Elbow – Leaders Of The Free World

‘leaders of the free world’ is the third studio album from elbow and was released in 2005. it was entirely self-produced at blueprint studios in salford, manchester a space the band hired for the duration of their recording sessions. ‘leaders of the free world’ has been described as a love-letter to a place, to home, to manchester. it begins with ‘station approach’, with guy garvey stepping off a train after the ‘cast of thousands’ tour, eulogising the piece of pavement that leads down from piccadilly station, once a symbol of urban decay, now a shiny emblem of the city’s regeneration. ‘leaders’ deals with the consequences of coming back. like a second chapter to old songs such as ‘fugitive motel’, tracks like ‘my very best’ show a relationship disintegrating due to distance…. it’s an album of twists, turns, and stories. the deluxe edition of the album features a bonus disc of radio sessions and live performances. it includes fan favourite ‘mcgreggor’ (the video of which is one of the band’s favourites) and again features a movie put together by previous elbow collaborators the soup collective. after a year living in the roof of blueprint studios with elbow and a host of friends dropping in with pens, pencils and cameras, the result was a collections of films, part documentary, part animated monster and part performance, the movie encompasses the working and development of the full album.