''Cast of Thousands'' is the second studio album by English

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band

Elbow The elbow is the region between the upper arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and t ...

, released on 18 August 2003 in the UK and on 27 January 2004 in the US by

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music and V2 Benelux; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, sold to PIAS in 2013 and partially acquired by Universal in 2022 (as part of larger PIAS 49% ...

. The album title refers to the song "Grace Under Pressure", whose

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was recorded live at the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

in 2002, as sung by the audience during the band's set. Participants were then invited to register their names at the Elbow website, with all responders gaining a 'credit' on the album sleeve. The US version of the album contains two additional songs: "Whisper Grass" (which was a B-side to first single "Fallen Angel") and "Lay Down Your Cross" (a B-side to third single "Not a Job"). The Japanese version includes "Whisper Grass" and "Brave New Shave" (another "Fallen Angel" B-side) as bonus tracks. A companion film was also produced in conjunction with the album's release. It features footage set to all 11 tracks on the UK version of the album, as well as the music videos for the singles "Fallen Angel" and "Fugitive Motel". In the UK the film was released on DVD, whereas in the US it was released as an enhanced video bonus disc with the album.

Album cover

The cover of ''Cast of Thousands'' was designed by art director Rob Crane, who cited

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...

's installation ''The Field for the British Isles'' as inspiration. The two characters on the album cover were tall female and male polystyrene figures, named "Elle" and "Bo", which were originally placed by the side of the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

near

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

, but were removed by police following reported "alien" sightings by passing drivers. Following the conclusion of the promotional activities for the record, the models were auctioned for charity.

Critical reception

''Cast of Thousands'' received critical acclaim upon release. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the album has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 84 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Track listing

UK version

*"Snooks (Progress Report)" takes its name from blind blues singer and guitarist

Snooks Eaglin Fird Eaglin Jr. (January 21, 1936 or 1937 – February 18, 2009), known as Snooks Eaglin, was an American guitarist and singer based in New Orleans. In his early years he was sometimes credited under other names, including Blind Snooks Eaglin, ...

Snooks Eaglin
/ref> ;Japanese version bonus tracks:

US version

''Cast of Thousands'' film version

(released 3 November 2003 in UK, 27 January 2004 in US): ;Disc one: As the standard album release in each country (11 tracks in UK, 13 tracks in US) ;Disc two: (released as a DVD in UK, and as an enhanced CD-ROM in US)

Singles

In the UK, there were four singles released from the album: * "Ribcage" was released as an online track in May 2003 but was never a full single. * "Fallen Angel" (4 August 2003) * "Fugitive Motel" (27 October 2003) * "Not a Job" (23 February 2004) * "Grace Under Pressure"/"Switching Off" EP (12 July 2004)

Additional musicians

*Additional vocals on "Ribcage" - The

London Community Gospel Choir The London Community Gospel Choir is Britain's first renowned contemporary "performance touring, inspirational gospel choir band", fusing gospel with multi-genres of music, including pop, soul, jazz, R&B, and classical. It was founded in 198 ...

*Strings on "Fugitive Motel" and "Crawling with Idiot" (arranged by Ian Burdge): **Ian Burdge, Chris Worsey - cello **Stephen Bussey, Catherine Browning, Everton Nelson, Maya Bickel, Alison Dods, Gillon Cameron, Giles Broadbent & Sally Herbert - violins *Additional vocals on "Grace Under Pressure" - The London Community Gospel Choir,

Jimi Goodwin Jamie Francis Alexander Goodwin (born 28 May 1970) is a British musician who is the bassist, vocalist and guitarist for Doves. Before their incarnation as Doves, the three members were in a house music group, Sub Sub. Goodwin is best known as ...

, Alfie, Marcus Garvey, Beckie Garvey, Gina Garvey,

Cathy Davey Catherine Davey (born 1979) is an Irish singer-songwriter. She has released one extended play, "Come Over" (2004), and four albums, '' Something Ilk'' (2004), '' Tales of Silversleeve'' (2007), '' The Nameless'' (2010) and ''New Forest'' (2016) ...

& the crowd at

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

2002 (Marcus, Beckie and Gina Garvey are singer Guy Garvey's brother and sisters)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cast Of Thousands 2003 albums Elbow (band) albums Albums produced by Ben Hillier V2 Records albums