Elbow: Cast of Thousands (released 18 August 2003)

01 Ribcage (6:27)
02 Fallen Angel (4:07)
03 Fugitive Motel (5:51)
04 Snooks (Progress Report) 4:00
05 Switching Off (5:05)
06 Not a Job (4:23)
07 I've Got Your Number (4:48)
08 Buttons and Zips (3:57)
09 Crawling with Idiot (4:41)
10 Grace Under Pressure (4:57)
11 Flying Dream 143 (1:48)

Elbow are an English rock band formed (initially under a different name) in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1990. The band consists of Guy Garvey (lead vocals, guitar), Craig Potter (keyboard, piano, backing vocals), Mark Potter (guitar, backing vocals) and Pete Turner (bass guitar, backing vocals). They have played together since 1990, adopting the name Elbow in 1997. Drummer Alex Reeves replaced Richard Jupp in 2016 as a touring and session musician at first, before becoming a full member in 2024.

After winning a local Battle of the Bands, the band signed with Island Records and recorded their first album with producer Steve Osborne at Real World Studios. However, Island sold out to major label Universal. The band was dropped in a mass cull and the album was not released. Elbow's debut album Asleep in the Back was released in May 2001 on V2 Records. The album was written over the course of six years, and contains six rerecorded tracks from the Real World Studios sessions. Asleep in the Back was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize and earned the band a BRIT Award nomination for Best New British Band.

Elbow's musical style has been described as alternative rock, indie rock, indie pop, Britpop, art rock, progressive rock, dream pop, post-rock, and post-Britpop. Elbow have cited a number of influences on their music, including Genesis (in particular the progressive rock years featuring Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett), Talk Talk and Radiohead. Guy Garvey has said: "I grew up listening to every Genesis record. I learned to write harmonies by listening to Peter Gabriel." The song "Newborn" from Elbow's debut album was directly influenced by "Entangled" from the Genesis album A Trick of the Tail. Garvey has also said "there'd be no Elbow without Radiohead". He credits the band's sense of dynamics to the influence of Talk Talk and has said: "Volume dynamics are an essential part of classical music, but a lost art with guitar music. I think it's incredibly boring and shortsighted if a band sticks with just one sound song for song. An album should take people on a journey."

The band's second album Cast of Thousands was released in August 2003. The title of the album is a reference to their performance at the 2002 Glastonbury Festival, where they recorded the audience singing, "We still believe in love, so fuck you". The recording is featured on the song "Grace Under Pressure". Cast of Thousands received critical acclaim upon release. On Metacritic, the album has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Opeth: Damnation (released 22 April 2003

01 Windowpane (7:44)
02 In My Time of Need (5:46)
03 Death Whispered a Lullaby (5:49)
04 Closure (5:15)
05 Hope Leaves (4:27)
06 To Rid the Disease (6:18)
07 Ending Credits (3:36)
08 Weakness (4:08)

Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk, blues, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from death metal, especially in their early works. Songs may include acoustic guitar passages, Mellotrons, death growls, and strong dynamic shifts.

The group have been through several personnel changes since early in their history, including the replacement of every original member. Lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has been Opeth's driving force since the departure of founder and lead vocalist David Isberg in 1992.

Damnation is the seventh studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. It was released on 22 April 2003, five months after Deliverance, which was recorded at the same time. Damnation is the last Opeth album to date to be produced by Steven Wilson. The album was a radical departure from Opeth's typical death metal sound, and the first Opeth album to use all clean vocals, clean guitars, and prominent Mellotron, as well as being inspired by 1970s progressive rock, particularly the work of the British band Camel, which typically features no heavy riffs or extended fast tempos. Despite the change in style from Opeth's previous albums, Damnation was critically acclaimed and boosted their popularity, leading to the release of Lamentations on DVD in late 2003.

In a rave review for Sputnikmusic, Mike Stagno wrote that Damnation is a progressive rock album that departs entirely from the extreme metal elements of Opeth's previous work, and stands as one of the best albums released in recent years. Ned Raggett of Pitchfork Media also felt that it succeeds without Opeth's previous death metal style, and showcases each band member's technical abilities on what is "the most surprising and entertaining album" in Opeth's discography.

In 2014, TeamRock put Damnation at number 91 on their "Top 100 Greatest Prog Albums of All Time" list commenting: "the first Opeth album to abandon metal entirely, Damnation trumped its heavier sibling Deliverance by bringing Mikael Åkerfeldt’s masterful songwriting to the fore".

Loudwire listed Damnation as the second best album of 2003. Mike Portnoy, drummer for Dream Theater, put the album on his list of best albums of 2003.

Boston: Don't Look Back (released 15 August 1978)

01 Don't Look Back (5:53)
02 The Journey (1:50)
03 It's Easy (4:23)
04 A Man I'll Never Be (6:40)
05 Feelin' Satisfied (4:30)
06 Party (4:04)
07 Used to Bad News (4:56)
08 Don't Be Afraid (3:44)



Boston is an American rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1975. The band's core members include multi-instrumentalist, founder and leader Tom Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the band's 1976 self-titled debut album, and former lead vocalist Brad Delp, among a number of other musicians who varied from album to album.

Don't Look Back is the second studio album by American rock band Boston, released in 1978 by Epic Records, as the band's last album on the label. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and Canada, and No. 9 in the UK. The title track helped with the album's success, reaching No. 4 in 1978 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of the band's biggest hits. The album sold over one million copies in the ten days following its release and was certified 7× platinum by the RIAA in the US on April 11, 1996.

The album's two-year gap from its predecessor marks the shortest between two of the band's studio albums to date; guitarist, producer and primary songwriter Tom Scholz claimed that Epic executives pushed him and the band into releasing the album before they felt it was ready. He also felt that the album "was ridiculously short". Their next album, Third Stage, was not released for another eight years, by which time the band and record label had parted ways and fought a courtroom battle that Boston ultimately won.

Miguel Bosé: Sereno (Released 2002 January 29)

01 Puede Que (4:47)
02 Gulliver (4:22)
03 Mirarte (5:31)
04 El Hijo del Capitán Trueno (4:57)
05 Te Digo Amor (5:12)
06 Tic Tac (4:25)
07 Mientras Respire (3:36)
08 MorenaMía (4:51)
09 La Noche Me Gusta (4:45)
10 A Millones de km. de Aquí (4:15)
11 Sereno (3:47)





Sereno (Serene) is the 14th studio album by Latin Grammy-winning Spanish musician and actor Miguel Bosé. It was released by WEA Latina on January 29, 2002. sereno covers a whole myriad of musical styles, from pop, rock, funk, dub, electronica, East Indian rhythms, and yes, 2-step.

Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of Italian actress Lucia Bosè (1931–2020) and Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín, Bosé grew up surrounded by art and culture: Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway were close friends of the family. The film director Luchino Visconti was his godfather while Pablo Picasso was the godfather to his sister Paola Dominguín.

Propelled by his famous family and their friends, Bosé started a career as an actor in 1971, taking part in various movies. He quickly found work on the basis of his talent and good looks rather than his family name. He studied acting as well as dancing and singing. Due to the lack of acting opportunities, he started exploring his talents as a singer in 1975. With the assistance of Camilo Sesto he recorded his first singles. Two years later, in 1977, Bosé signed a contract with CBS Records and he remained with them until 1984. With them he published his first album, Linda, which included his first hit single, titled in the same way. Between 1977 and 1982, Bosè was a major teen idol in Italy, Spain, Southern Europe and in all Latin America. He had 7 top ten hits that earned him a secure spot in every televised song festival held in the aforementioned countries. By 1983 his star had severely waned in Italy, and he rarely performed there again until the 90s, retreating to Latin American markets instead.

In 1980, Bosé declared himself to be bisexual, "but not homosexual" Years later, he identified as "trisexual" He was in a long-term relationship with sculptor Ignacio Palau from 1992 to 2018. In 2011, Bosé's twins Diego and Tadeo were born via surrogacy. Seven months later, Ivo and Telmo were born through the same method with Palau's biological gene.

During the COVID-19 pandemic Bosé became one of the most active denialists of the pandemic, questioning the effectiveness of masks and other aspects of the virus. Some of his videos were removed from YouTube and Facebook.

Placebo: Sleeping with Ghosts (released 01 April 2003)

01 Bulletproof Cupid (2:22)
02 English Summer Rain (4:01)
03 This Picture (3:34)
04 Sleeping with Ghosts (4:38)
05 The Bitter End (3:10)
06 Something Rotten (5:28)
07 Plasticine (3:26)
08 Special Needs (4:22)
09 I'll Be Yours (3:32)
10 Second Sight (2:49)
11 Protect Me from What I Want (3:15)
12 Centrefolds (5:02)





Placebo is a British alternative rock band, formed in London in 1994 by vocalist–guitarist Brian Molko and bassist–guitarist Stefan Olsdal. Drummer Robert Schultzberg joined in late 1994, but left in 1996 shortly after the release of the band's eponymous debut album due to conflicts with Molko, and was replaced the same year by Steve Hewitt. Molko was born in Belgium and Olsdal and Schultzberg in Sweden; remaining members Molko and Olsdal both grew up in Luxembourg before separately relocating to London and are both British citizens.
Following the release of a demo, a split single, and their eponymous debut album, Placebo gained exposure in 1997 after the single "Nancy Boy" became popular in the UK, a song notorious at the time for its gender-bending content. The band stood out amongst the Britpop scene they were associated with at the time for their androgynous appearance and musical content, as well as Molko's distinctive voice and lyrics which openly discussed sexuality, mental health, and drug use.
Hewitt left Placebo in 2007, due to personal and musical differences. He was replaced the following year by Steve Forrest. Placebo released two albums with Forrest, who left in 2015 to pursue his own musical career. Since 2015, Placebo are officially a duo, though augmented with additional musicians.
Placebo have collaborated with various artists over the years, including David Bowie, Justin Warfield, Michael Stipe and Alison Mosshart. To date, Placebo have released eight studio albums, all of which have reached the Top 20 in the United Kingdom, and have sold around 14 million records worldwide.

Sleeping with Ghosts is the fourth studio album by British alternative rock band Placebo. It was recorded from late 2002 to early 2003 and released on 1 April 2003 by record labels Virgin and Hut.Sleeping with Ghosts reached number 11 in the UK Albums Chart, and received a generally favourable reaction from music critics.
Michael Idov of Pitchfork wrote "No peaks, no gorges, just a steady oscillation between adequate and inspired. Sleeping with Ghosts is a remarkably level collection of guitar pop, simultaneously less glammy and less pungent than Placebo's earlier stuff." Mojo wrote "There's some terrific and accessible stuff here [...] but the result is still an album that retreads old Placebo themes." Q magazine called it "spikily brilliant".

Porcupine Tree: In Absentia (released 24 September 2002)

01 Blackest Eyes (4:23)
02 Trains (5:56)
03 Lips of Ashes (4:39)
04 The Sound of Muzak (4:59)
05 Gravity Eyelids (7:56)
06 Wedding Nails (Instrumental) 6:33
07 Prodigal (5:32)
08 .3 (5:325)
09 The Creator Has a Mastertape (5:21)
10 Heart Attack in a Layby (4:15)
11 Strip the Soul (7:21)
12 Collapse the Light Into Earth (5:54)
13 Drown With Me (5:21)

In Absentia is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the first to move into a more progressive metal direction, contrary to past albums' psychedelic and alternative rock sounds. It was very well received critically and commercially, with it often being considered the band's crowning achievement, and selling three times as many copies as any of the band's earlier albums.

While not a formal concept album per se, all of the songs still have common themes related to serial killers, youthful innocence gone wrong, death, murder, and criticisms of the modern world. Brainchild of Porcupine Tree Steven Wilson (who wrote every song) said of the title:

"It comes from... It's related to some of the lyrics. It's about people on the fringes, on the edges of humanity and society. I have an interest in serial killers, child molesters, and wife beaters... Not in what they did, but in the psychology of why. What caused them to become unhinged and twisted? Why are they unable to empathise? It's [In Absentia] sort of a metaphor - there's something missing, a black hole, a cancer in their soul. It's an absence in the soul."

The album's title evokes the same theme, with the phrase being Latin for "in absence" or "in one's absence", a term often used in relation to criminal proceedings that occur despite the absence of the defendant.

• BLACKEST EYES is about a boy who grows up to become a serial killer, using his van to ensnare victims.
• Although TRAINS is ostensibly about a boy waxing nostalgic about his love of trains, the lyrics suggest more of a train fetish, potentially using a train to either suicide or murder someone "when the evening reaches here you're tying me up, I'm dying of love..."
• Continuing to follow the theme of the album, LIPS OF ASHES is about a man in love with a woman (or vise versa) and the woman does not feel the same way about him. This drives the man insane and he murders the woman he loves in brutal fashion and now can spend the rest of his life with her lifeless body. Pretty dark.
• THE SOUND OF MUZAK is Porcupine Tree’s personal attack on the record industry (the "death" of musical creativity). Lashing out against soulless “ear candy,” the song paints an image of a very depressing future in which music continues to be watered down and created merely to make money, losing artistic integrity and originality.
• The tile of GRAVITY EYELIDS is apt, describing a narrator who is giving his victim(s) sedatives, with the intent of raping/murdering them as they lose consciousness.
• PRODIGAL details the final account of a victim of suicide.
• The song .3 seems to clearly be about nuclear Armageddon. Although no explanation for the title is given, it has been suggested the title is about WW3; others have more cleverly speculated it is a biblical reference to Armageddon: .3 = 3/10, 3/10 = 3:10 as in 2 Peter 3:10 ("But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up").
• THE CREATOR HAS A MASTERTAPE is particularly dark, discussing a man who tortured and raped his own kids while recording it for his future enjoyment. It also suggests the indifference of God "The Creator had a mastertape, but he left it in a cab".
• HEART ATTACK IN A LAYBY details the last account of a man who pulls over into a layby (English for a pull-out or resting area on a main road) to rest because he isn't feeling well, without realizing he is actually dying from a heart attack.
• Another cheerful tune about a parent abusing and murdering their family, STRIP THE SOUL continues the disturbing theme of the album.
• COLLAPSE THE LIGHT INTO EARTH is a beautiful piano ballad with lyrics that are simultaneously loose enough to keep the relationship between the speaker and the subject up for interpretation, and obvious enough to tell us that it is about trying to stay strong in the face of an inevitable personal loss (perhaps the end of the world?). Wilson has indicated the events of 9/11 in the United States partially inspired the song, although it is not about this tragedy per se.
• The final track DROWN WITH ME closes with a murderer's account of drowning someone intentionally. The lyrics suggest the murderer may have already drowned the victim's other family members as well: "You're drowning in family there, when will you come up for air? Don't feel you let them down, 'cause they have already drowned".

Billy Joel: The Stranger (released 29 September 1977)

01 Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
02 The Stranger
03 Just the Way You Are
04 Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
05 Vienna
06 Only the Good Die Young
07 She's Always a Woman
08 Get it Right the First Time
09 Everybody Has a Dream
10 The Stranger (Reprise)

Before The Stranger, Billy Joel was on the verge of being dropped by his record label Columbia Records. After the unexpected success of Joel's second album, Piano Man, his subsequent albums were commercially disappointing. Turnstiles, Joel's 1976 release, had peaked at only number 122 on the Billboard 200 chart.

By 1976, Joel had formed a reliable touring band, consisting of Doug Stegmeyer on bass, Liberty DeVitto on drums and Richie Cannata on saxophone, flute, clarinet and organ. Joel grew to appreciate this group of musicians, finding that they had a high-energy, rough-around-the-edges feel that he hoped to capture in his studio recordings. Joel had mostly worked with session players for his first three studio albums, which contained only scattered contributions from his own backup musicians, and strongly disliked the polished sound of these albums. Joel sought a producer who could cultivate his desired style; a longtime fan of the Beatles, initially looked to famed Beatles producer George Martin. But after meeting with Joel, Martin expressed interest in producing the album, but did not want to use Joel's band, wishing instead to bring in session players. Joel, however, was adamant in his desire to record with his own band and declined Martin's offer. Ultimately, Joel turned to Phil Ramone, a veteran New York City sound engineer and record producer who had recently worked with Paul Simon, another singer-songwriter, on Simon's album Still Crazy After All These Years. According to Joel, he and Ramone met with each other at Fontana di Trevi, an Italian restaurant near Carnegie Hall, where Joel had been playing at the time. The restaurant would go on to inspire the setting of "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", a song on The Stranger. According to Joel, Ramone expressed an appreciation for Joel's band and their energy, and understood the reasoning behind Joel's attitude towards recording, which ultimately led Joel to choose Ramone as the producer for his next album.The Stranger was well-received by critics, particularly in retrospect, with many considering it to display some of Joel's best-written material. 

In a contemporary review of the album, Ira Mayer of Rolling Stone deemed it an improvement over Joel's previous studio efforts, praising its musical variety and Ramone's production.

The Pineapple Thief: Your Wilderness (released 12 August 2016)

01 In Exile (5:10)
02 No Man's Land (4:17)
03 Tear You Up (4:51)
04 That Shore (4:52)
05 Take Your Shot (4:33)
06 Fend for Yourself (3:43)
07 The Final Thing on My Mind (9:53)

08 Where We Stood (3:45)

The Pineapple Thief are a British progressive rock band, started by Bruce Soord
in 1999 in Somerset, England. Soord states that he and his girlfriend (now wife) were watching an American indie film called ‘Eve’s Bayou’, and there was a scene wherein a girl steals a pineapple. Someone shouts out “I can see you, pineapple thief!”, and (admittedly after a few too many glasses of cheap wine) Soord decided to name his project The Pineapple Thief. 10 increasingly successful albums later, the band released ‘Your Wilderness’ in 2016. The album features guest musicians including Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson), John Helliwell (Supertramp), and Geoffrey Richardson (Caravan).

The music of Your Wilderness carries the themes of isolation in a vast, empty space from its slow-build opener “In Exile” all the way to its pensive closer “Where We Stood”. There are some heavy moments throughout, including a galloping riff in the middle of “Tear You Up”, but on the whole Your Wilderness is a hushed and brooding – but excellent – affair from the Pineapple Thief. The echoey “That Shore” sums up the ethos of the record with its sparse piano notes and Soord’s lamentations: “Your face is leaving me.”

Tear You Up

The Pineapple Thief: Tear You Up

Lyrics

Breakdown

 

The Alan Parsons Project: Breakdown

Lryics