How I Would Edit The Editors… and Elbow

Published April 22, 2008

By Sally Wiebe

When I first heard The Editors’ music, I thought their sounds shared a striking resemblance with the voice of Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and the music of The Killers. Sure enough, when I began doing some research into the band, I found that these musicians were some of their key influences.

However, listening on for a few more tracks off of their debut album, The Back Room (2005) and then their sophomore album, An End Has a Start (2007), I realized their music was much more dim and depressing than the upbeat sounds of The Killers. Sure, R.E.M. has definitely played gloomy music, but none of the self-interested miserable shit that Tom Smith sings about for his Editors.

This is not to say that I completely dislike the band. I just, like most, tire of a mass of glum lyrics, because after the third or fourth song I’m often wondering why I need to continue listening. I tend to want to put an artist like this on mute, but then continue to listen to the instruments accompanying him or her.

This is my case with Tom Smith. I enjoyed hearing musical echoes of The Killers when I heard Chris Urbanowicz on guitar, Russell Leetch on bass, and Ed Lay on drums. The strings flow effortlessly over the continual but effective percussions…and then there was Smith, persistently whining.

As I managed to maintain listening to Smith’s drones, I recognized another band’s sounds in The Editors, in both the vocals and instruments. Smith and his complementary musicians sounded very similar to a band I had been listening to for several years, Elbow.

Elbow is another British rock band, whose vocalist Guy Garvey sings of his own bellyaches. I’d like to think that he and Smith would get along, but instead I see the two of them bitching behind each other’s backs, then whimpering about it into their respective pints of Newcastle.

I’ve managed to spend over half this article explaining my pains with the lyrics from these two bands, but I haven’t supported them. Here’s a taste of Smith from the track “All Sparks” on The Back Room album: “All sparks will burn out in the end / Well be careful angel, this life is just too hard.” Oh, is this life too hard, Tom? Not as hard as Guy sees it!

Here are some of Guy Garvey’s words of wisdom, off the track “Leaders of the Free World” from Elbow’s 2005 album with the same title: “I’m sick of working for a living / I’m just ticking off the days till I die / Oh I miss you Louise, yeah / And the sickest little pleasure keep me going in pulling teeth.”

Wow. These men have it rough, don’t they? Well, that they may, but I don’t always need to hear it. If someone invents a way to mute a vocalist with the aim of appreciating a band’s melodies, I will continue to listen to The Editors and Elbow. Until then, onto another band.

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