The Take Off and Landing of Everything
The Take Off and Landing of Everything | ||||
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Salford | ||||
Genre | ||||
Length | 56:51 | |||
Craig Potter | ||||
Elbow chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Take Off and Landing of Everything | ||||
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The Take Off and Landing of Everything is the sixth studio album by English rock band Elbow, released in the UK, Europe, and Australia through Fiction Records and Polydor Records on 10 March 2014[5] and in the US on Concord Records on 11 March 2014.
Originally recorded with the working title of All at Once[6] and then renamed Carry Her, Carry Me[7] after a line in closing track "The Blanket of Night", the band changed their mind shortly before the album's release and settled on naming the album after one of its tracks. Singer Guy Garvey explained, "It's to do with the fact that there have been [so many] life events. There are five members of the band—people have split up, got together, had children. It never stops, this stuff. Especially round the [age of] 40 mark... and yet I wanted to remain celebratory about that. Everybody's feeling relief, with remorse, next to joy, next to loss. But I think laughing very hard and worrying very little is a good way to keep young."[8]
Writing and composition
Garvey split up with his long-term girlfriend, journalist and novelist Emma Jane Unsworth, during the making of the album, which led him to revise some of the album's lyrics. Talking about the album's opening track, "This Blue World", Garvey originally stated, "It's almost saying, everything from the beginning of time was leading up to the day we met. So that's very romantic, but something I'm fond of doing, when I'm offering a huge romantic gesture, is to point out the realities as well." After the break-up, he said that the song "was about this mythical mix of ex-girlfriends, it's really about her, it's this prophetic thing. I added some lyrics at the end, about imagining her going on and having a family without me, which is tough to swallow."[5]
Unsworth also influenced some of the album's other tracks: she suggested the title of "My Sad Captains" from a line in
"The Blanket of Night" is about a refugee couple attempting to travel to another country by boat.[5][11] "Charge" is the story of an ageing man drinking in his regular bar, and complaining about the lack of respect shown to him by the bar's younger patrons.[12] Garvey admitted that "the character from the song is definitely me but a bit older".[13] He said that the album's title track, written after the amicable ending of his relationship with Unsworth, had been "born of our love for space rock, prog, Primal Scream and Spiritualized"[8] and that he had wanted the song's lyrics "to be a celebration, not just of the throes of great relationships but of the timely end of things. The landings are as important as the take-offs."[11]
For the first time in their career, Elbow did not write the album together as a group, with band members composing songs separately and bringing them to the other members when they were almost completed. Keyboard player and producer
Recording
The group spent the first two weeks of the album's recording at
As with the songwriting, Elbow broke with their traditional method of recording together as a group, and—on the advice of an engineer at Abbey Road Studios—they instead recorded their parts separately at different times in the studio.[15]
Release and promotion
The album was released in three versions: CD, deluxe
On Record Store Day on 19 April 2014 Elbow released "Charge" as a 7" single, limited to 1000 copies. This single featured the song on the A-side and an etching of the album cover instead of a song on the B-side.[17]
Reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Pitchfork | 6.2/10[25] |
Q | [26] |
Slant Magazine | [27] |
The Take Off and Landing of Everything has received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 80 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[18] Many critics praised the band for moving on from the previous success as the last two albums into something of their own.
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, reviewer Neil McCormick awarded The Take Off and Landing of Everything a maximum score of five stars, stating that it was "fantastic: an album of world-beating standard yet still intimate and friendly, an epic of the everyday, a romance of the real."[20] Drowned in Sound's Aaron Lavery was similarly impressed, describing it as "a record that's designed to be listened to as a whole, complete with a sense of mood and place that runs throughout", before concluding that it was "an impressive feat indeed" and scoring the album eight out of ten.[21] In his review for The Guardian, music critic Alexis Petridis accorded the album a rating of four stars out of five, and noted that "instead of pushing obvious buttons, The Take Off and Landing of Everything concentrates on what Elbow do best: Northern snug-philosopher wisdom...buoyed by music that's subtly expansive and adventurous".[22]
Some critics were disappointed that the band had stayed too close to the sound of their previous records, with
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Guy Garvey; all music is composed by Elbow
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "This Blue World" | 7:13 |
2. | "Charge" | 5:16 |
3. | "Fly Boy Blue / Lunette" | 6:23 |
4. | "New York Morning" | 5:19 |
5. | "Real Life (Angel)" | 6:47 |
6. | "Honey Sun" | 4:56 |
7. | "My Sad Captains" | 6:00 |
8. | "Colour Fields" | 3:42 |
9. | "The Take Off and Landing of Everything" | 7:11 |
10. | "The Blanket of Night" | 4:24 |
Personnel
Elbow:
- Guy Garvey – vocals, strings and horns arrangements
- Richard Jupp – drums
- Craig Potter– keyboards
- Mark Potter – guitar
- Pete Turner – bass
Additional personnel:
- Tim Barber – trumpet on "New York Morning" and "My Sad Captains"
- Katharine Curlett – trumpet on "New York Morning" and "My Sad Captains"
- Jimi Goodwin – backing vocals on "New York Morning"
- Peter McPhail – baritone saxophone, clarinet and sopranino saxophone on "Fly Boy Blue/Lunette", alto saxophone and baritone saxophone on "New York Morning"
- Bob Marsh – trumpet on "My Sad Captains"
- The Hallé Orchestra – strings on "Charge", "Real Life (Angel)" and "Honey Sun"
- Chris Worsley – score on "Charge" and "Real Life (Angel)"
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Release history
Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom & Europe | 10 March 2014 | Fiction | CD | 3754767 |
deluxe digipak CD
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3754768 | |||
double LP | 3754769 | |||
Canada | 11 March 2014 | CD | ||
United States | Concord | CRE-35323-02 | ||
25 March 2014 | double LP | 3754769 |
References
- ^ "CD: Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ^ "Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ^ "Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Music Review Database. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ^ Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
- ^ The Economist Newspaper Limited. pp. 78–87. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
- IPC Media. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
- ^ a b Q (329). London, England: Bauer Media Group. December 2013.
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(help) - ^ a b c d Patterson, Sylvia (February 2014). Q (331). London, England: Bauer Media Group: 24–25.
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: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - XFM. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- ^ "King Kong musical is 'a puzzle' says Elbow's Guy Garvey". BBC News. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
- ^ a b c Lynskey, Dorian (April 2014). "Happy Landing". Q (333). London, England: Bauer Media Group: 34–42.
- ^ TC Transcontinental. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ Segal, Victoria (April 2014). "Guy Garvey: Q&A". Mojo (245). Bauer Media Group: 90.
- Wolfgang's Vault. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ a b Middles, Mick (17 March 2014). "Review: Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". The Quietus. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ "Watch Elbow's new video for New York Morning". The Guardian. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ Jones, Rhian (12 March 2014). "Record Store Day 2014 releases revealed". Music Week. London, England: Intent Media. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- ^ a b "Critic Reviews for The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Metacritic. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Take Off and Landing of Everything - Elbow". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- ^ a b McCormick, Neil (7 March 2014). "Elbow, The Take Off and Landing of Everything, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ a b Lavery, Aaron (5 March 2014). "Album Review: Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ a b Petridis, Alexis (6 March 2014). "Elbow: The Take Off and Landing of Everything review – no surprises, but still beautifully crafted". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ a b Segal, Victoria (April 2014). "Review: Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Mojo (245): 88.
- ^ IPC Media. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- ^ Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ ISSN 0955-4955. Archived from the originalon 10 August 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
- ^ Caldwell, Caleb (16 March 2014). "Review: Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
- FIMI. Archived from the originalon 6 August 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything". Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ "Elbow Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Elbow Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Top Current Albums : Mar 29, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Elbow Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Elbow Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten 2014". Ultratop. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 2014". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2014". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 June 2020.