It's ... (the grudgingly positive review)

Perhaps prompted by their brief appearance on the London Olympics Closing Show, we present Elbow's 2008 album The Seldom Seen Kid.  And I've chosen to introduce it with a link to a grudgingly positive review by someone who just doesn't doesn't like the band in the first place! (Even if you don't care to read about the album, his review is a fun read.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/mar/14/popandrock.shopping
 
The Seldom Seen Kid is a terrific listen, somewhat nostalgic in its soundscape, and very much in the lyrical rather than the rocking camp.  To calibrate your thinking, it reminds me very much of Sting's The Dream of the Blue Turtles.  One thing you've got to hand to Sting was that he released some damn fine-sounding recordings.  Elbow shares those values.  In fact, when releasing The Seldom Seen Kid, Elbow made a lot of noise about the Loudness War and how they were having nothing to do with it.  As a result, Kid is unusually dynamic for a modern commercial recording, and rewards playback on a high-performance audio system.

Enjoy....