AT the end of the loose 1997 remake of The Day Of The Jackal, Sidney Poitier’s character explains why he’s cutting Richard Gere’s Irish terrorist free, saying he’s so highly-regarded that he could mess everything up for the rest of his life and still be a hero. An unflattering metaphor for Elbow, given how bad that film was, but applicable to the can-do-nothing-wrong band of the times.

Elbow are so revered that some probably see a resonance in an album with this title being inadvertently released as the world looks for a lost airliner. And music is a better place for having them around. But, rather than soaring, their sixth album finds them levelling out.

Their strengths and drawbacks can show themselves in the same song. New York Morning, one of the best tracks here, has some of the most cliched imagery you’ll ever encounter but also lines – “It’s the modern Rome where folk are nice to Yoko” – which nobody else could pull off. And if you’re not even slightly moved when Garvey wails “Because they can/They did and do/So you and I could live together”, don’t worry; you just have no soul.

The title track is equally glorious, Elbow’s personal Tomorrow Never Knows. My Sad Captains is tap-room musing at its near-best. There’s craftsmanship, sincerity, wit and likeability. But there’s also the frustration that good songs – This Blue World, Charge, Real Life (Angel), Colour Fields – could have been great with more hunger, more progression, more need to prove something (which still wouldn’t have rescued Honey Sun and The Blanket Of Night). The Take Off... doesn’t mess up. It’s just ordinary.

Elbow play Leeds First Direct Arena on April 11.