Record / CD / Tape
Elbow
2002

My children play in a number of local musical groups and so I've been to many concerts......in fact two just this week...and this week's concerts, like many others, have included a variety of ensembles from strings to brass to percussion...etc. Whilst you could always guarantee the inclusion of the James Bond theme or a Motown Medley in the repertoire of at least one of the groups, I never imagined that I would regularly sit through varying renditions of 'One Day Like This' by Elbow. As I sit there with a wry smile on my face I fancifully imagine the next group of youngsters to walk on to the stage might have a stab at 'Bingo Master's Breakout'. This has yet to happen. But what it seems to suggest is that Elbow are on their way to becoming National Treasures.

Rewind 17 years and I'm working at Manchester University and a colleague of mine, knowing about my obsession with music, keeps me regularly informed about her friend's group, now called Elbow. We look excitedly at their first web site and one day she brings in a CD, the Noisebox EP and I remember very clearly sticking it in the side of the Mac I had on my desk, not expecting too much, but within a few bars of 'Powder Blue' I was hooked. I'd never heard anything quite like it.

I know very little about this 'sampler' CD. I got it in 2002 and I think it was produced primarily to introduce Elbow to the US market, but I may be wrong. It's a bit of an oddity in that amongst the 11 tracks there are instrumental versions of 'Powder Blue' and 'Asleep in the Back'.....otherwise known as karaoke versions if, like me, you can't help but sing along!