Newborn) very much mainly because of the music and Guy's singing.For me,it's always the music,or say the melody that comes first.I usually start looking into the lyrics only when I really like the music.If the music sounds poor,no matter how great the lyrics are,it still is a poor song to me.