Elbow

Elbow have been together as a band since 1990 and known as Elbow since 1997. All their 6 of their albums have been in the Top 15 In the charts in the UK in addition to 7 of their singles being in the UK Top 40. They are an Alternative Rock band who play a similar sort of music to Coldplay, Mumford and Sons, and Young the Giant. Their song "first steps" was released in 2012 to be used as the BBC's theme for the Olympics.

Possibly the most interesting thing about the band is the name. They're called elbow because Phillip Marlow (a character from the TV show 'The Singing Detective') stated that it is the most 'sensuous' word in the English language due to how it made him feel after saying it. 

This artwork seems fairly simple to me, and judging by how I couldn't find any information about it online I would imagine that there's no deeper meaning to it. It shows a photo of a back door in cold and lonely colours, which matches the title of the album, as generally from the phrase "asleep in the back", I imagine a child crying in a dark room somewhere, and the somewhat sinister artwork matches this.

The two characters on the album cover are 3 meter tall  polystyrene figures, named "Elle" and "Bo", which were originally by the side of the M1 Motorway near Mansfield, but were removed by police following reported "alien" sightings by passing drivers. They were sold to charity after the album was finished being promoted. I find it interesting that they chose to use large figures when the image creates the impression of something small. I think as much as anything it's a play on the idea of size and making things smaller. The fact that the name of the album suggests something large but then is typed in a very small font, which is consistent with the image.

The album cover shows five characters from the songs on the album:

1.    The ticket conductor from the train in "Station Approach" or the bus conductor in "Great Expectations".

2.    The bouncer "the man at the door" from "Forget Myself." During "An Imagined Affair," "I drink until the doorman is a Christmas tree" is possibly the same character.

3.    The man "kicking up mischief" and drinking from "Picky Bugger" or possibly the man who drinks "until the doorman is a Christmas tree" in "An Imagined Affair".

4.    A Mexican, from "Mexican Standoff."

5.    A man needing patching up, with tea and a bike pump, as in "Puncture Repair."

This is the most iconic Elbow album cover, and is the sole reason I know who they are. It depicts a rubiks cube cornering off a wall. The cube has no colour on it which represents a lack of emotion and fun in the childhood of the child referred too in the albums name. It shows you the outside of the wall as opposed to the enclosed area, creating the impression that something is hidden, which again relates to the title via the phrase "seldom seen". The orangey brown colour is used because it has high contrast with the white and so highlights the lack of emotion in the rubiks cube. The darker shades of brown also somewhat reflect the dullness of some aspects of life, whereas the lighter oranges are used for the sky which is sometimes associated with inspiration and other such positive things.

This cover is very strange. It's definitely the most conceptual of all their album covers, and it seems to me that the image is based on movement. It looks as if there's a person who's jumping upwards, which is primarily the direction rockets travel in. The fact that it's a person, and looks to have been painted by a primary school child links into the use of the term "boys"

One thing I notice is that the album covers get continuously weirder, in my opinion at least. Which is re-assuring as it means that I won't feel obliged to create something "normal" or at least generic.