Elbow – Cast of Thousands (2003)

This was the first Elbow album I was ever aware of. I remember seeing the album cover many times in record shops and thinking that I should listen to it. But back then, it wasn't as simple as now to just listen to the album at home. Of course it would've been possible to get my hands on this album, but I just never did. I had maybe heard a song or two from this album around that time though, because I had an impression that this music was very strange and kind of difficult to approach. People wouldn't really say that about Elbow anymore now that they're one of the biggest bands in the UK, but at the time they were really obscure and alternative. It's great to think that a band that makes this obscure music could rise to become so popular at least here in the UK. There are a few more approachable songs on the album, which might have sparked interest more widely.



I finally bought this album along with its follower Leaders of the Free World online in a double CD pack. I regretted this as soon as the packet arrived. I had not realised that I didn't get these two albums separately packed in a same package, but I got both albums in the same album cover featuring both album arts in the same covers. The actual packaging is really ugly and I was really disappointed in this, since I really like the original cover. Fortunately for me though, the cover is in black and white, so I could photocopy it easily and now my album looks about what it should look like. The two characters in the cover were actually over 3 metres tall and they had been placed by the side of a motorway near Mansfield, but were later removed when people started reporting aliens on the side of the road.

The name of the album refers to the fact that the ending part of Grace Under Pressure was recorded at Glastonbury festival. The band asked people to report if they were in the audience and the band gave credits to all reported in their album sleeve.

The album starts with beeping and buzzing behind Guy Garvey's vocals in the song Ripcage. It sounds like everything is upside down in this song as the drums seem to beat the rhythm backwards compared to the rest of the music. This may have been the song I first heard from Elbow and it gave me the impression that the band is just plain weird. Fallen Angel is a bit more approachable pounding indie rock song that reminds me of fellow English band Doves. Fugitive Motel is probably my favourite song on the album. It has heartbreaking melancholic melodies that I'm really a fan of. Many of Elbow's later albums have similar songs to this one. Snooks (Progress Report) is a more rhythmic song with hardly any catchy melodies. There are some great strikes on electric guitar that sound a bit like metal pounding in a factory. Switching Off is a perfect hypnotic song to doze off to. The ending rises to great heights. Not a Job is one of the most approachable songs on the album. It has a gentle rhythm along with some very pleasant echoey piano sounds. Buttons and Zips almost sounds like some of the more experimental Blur songs. Crawling With Idiot is a glorious song with amazing electric guitars that could almost be called post-rock. The album ends with strange distorted circus sounds in Flying Dream 143.

The music video for Fallen Angel shows Elbow as a proper rock band. If you had just seen this video on MTV back in the day, you might have been in for a surprise hearing the rest of the album. The band is playing quite heavily and even their performance is quite lively. The video is mostly about the band performing the song on stage, but there are also sequences where Guy Garvey is destroying amplifiers and torturing his band members with very innovative ways. It's very entertaining to watch. The video ends with a true cartoon ending when a piano falls on Garvey.

Cast of Thousand is a prime example of just how experimental Elbow used to be at the beginning of their career. To be fair, I think this is their most experimental album, even more so than their debut. It's not necessarily my favourite, because for some reason I have really gotten attached to its follower Leaders of the Free World, but it's still a fantastic album.

Listen to the album on Spotify.