Colin Bartos is a music journalist formerly with The Michigan Daily who always has his ear cocked towards the shores of the U. K. for the most rad sounds not yet heard on these shores. He brings them to gemineye1969.com for your listening enjoyment!

Email Colin: cbartos@comcast.net


Elbow – “Leaders Of The Free World” (V2)

You’ll dig if you like: Coldplay, Keane, Radiohead, Doves

(4/5, or, “respect your mum, but rush out and get it”)

Rare or recommended tracks:

Leaders of the Free World [MP3] (8.51 MB)
Forget Myself [MP3] (8.12 MB)
McGreggor [MP3] (6.01 MB)
My Finger [MP3] (3.88 MB)

Elbow. My favorite underrated little English band that could. What do you get when you add beautiful soundscapes, glorious vocals, and a keen sense of wit? Apparently not record sales in the U.S. Unlike their highly likeable and equally talented counterparts Coldplay and Keane, Elbow, although possessing the same beautiful melodies and soaring vocals, have not made a dent on this side of the pond.

Their debut, “Asleep in the Back”, was gorgeous in its gloomy, tortoise-like rhythm and imagery. “Cast of Thousands” pepped up the sound a bit, yielding four hit singles in the UK and several large festival appearances for the band. “Leaders of the Free World” is Elbow’s third full-length player, and arguably their top and most accessible work to date. The album opens and rises with “Station Approach,” showcasing Guy Garvey’s soft, gravelly Peter Gabriel-esque voice. Over the course of fifty minutes, the mood of the album swings like a two-pack-a-day smoker on detox, but always stays true to the overall Elbow vision. Softer tracks like “The Stops” and “The Everthere” play nice and get along just fine with minimalist grooves like “Picky Bugger” and majestic tracks like “An Imagined Affair”.

Maybe it’s my love of guitar music, but the two best tracks on the record are the first two singles and loudest tracks Elbow has issued to date. “Forget Myself”, the first single, is a driving, upbeat, groovy track that instantly catches your attention – at first with the music, and then with the lyrics. Lines such as “He’s so mercifully free of the pressures of grace / He’s St Peter in satin / He’s like Buddha with mace” are classic Elbow, intelligent and funny at the same time. The title track, which is the current release single in the UK, is Elbow’s first take on politics. Although the band has been fairly outspoken against the war in Iraq and leaders like Tony Blair and George Dubya Bush, this is the first time they’ve put their views to record. The line “The leaders of the free world are just little boys throwing stones / And it’s easy to ignore ‘til they’re knocking on the door of your home” sums their take on world events pretty well.

Elbow has made a name for itself as a visual band, utilizing multimedia in their live shows and killer artwork on their albums and singles. To that end, the band has shot visuals for each and every song on the album and is making them available as a DVD that can be bought with the CD, or as a stand alone. They did the same in the UK for their last album “Cast Of Thousands”, which turned out very rad. Watching the visuals while listening to the songs is definitely a cool way to digest the album.

While not Album of the Year, “Leaders of the Free World” is a solid effort which, in a perfect world, would put Elbow on equal footing with Coldplay and Keane. Maybe it’s better this way. Keep rooting for the underdog.

Colin Bartos
February 20, 2006

Arctic Monkeys – “Whatever They Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (Domino Recording Co.)
You’ll dig if you like: Supergrass, Bloc Party, The Libertines

(5/5, or, “step over your mother to grab a copy”)

Rare or recommended tracks:

Fake Tales of San Francisco [MP3] (3.39 MB)
Mardy Bum [MP3] (3.35 MB)
Bigger Boys & Stolen Sweethearts (B Side) [MP3] (6.81 MB)
Settle For a Draw (B Side) [MP3] (5.56 MB)

The British hype machine is a funny thing, you know. A hundred bands go in through the mouth and only a few come out the other side not smelling of shite. The Arctic Monkeys are the latest and greatest band to be hyped beyond belief, rage against the machine, and actually live up to expectations.

As many bands do nowadays, the Monkeys learned that the internet is a powerful musical force. They leaked demo recordings online and played a bunch of shows around England way before they even inked a deal. By the time they signed with Domino to release their first full length player, the Monkeys were already the “next big thing”, with their frenetic live shows and energetic demos blazing a trail across the country.

The Monkeys released their first single, a danceable little tune, called “I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor” in October, and the single went straight to #1 in the UK. Their second single, “When The Sun Goes Down”, the jagged tale of a “scummy man” and his penchant for “girls of the night” went to #1 in the UK as well. By the time the LP was released in late January, it became the largest selling debut in the UK with first week sales of over 360,000 ( ”Whatever They Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” sees a stateside release on February 21, 2006).

So what do they sound like, you may ask? Well, one can hear the wit and groove of Supergrass, the energy of Bloc Party, and the rockin’ swagger of a more polished Libertines – at times all together in one song. The rhythms are catchy as hell, and the lyrics are witty and comical. Most of the songs center around observations about pub life, such as “Dancing Shoes”, which chronicles the mating ritual of males and females at the club, “Riot Van”, a slow-tempo story of a scuffle with the “silly boys in blue” after the bar, and “Still Take You Home”, which attempts to knock the ego of the barchick down just a little bit:

“It’s ever so funny, I don’t think you’re special I don’t think you’re cool
You’re just probably alright, but under these lights you look beautiful
But I’m struggling, I can’t see through your fake tan
And you know it for a fact that everybody’s eating out of your hands
What do you know?
you know nothing
But I'll still take you home”

Another standout is “From The Ritz To The Rubble”, another bar tale centering on the best laid plans of drunk mice and men:

“Last night what we talked about made so much sense
but now the haze has ascended
it don’t make no sense anymore”

Honestly, there isn’t a bad song in the bunch – another rarity in the today’s age of two hit songs and a bunch of filler. Start to finish, all gems. You owe it to yourself to grab a copy.

"You know, it’s a funny thing you know,” the Arctic Monkeys sing on “A Certain Romance”, the last track of their excellent new disc “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not”. It’s funny to me the public got it right this time and is extolling the virtues of a band that deserves the praise. I’m excited to see what the future holds for the Arctic Monkeys, especially in America.

Colin Bartos
February 14, 2006