The Take Off and Landing of Everything
by Elbow
  • Record Label: Concord
  • Release Date: Mar 11, 2014
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
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  1. Q Magazine
    Mar 14, 2014
    100
    The overall impression is one of a band who are now masterfully in control of their craft. [Apr 2014, p.111]
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  2. The Telegraph (UK)
    Mar 7, 2014
    100
    The results are fantastic: an album of world-beating standard yet still intimate and friendly, an epic of the everyday, a romance of the real.
  3. musicOMH.com
    Mar 7, 2014
    90
    They may have hit national treasure status a while back, with all the advantages and pitfalls that that can bring, but as long as they carry on producing music with as much soul, heart and beauty that’s contained on The Take Off And Landing Of Everything, Elbow will be with us for some while to come.
  5. Sputnikmusic
    Mar 28, 2014
    82
    It takes several spins to fully comprehend the ambitious scope on display here as this is the kind of record that unravels the longer one ventures into its gorgeous textures, subtle progressive leanings and consistently clever lyricism.
  6. Under The Radar
    Apr 30, 2014
    80
    On its sixth studio effort, Guy Garvey and company soar to new heights, even if the vocalist experienced a bit of personal turmoil in the form of a difficult breakup during the recording process.
  7. Blurt Magazine
    Apr 7, 2014
    80
    The Take Off and Landing of Everything is another fine release from a band that has yet to steer wrong.
  8. Mojo
    Mar 21, 2014
    80
    It's not a giant leap but Elbow haven't been embraced to be wreckers of civilization. [Apr 2014, p.88]
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  9. Slant Magazine
    Mar 17, 2014
    80
    The Take Off and Landing of Everything gives us mostly familiar surroundings, but it makes for fine company.
  10. The Quietus
    Mar 17, 2014
    80
    The Take Off And Landing Of Everything is the sound of a band prising an encouraging aesthetic edge from the sheer enjoyment of ageing. It bodes well for the future.
  11. PopMatters
    Mar 14, 2014
    80
    It takes a few spins to fully appreciate the complexity and ambitious scope at hand here, but this is the type of album that unfolds the longer one marinates in its charms.
  12. Paste Magazine
    Mar 11, 2014
    80
    It’s that refusal to paint in a single shade that makes The Take Off... such a fully formed listen from front to back.
  13. AllMusic
    Mar 11, 2014
    80
    The Take Off and Landing of Everything is better still [than 2011's Build a Rocket Boys!], demonstrating that the band knows how to seize the spoils of success.
  14. No Ripcord
    Mar 11, 2014
    80
    A work of faultless skill and assured sophistication, The Take Off and Landing of Everything positions Elbow as one of the most quietly ambitious and rewarding acts of our generation.
  15. The Independent on Sunday (UK)
    Mar 10, 2014
    80
    Between the pub and the high seas, Elbow reset their mission statement here: to navigate the heart’s tides with their art intact.
  16. Uncut
    Mar 7, 2014
    80
    There's a sustained congruence about the rhythms and textures that make The Take Off and Landing of Everything seem like an extended and mediation on certain musical and lyrical themes. [Apr 2014, p.72]
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  17. The Guardian
    Mar 6, 2014
    80
    You couldn't say there were any jaw-dropping surprises on Elbow's sixth album--but then it's dependability and craftsmanship that made them huge, and that's all in place.
  18. Drowned In Sound
    Mar 5, 2014
    80
    That they have dealt with personal strife and getting older while recalibrating their sound and their approach to songwriting is an impressive feat indeed.
  19. DIY Magazine
    Mar 5, 2014
    80
    Elbow sound revitalised here with Garvey proving himself once more to be one of the most eloquent British songwriters around.
  20. Clash Music
    Mar 5, 2014
    80
    Compelling and absorbing, The Take Off is a rich and rewarding record.
  21. The Independent (UK)
    Mar 5, 2014
    80
    Despite being written by different combinations of the line-up, it’s possibly their most homogenous album, most songs riding gentle pulses of percussion, organ and piano, guitars circling the action.
  22. Filter
    Mar 10, 2014
    72
    This is stately, gentlemanly music--the sound of aging gracefully.
  23. Boston Globe
    Mar 11, 2014
    70
    It’s not easy packing so many different styles of music into one song--especially ones that don’t stray too far from home in terms of baseline mood--but it certainly helps when so many of them fall between the five-and seven-minute mark, as on the sixth album from British act Elbow.
  24. The Line of Best Fit
    Mar 5, 2014
    70
    They didn’t quite manage to move past The Seldom Seen Kid on Build a Rocket Boys!, but with Take Off, they’ve both cemented their place as a British institution and hinted that their best might yet be to come.
  25. Consequence
    Mar 12, 2014
    67
    In a career predicated on being album artists showing the powerful link between repetition and expectation, Elbow appears to have hit a stride again.
  26. Pitchfork
    Mar 13, 2014
    62
    Perhaps it’s deliberate that throughout The Take Off and Landing of Everything, hardly anything truly takes off. Instead the album dangles there, an effortlessly leaden exhibition of glum triumphalism--and an example of what makes Elbow, at its least potent, so subtly unsubtle.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 39 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 39
  3. Negative: 1 out of 39
  1. bulbous
    Mar 13, 2014
    10
    another cracker by Elbow, the most consistent band on the planet, Guy Garvey is a poet through and through, such beautiful lyrics, amazinganother cracker by Elbow, the most consistent band on the planet, Guy Garvey is a poet through and through, such beautiful lyrics, amazing music. Lunette has to the best song about drinking and smoking ever. superb.… Full Review »
  2. Muddsjr
    Aug 14, 2016
    8
    It's a slow, subtle and contemplative album, the latter already guessable from its title, and what isn't essentially an overwhelming listen,It's a slow, subtle and contemplative album, the latter already guessable from its title, and what isn't essentially an overwhelming listen, is by the end at least a satisfying and re-listenable one. Seldom Seen Kid and Cast of Thousands may be the quicker-to-visit ones.… Full Review »
  3. Ricko
    Apr 7, 2015
    7
    "The Take off and landing of everything" is a record that requires repeated and close listening. Its mid to slow tempo means that if you have"The Take off and landing of everything" is a record that requires repeated and close listening. Its mid to slow tempo means that if you have it as background music then your likely to miss out on the detail and risk finding it a bit on the boring side. However, on detailed listening you can hear the layers and level of work the band have put into this record. It doesn't have the immediacy of some of their previous work (especially not that of The Seldom Seen Kid), but this album is from a band who have matured and are at peace with themselves. They know who they are and are comfortable with their identity. "The Take off and landing of everything" is still Elbow - the songs have that hymnal quality that makes the band special, Guy Garvey's vocals are as distinctive as ever and there is a general warmth to the music that is unique to Elbow. Its an improvement on the safe "Build A Rocket Boys" which should have seen the band build on the success of "The Seldom Seen Kid" but ultimately failed to do so. "The take off and landing of everything" is a very solid effort that firms up the bands reputation as songwriting craftsmen.… Full Review »
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