Citing Wikipedia, "The Seldom Seen Kid is the Mercury Award winning fourth studio album by the indie rock band Elbow. It was released by Fiction Records on March 17, 2008 in the United Kingdom and was released by Geffen Records on April 22, 2008 in the United States. The dates for other countries have not been revealed yet.
The album was recorded at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, and is the first Elbow album to be entirely self-produced, mixed and recorded without any outside help. The bulk of the record was written and performed by the band, besides a guest appearance from singer-songwriter Richard Hawley who contributes to guest vocals, lead guitar and co-songwriting on "The Fix".
The title of the album is taken from one of the characters who appears in US author Damon Runyon's humorous, idiosyncratic tales of gangster life on New York's Broadway in the 1920s. In addition to appearing as a lyric within the album's first single, "Grounds for Divorce", The Seldom Seen Kid is also a nickname, given by Guy Garvey's father, for Bryan Glancy, a fellow Mancunian musician and friend of the band who died suddenly in 2006. The closing track, "Friend of Ours" and the liner notes of the album are dedicated in his memory.
The album has received nearly unanimous praise from media outlets, including the NME and Planet Sound, which both gave Elbow their fourth consecutive 9/10 album rating. The album also debuted at #5 on the March 23 UK Albums Chart, the highest charting position of their career so far.
The album won the Mercury Music Prize in 2008, an achievement which Guy Garvey declared to be "the best thing that's ever happened to us". The band were previously nominated for the award in 2001 with their debut album Asleep in the Back."
The album received mostly positive reviews upon release, earning a rating of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic. It is also in high regard on Rateyourmusic, being ranked #15 in the top albums list of 2008.
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