Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
70
AFI
65
Air
71
Alice In Chains
77
Amerie
85
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
75
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
56
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
72
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Brendan Benson
72
The Big Pink
96
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
51
Black Mold
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
77
A.A. Bondy
73
The Bottle Rockets
63
Box Elders
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
87
Brother Ali
70
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
78
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
79
Califone
68
Mariah Carey
84
Brandi Carlile
73
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
69
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
84
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
68
The Clean
84
The Clientele
71
Cobra Starship
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
80
Cymbals Eat Guitars
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
88
Destroyer
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
66
Bob Dylan
44
The Entrance Band
67
Esser
69
Fanfarlo
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
78
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
66
Hockey
69
Whitney Houston
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
73
Jessie James
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
69
Daniel Johnston
76
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
65
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
76
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
84
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
75
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
73
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
73
Lyle Lovett
66
Lovvers
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
62
Maps
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
77
Malcolm Middleton
77
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
76
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
62
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
78
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
78
Nirvana
97
Nirvana
72
Nisennenmondai
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
73
Osso
81
Owen
76
Paramore
76
Pastels And Tenniscoats
51
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
66
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
66
Robert Pollard
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
80
Q-Tip
80
R.E.M.
89
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
75
The Raveonettes
76
Jay Reatard
82
Reigning Sound
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79
Russian Circles
69
Buffy Sainte-Marie
73
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
69
Slaughterhouse
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
62
Mindy Smith
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
73
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
65
Joss Stone
75
George Strait
83
Barbra Streisand
76
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78
The Swell Season
76
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
78
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
67
Third Eye Blind
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
71
The Twilight Sad
58
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
70
Various Artists
74
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
71
Kurt Vile
67
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
76
Rufus Wainwright
59
Weezer
80
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59
Andrew W.K.
71
Patrick Wolf
67
Wolfmother
84
The xx
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Asleep In The Back
Universal acclaim
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 19 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: V2
Release Date: 22 January 2002
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
Often compared to Doves and Radiohead, Manchester-based Elbow is yet another new alternative band to emerge from the British music press hype machine. This debut album was shortlisted for 2001's Mercury Music Prize.
Also By This Artist: Cast Of Thousands Leaders Of The Free World The Seldom Seen Kid
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
E! Online
Their debut drips of melancholy and swims in gorgeous sheets of incidental noise.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
Elbow have made the most passionate, beautiful and downright special record you'll hear this year.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
A dark, moody, hypnotic monumental masterpiece with songs that unfold subtlety from one elaborate texture to the next so that you almost don't notice the marvelous hooks until they have dug their way beneath your skin and buried themselves in your soul.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
Seems that after all the pale imitators, Radiohead finally have a competitor worthy of healthy comparison.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
This is a complex record, full of bleak lyrical themes, but it's also riveting, hypnotic and really very good indeed.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Asleep is just enigmatic enough to avoid plagiarism. [Mar 2002, p.77]
All Music Guide
The tempos might not ever exceed mid-level, and half of the songs might exceed five minutes, but the record is anything but a difficult listen or tough to wade through.
Read Full Review >Ink Blot Magazine
Elbow understand how to make an album flow without sacrificing the unexpected turns any good record should have.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
You'll struggle to find any filler on a record that works magnificently as a whole.
Read Full Review >CDNow
One listen to Asleep in the Back's "Newborn" invokes a feeling of unmistakable contemplation and a sense of beauty entirely absent from the repertoires of the Oasis and Verves of Brit rock's last generation.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
Elbow is a sad lot, likely to lead to a life of Merlot, Silk Cuts, and a straight razor or two if you don't watch out. They're gorgeous just the same.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
While the band has a very developed sense of texture and sound, though, they rather desperately need to work on changing things up a bit more with regard to the songs themselves.
Read Full Review >Nude As The News
More in the vein of Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On than the latest Doves or Travis albums, Asleep is structured as an epic, almost prog-rock album that, once spun, reveals itself as a comfortable listen, containing a number of classic pop songwriting turns within its vastness.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
Everything feels a slight bit too polished, but that's not a huge fault.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
A full hour of dense, moody gloss--difficult listening without the tuneful base that keeps Radiohead anchored. [29 Mar 2002, p.72]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Establishing a languorous mood right away, the album is all meandering, low-key moods and textures, with precious few focused songs on which to hang them.
Read Full Review >Spin
Not many of the expansive, leisurely songs on Asleep In The Back stick in the memory once they've ended, but they swoon nicely. [Mar 2002, p.127]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mr Mikey gave it an 8:
Cracking debut, 10 years in the making. Newborn is the stand out track for me as I just feel that its a full on aural assault of the best possible kind. Slow to mid tempo? Yes. Boring? Anything but.
Craig gave it a 10:
one of the best debut albums i've heard in the past few years.
Dom S. gave it a 9:
A bad Catherine Wheel CD? More like a good Catherine Wheel CD would only hope to sound like this. What has everyone said? Texture texture texture blah blah blah. Sure, there's texture, but this is a collection of some of the dankest, moodiest, visceral music of the year. I only wish I could live in Machester to truly experience this perfect soundtrack.
Mac Mac gave it a 10:
Best debut for a long long time
[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
a masterpiece! on the same level as "ok computer".
cody g gave it a 10:
brilliant!
Mithrandir gave it a 7:
Sir Spite Full is wrong. Catherine Wheel did produce an outstanding album: "Ferment". It remains one of the shoegazing era's best offerings. Catherine Wheel has produced some lousy albums but "Ferment" is emotional noisy guitar heaven. Absolutely essential. As for Elbow, I think they are slightly overrated. Critics tend to drool over them whereas I wish they had a better sense of melody.
