I know they've been mentioned in a few other threads, but I think they deserve their own
I loved their first album quite a bit when I heard it first about 1,5 year ago (was so smart to wait for the limited edition, with "asleep in the back", the song, included ). It was varied, nice, melodic pieces and more chaotic ones...
I'm now listening to the second one, "cast of thousands" and it just seems too laidback, too the same all over... not bad, but not quite as interesting as "asleep in the back".
What do you think?

i have cast of thousands and really..i find it quite boring..maybe i should hear it better,dunno.. :/

(however,i love the "grace under pressure" song )

i've heard about six or seven songs off the net of theirs. i really don't like them...at least the stuff i've heard. it sounds like the bad takes of travis mixed with radio hits. just me?

their first cd was very good, I thought. somewhere between Coldplay and Radiohead. some radio friendly ballads, but better ones than those of Coldplay and some more layered, more difficult song structures...
the new one is certainly not radio friendly I think, but still quite boring...

I don't like the description of somewhere between coldplay and radiohead because it implies that there kind of like either, which their not at all. I think Guy Garvey said it best with "like prog without the solos."

I really like Elbow, and am pretty impressed with both albums. I reckon both of them are very varied because they just use loads of different sounds to create textured and lavish songs.

Yet another great band from my part of the world . Seriously, though, the north-west of England produced SO many bands considering its size.

well I do think they combine certain elements of Radiohead and Coldplay. That doesn't mean they directly sound like one of these two bands though...

Specifically what elements are those? I don't really understand that - coldplay aren't staggeringly original, so how they can take an element of their music from them (elbow were in existence long before coldplay btw)?

I'm guessing by radiohead you mean experimentalism, but it really is a completely different type of experimentalism. Radiohead (now) use synths and/or electronic sounds, and in the past their experimentalism was based on standard instrumentation. Elbow are different because elbow generally stick to acoustic noise from, often, non-standard instruments.

Well I just meant that they had poppy choruses (Powder Blue, Red) > Coldplay
and experimental parts (Bitten By The Tailfly, Little Beast, Presuming Ed,...) > Radiohead

Is maybe a bit too simplified, but you could see it this way too,
though you have a point (somewhere) too...

Went to see Muse after waiting for them to tour here for two years, and elbow supported, they blew me and almost , though it pains me to admit, outperformed Muse. I have a newfound respect for 'em since.

I don't think 'Cast of thousands' isn't as good as 'Asleep in the back'. I own both albums and I consider 'Cast of thousands' as one of the best albums in my cd collection... And it's definitely not boring if you ask me.