Description
Elbow – The Take Off And Landing Of Everything – Double Vinyl Record
The Take Off and Landing of Everything, released on March 10, 2014, is the sixth studio album by British alternative rock band Elbow, and it represents one of their most expansive and introspective works. Arriving three years after Build a Rocket Boys! (2011), the album finds the band — Guy Garvey (vocals), Mark Potter (guitar), Craig Potter (keyboards), Pete Turner (bass), and Richard Jupp (drums, in his final appearance before leaving the group in 2016) — reflecting on middle age, shifting relationships, mortality, and the passage of time, all while maintaining their trademark warmth and widescreen sound.
The record was partly shaped by Guy Garvey’s time in New York City, where he lived during the writing process, and by the broader theme of transitions — both personal and societal. The title itself gestures toward beginnings and endings, arrivals and departures, encapsulating the dualities that run through the album. Musically, Elbow continue their blend of lush orchestration, textured guitar work, ambient electronics, and soaring melodies, but here the sound feels both intimate and monumental, as if designed to reflect the grandeur of life’s turning points.
The opening track, “This Blue World,” sets the tone with a slow-building, seven-minute meditation on love and loss, carried by Garvey’s tender vocals and the band’s subtle layering of strings and piano. From there, the album explores both the personal and the universal. “Charge” is a brass-heavy track with a swaggering groove, lamenting the feeling of being replaced by a younger generation, while “Fly Boy Blue / Lunette” shifts between jazzy, chaotic horns and a more reflective, melodic second half, embodying the push-pull of chaos and calm.
The album’s lead single, “New York Morning,” is one of its most joyful and celebratory moments. Inspired by Garvey’s time in New York with his then-partner, the song is both a love letter to the city and a reflection on enduring ideals — its refrain, “Oh my God, New York can talk”, becomes a mantra of awe and gratitude. In contrast, “My Sad Captains” is one of Elbow’s most beloved songs, a wistful, almost elegiac toast to friends, memory, and mortality. With its loping rhythm and brass flourishes, it feels like a gentle pub singalong elevated into something timeless and universal.
The title track, “The Take Off and Landing of Everything,” epitomizes the album’s themes of change and reflection. Expansive and layered, it unfolds like a meditation on life’s inevitable cycles, balancing melancholy with a sense of hard-won acceptance. The closing track, “The Blanket of Night,” turns outward with a deeply empathetic ballad about refugees crossing dangerous seas in search of safety — a reminder of Elbow’s ability to pair personal reflection with broader human concerns.
Garvey is at his most poetic and humane, blending everyday observations with profound reflections. He writes about friendships, lovers, aging, and political realities with a conversational intimacy that invites listeners into the band’s emotional world. The themes of transition, resilience, and gratitude make the record feel both heavy with experience and light with hope.
The album was met with widespread acclaim, praised for its lyrical depth, lush arrangements, and emotional resonance. It debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart, marking Elbow’s first chart-topping record. Many reviewers highlighted it as a continuation of the band’s signature sound but with a maturity and expansiveness that made it one of their most compelling works.
In the arc of Elbow’s career, The Take Off and Landing of Everything stands as a summit moment — a record that captures a band at the peak of their powers, reflecting on life with honesty and grace, while still crafting songs big enough to fill arenas and tender enough to play in quiet solitude. It is both epic and personal, reminding listeners why Elbow have often been described as one of the most human and humane bands in modern rock.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
This Blue World
Charge
Fly Boy Blue / Lunette
New York Morning
Real Life (Angel)
Honey Sun
My Sad Captains
Colour Fields
The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
The Blanket Of Night
