'Cast of Thousands' by Elbow

‘Cast of Thousands’ is the second album by Elbow, following their debut, ‘Asleep In The Back’. It demonstrates an important step of progression in Elbow’s career. It has more ambition than its predecessor, and it aims firmly for greatness.

It goes some way to achieving it’s aim. ‘Fallen Angel’ is a fantastic blast of noise, ‘Fugitive Motel’ is a trademark Elbow ballad, and many of the other tracks have moments of greatness. The album also sets the Elbow template which would serve them so well later, with ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’: a slow building epic to start the album, and a great big sing-along to finish. ‘Grace Under Pressure’ would go on to be hugely outclassed by ‘One Day Like This’, but as an album closer in it’s own right, it does a good job. Outside the highlights, however, the album suffers slightly. Too many songs drag for slightly too long, and the album as a whole has less variety than their first, or those that would follow. It’s likely that this can be attributed to the fact the album was written more quickly than the first, and released by a band still honing their craft. If this is so, it’s good illustration of the need for bands to be allowed to grow at their own pace. The journey begun with ‘Cast Of Thousands’ has already produced two albums much better than this one, and I would hope there are more to come. For this reason alone, any shortcomings on this record can be overlooked: in any case, it’s still, on balance, a good album.