Elbow Your Way Through the Past

Even though they snubbed Atlanta on their recent North American tour, we still like Elbow enough to pass along the news that they’ve just released a “best of” album. Two of them, to be precise. Both of them are cleverly titled The Best of Elbow. And both are a prime entry point for curious listeners who may not be all that familiar with this English group, who are certainly far better known in their homeland.

“Best Of’s are a good way of introducing new fans to a big back catalogue,” explains frontman and lyricist Guy Garvey. “My first Leonard Cohen album was ‘The Best Of,’ same with Fleetwood Mac and Nick Drake. It took ages for us to decide what should go on ours, but we got there in the end. We are very proud of this. It’s full of memories.”

The standard version of The Best of Elbow includes 13 of the band’s biggest global successes, plus a cover of The Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers.” The deluxe edition tacks on a second disc that digs deeper into their eleven albums, the latest of which, Little Fictions, released back in February.