Theme for… uh.. what’s a sport that uses the elbow extensively?
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[4.30]
Edward Okulicz: They set out to write a song for the Olympics, and ended up writing a piece whose first 20 seconds would be ideal for a nightly wrap-up program showing all of the United Kingdom’s near-misses. For what it’s trying to be it’s actually rather good, but it’s not as good as an actual Elbow song with the grand orchestrations and scale might have been — it’s like the essence of what makes them a cut above most other British mopey guitar groups is absent and replaced with something some unheralded TV composer could have churned out.
[5]
Iain Mew: As an Elbow fan I am really happy about this. Not because I actually enjoy listening to it, although brief blasts of the non-choir bits work fine for trailers as intended. Rather, it suggests that they’ve looked at what’s made their “One Day Like This” (and to a lesser extent “Open Arms”) inescapable in sports programmes in recent years, and decided that they could do even better on that front without all those complexities and awkwardness and “laugh politely at repeats” in the way. It therefore gives me some hope that they’ll also do vice versa and dump the guileless highlights reel tendencies that have been creeping into their albums.
[3]
Kat Stevens: I have been paying CLOSE ATTENTION to the BBC’s Olympics coverage for the last TWENTY YEARS and I would rank this song high on the rousing scale (when combined with slow-motion VT of a gymnast nailing a dismount). Drums, Choir of Many Dudes Going Aaaaah and Oooooh, Stirring Strings etc. However as a soundtrack to the actual sport I think I’d rather hear the South Korean national anthem (as I write their women are currently hands-on-chest about to play hockey against GB) for that eerie apocalyptic Last Match You Will Ever Play So Don’t Fuck It Up vibe. Also Elbow’s hallumphing has usually been accompanied by a terrifyingly-animated “Stadium UK” clip, which is nowhere near as good as the Vancouver or Beijing trailers. Those were for athletes who meant business. “First Steps” is for all the British dudes coming 5th.
[6]
Will Adams: This is six minutes and it feels like sixty. I will never understand the appeal of creating an inspirational piece out of composition so uninspired. Call me cynical, but I can’t hear this as any more than the pump-up song that is played before Hallmark card brainstorm sessions. Can fewer Olympics-themed songs sound like this?
[3]
Patrick St. Michel: As music I would listen to while walking to the supermarket to buy bread, this is overblown pomp that thinks it’s more majestic than it has any right to be just because Elbow have access to an orchestra now. As the background music for highlights of the Men’s rowing semi-finals, this probably sounds great!
[5]
Pete Baran: I like a bit of prog and this is a pickled ginger slice (and a confident singer) away from being Yes. In context, as a song to run your two hundred yards of the torch relay too, it is absolutely perfect. As a piece of soundtrack to dissect into bits for the BBC coverage, it also excels. It has an grand opening. It has a Rocky bit for montages. It has a quiet bit for crying and losing. It has a choral bit for team sports to display camaraderie to. It has victorious fanfares for the medals And it is also exceedingly time-wasting and not as good as it should be – for the badminton obviously.
[4]
Brad Shoup: Now I don’t have to sit through the weightlifting medal ceremonies to hear North Korea’s national anthem! Thanks, Elbow!
[5]
Anthony Easton: I missed the opening ceremonies, but I feel like I am hearing them now. My heart is swelling with majestic brass and sweeping strings.
[3]
Michaela Drapes: Oh, look! Britten meets Geldof meets … the revamped “Dr. Who” theme? Saccharine, swooping, overly serious and embarrassingly earnest. You know, just like everything else Elbow’s ever done, which is to say a bit sluggish and too long and overly precious (hello, “One Day Like This”). Just, please — don’t tell anyone that I really kind of love it, okay?
[8]
Alfred Soto: With the next Olympic games four years away, it’s a blessing to hear a song guaranteed to still be playing in 2016.
[1]