Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid is music critics album of the year

11:22 | Tuesday December 30, 2008

Soruce: MW

 

Nationwide Mercury Prize winners Elbow have rounded off a spectacular year by topping HMV's annual Poll of Polls survey.

 

Now into its eighth year, the HMV Poll of Polls is collated each December by HMV's music buying team, which adds up the total number of nominations a release has received from music writers in their annual album of the year pieces.

 

Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid proved a highly popular winner, pulling in 18 nominations in total across thirty-five publications, sites and organisations that were polled.

 

It proved a close run thing with Portishead's long awaited comeback album Third, which garnered 17 votes. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Dig Lazarus, Dig came in third in the poll, while stunning debuts from Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend made up the rest of the top 5.

 

HMV's Rock and Pop Buyer, Damian Evans, says, "The poll reflects an excellent, eclectic year in music with some exciting new artists featuring prominently. Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, MGMT and Bon Iver have really made their mark with wonderful debut albums, underlining how vibrant the music scene is right now."

 

The full list is:

 

1. Elbow / The Seldom Seen Kid

 

2. Portishead / Third

 

3. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds / Dig Lazarus, Dig

 

4. Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes

 

5. Vampire Weekend / Vampire Weekend

 

6. TV On The Radio / Dear Science

 

7. MGMT / Oracular Spectacular

 

8. Bon Iver / For Emma Forever Ago

 

9. Glasvegas / Glasvegas

 

10. Hot Chip / Made In The Dark

 

11. Hercules and the Love Affair / Hercules and the Love Affair

 

12. British Sea Power / Do You Like Rock Music

 

13. Santogold / Santogold

 

14. Kings of Leon / Only By The Night

 

15. Bug / London Zoo

 

16. Late of the Pier / Fantasy Black Channel

 

17. Neon Neon / Stainless Style

 

18. Last Shadow Puppets / Age Of Understatement

 

19. Flying Lotus / Los Angeles

 

20. White Denim / Workout Holiday

 

21. Deerhunter / Microcastle

 

22. Metallica / Death Magnetic

 

23. Paul Weller / 22 Dreams

 

24. Laura Marling / Alas I Cannot Swim

 

25. Foals / Antidotes

 

26. Sigur Ros / Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust

 

27. Gang Gang Dance / Saint Dymphna

 

28. Duffy / Rockferry

 

29. f*** Buttons / Street Horssing

 

30. Metronomy / Nights Out

 

31. Lykke Li / Youth Novels

 

32. Cut Copy / In Ghost Colours

 

33. Crystal Castles / Crystal Castles

 

34. Coldplay / Viva La Vida

 

35. Friendly Fires / Friendly Fires

 

36. f***ed Up / Chemistry Of Common Life

 

37. Ladyhawke / Ladyhawke

 

38. AC/DC / Black Ice

 

39. Oasis / Dig Out Your Soul

 

40. Mogwai / Hawk Is Howling

 

41. Beck / Modern Guild

 

42. Benga / Diary Of An Afro Warrior

 

43. Amadou & Mariam / Welcome To Mali

 

44. Lil' Wayne / Tha Carter III

 

45. 2562 / Aerial

 

46. Roots Manuva / Slime and Reason

 

47. Hold Steady / Stay Positive

 

48. Killers / Day And Age

 

49. No Age / Nouns

 

50. Gaslight Anthem / 59 Sound

MGMT, Kings Of Leon and Coldplay should be higher imo -_-

I would have prefered Portishead to get it, which is my favourite album of the year. However I'm really glad to see Elbow get the attention they've deserved for so long this year, even if I prefer their first two albums.

Ehhh, I'll trust Metacritic more thanks:

 

http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2008.shtml

 

Elbow are meh imo. Their debut was alright, but everything else has been a bit average.

Albums I own & (where they finished in my Year End Album Rate):

 

1. Elbow / The Seldom Seen Kid (4)

2. Portishead / Third (1)

4. Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes (3)

5. Vampire Weekend / Vampire Weekend (14)

7. MGMT / Oracular Spectacular (7)

16. Late of the Pier / Fantasy Black Channel (2)

17. Neon Neon / Stainless Style (15)

18. Last Shadow Puppets / Age Of Understatement (18)

23. Paul Weller / 22 Dreams (9)

24. Laura Marling / Alas I Cannot Swim (5)

28. Duffy / Rockferry (9)

34. Coldplay / Viva La Vida (8)

35. Friendly Fires / Friendly Fires (19)

37. Ladyhawke / Ladyhawke (12)

39. Oasis / Dig Out Your Soul (28)

 

The top 5 should've been

 

1 Portishead

2 Laura Marling

3 MGMT

4 Last Shadow Puppets

5 Fleet Foxes or Goldfrapp

 

And any year-end list that omits the stunning Goldfrapp album is a list really not worth bothering about.

 

Portishead easily deserve the album of the year with the astonishing Third. Anything less is..... unjust <_<

 

Elbow? Drab as hell - every Elbow track sounds like it could be by someone else. And probably is by someone else.

 

And I'm still totally bemused by the fawning over Glasvegas - I saw them live this year and they're nothing more than a crushingly average, ordinary, humdrum rock band. Snoresome.