The Seldom Seen Kid (studio album) by Elbow

The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow
Year: 2008
Release date: 2008-03-17
Overall rank: 545th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 566 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 2008 (6th)
Award Top 100 albums of the 2000s (87th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (545th)
Product Details
Availability

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The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow (CD, 2009)
Condition: Like New


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Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow CD 3AVG The Cheap Fast Free Post
Condition: Very Good


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Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid [Abbey Road Live Edition] - Elbow CD H2VG The Fast
Condition: Very Good


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Elbow bestography

The Seldom Seen Kid is ranked as the best album by Elbow.

Elbow album bestography « Higher ranked This album (545th) Lower ranked (1,868th) »
-The Seldom Seen KidBuild A Rocket Boys!

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The Seldom Seen Kid track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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The Seldom Seen Kid rankings

The Seldom Seen Kid collection

The Seldom Seen Kid ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 566 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 566 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
90/100
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4 days ago StreakyNuno  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 79388/100
 
70/100
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02/04/2024 19:51 asimpkins  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,98668/100
 
80/100
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01/26/2024 10:02 MilanT  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 95779/100
 
80/100
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01/25/2024 15:26 Dalcio  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 24478/100
 
90/100
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01/23/2024 02:42 chris75last  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 3,75563/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.2/100, a mean average of 77.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.6.

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The Seldom Seen Kid comments

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Rating:  
60/100
From 10/24/2022 07:11
I’ve never understood the Elbow thing finding various albums in their catalogue competent enough but ultimately a bit of a snooze feast, however this one actually has some interesting moments and in particular the Un-Elbow (which is probably why I dig it) track “The Fix”
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/04/2022 14:43
Album Rating: 75.18
(827/11)


1. "Starlings" 5:05 - 69
2. "The Bones of You" (contains elements of "Summertime" by George Gershwin, Dubose Heyward, Dorothy Heyward & Ira Gershwin) 4:49 - 70
3. "Mirrorball" 5:50 - 71
4. "Grounds for Divorce" 3:39 - 86
5. "An Audience with the Pope" 4:27 - 69
6. "Weather to Fly" 4:29 - 64
7. "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver" 5:14 - 89
8. "The Fix" (Elbow, Richard Hawley) 4:27 - 69
9. "Some Riot" 5:23 - 82
10. "One Day Like This" 6:34 - 80
11. "Friend of Ours" 4:38 - 78

Bonus Track (UK)
12. "We're Away" (UK bonus track) 1:59 (N/A - 66 - N/A)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 12/24/2021 22:26
Elbow are one of my favourite bands, and the best live band I've seen by far. This album has a few filler tracks in the middle, but the fact that even with these I still give it a 100/100 rating says a lot. Highlights are One Day Like This, Grounds for Divorce, The Bones of You and the final track Friends of Ours which is just a beautiful track, especially when you find out who the subject of the song is and the story behind it. I love Guy Garvey's lyrics and this album has a few gems - my favourite being "You are the only thing in any room you're ever in" from Starlings. And love the lyrics on An Audience with the Pope - "I have an audience with the pope and I'm saving the world at 8, but if she says she needs me everybody's gonna have to wait". I'm quite surprised this album isn't higher up on the overall chart.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/03/2021 17:28
Whenever someone using the adjective "mature" to describe music I cringe. Yet I also think of this album
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 03/15/2020 10:36
He sounds a bit like Damon Albarn, but other than that the first three songs are really well-written, calming and soulful. Then he comes with a macho, arena rock-ish track, which confused me a lot and sounds like shit. But after that he goes back to what he's good at. Overall, a great experience, but one song needs to be amputated (but that doesn't influence my rating though). Not often do my opinions on songs change so wildly from track to track on the same album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 02/02/2020 23:24
Elbow have always been a bit arty, but they give this aspect of their music a full flourish on this album. It is a great album, but just suffers a little from being a little too earnest in places. It's not that music shouldn't be heartfelt - it should - it's just that sometimes it can seem a little forced. The strings are great, the songwriting is excellent, and the playing matches it all... just dial down the boy-band emotion a little.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 02/17/2019 16:50
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Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/28/2018 21:31
Approachable enough, but it's not immediately apparent to me why it's so highly regarded.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (3 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 09/06/2016 01:39
Fine acoustic based rock. But without wanting to sound too cruel, nothing you haven't heard before. Quite surprised it's in the 300's on this site.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (2 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 07/09/2016 13:12
The major breakthrough album from Elbow, and one of their best. Full of great songs with Guy Garvey's Peter Gabriel like vocals on top form throughout. Great songs in, grounds for divorce, tower crane driver, and, the fix. Excellent.
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