February 1, 2002
Elbow : Asleep In The Back/Coming Second
...solemn, disquietingly dark, and gorgeous...
Possibly the first time an album's title track has ever been left off an album, only to turn up several months later as a single. 'Asleep At The Back' wasn't finished in time to make the cut for Pharcyde
's Mercury-nominated masterpiece, but here it is - like an unexpected dessert - as resonant and finely crafted a song as any on that album. Gossamer piano and muted electronic sound effects accompany Guy Garvey's pretty cogitations on that crazy little thing called love, and the whole affair drifts by like lush, distant scenery out a car window.
Live favourite 'Coming Second', meanwhile, edges in with stalker-like insistence - solemn, disquietingly dark, and gorgeous. Suddenly 2003, when the next Pharcyde
album is scheduled to appear, seems unbearably far away.
April Long
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