Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

The Seldom Seen Kid is the fourth studio album by British alternative rock band Elbow, originally released in March 2008 via Polydor Records.

Elbow are an English rock band consisting of Guy Garvey (vocals, guitar), Craig Potter (keyboard, piano, backing vocals), Mark Potter (guitar, backing vocals) and Pete Turner (bass guitar, backing vocals). They have played together since 1990, adopting the Elbow band name in 1997. The band have released seven studio albums prior to this new album, Asleep in the Back (2001), Cast of Thousands (2003), Leaders of the Free World (2005), The Seldom Seen Kid (2008), Build a Rocket Boys! (2011), The Take Off and Landing of Everything (2014), and Little Fictions (2017). Their studio albums have all reached the top 15 of the British album charts and in 2008, the band won the Mercury Music Prize for their album The Seldom Seen Kid, and in 2009 they won the Brit Award for Best British Group.

The Seldom Seen Kid is a welcome return from the band, driven by a thunderous riff that reminds listeners of Elbow's love of the heavy as well as the delicate.

Produced by keyboard player, Craig Potter, the album is the follow up to 2005's universally acclaimed Leaders of the Free World.

The lyrical core of the Seldom Seen Kid sees Guy Garvey address the key questions of life. The big themes of love and loss become the central focus of an album that sees Elbow, a band universally recognized for their musical ability and innovation, stretch their sonic template further than ever before.

We move from the sparse Electronic of “Starlings” through the flamenco influenced “The Bones of You” to the Zepellinesque Rock of the first single “Grounds for Divorce”.

The album debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart and won the Mercury Prize in 2008.

This double album 2LP record set is a 2012 reissue on black vinyl at 45 RPM housed in a gatefold sleeve, pressed in Europe via Polydor Records.