Best album since ATYCLB.

[Achtung Bubba]

A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD.
A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD.
A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD.

It's the new Coldplay album, to be released next week, and one can already preview the entire album online - through the official site and through Netscape Music.

There have been couple new albums over the last year that I've really, really enjoyed - specifically, Jewel's This Way and David Bowie's Heathen.

This, however, is a fantastic album, worthy of comparisons to The Joshua Tree.

Buy it the moment it comes out.

Bubba

 

[walkon11]

I've heard a few songs from a live concert they showed on MTV2 in Chicago...it promises to be the best album of the year (not a light comment, considering the amount of great material put out this year by artists)..."The Scientist" is a beautiful song...I'll be down by the music store to pick it up when it comes out...even if it means ditching a little school to do it.

 

[HelloAngel]

I am a massive fan of Coldplay, and haven't heard the album yet. As with any band you love, you get ancy in wondering if their sophomore effort can measure up to the first.

I'm so glad all of the reviews I've seen so far have been glowing.

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Screaming Flower]

i am dying to buy this tuesday. i seriously can hardly wait.

*counts the seconds





____
i want to have chris martin's babies

 

[HelloAngel]

i am dying to buy this tuesday. i seriously can hardly wait.

*counts the seconds





____
i want to have chris martin's babies

I agree 100% with every word in this post.

 

[popkidu2]

Definately my most anticipated release since Heathen Chemistry.

I do think it will be the best album this year for sure.

 

[camiloj]

yay its nice to agree with Bubba on something! I heard the whole CD on low quality streaming mp3 on musicmatchbox (an mp3 player) and I was blown away. To me RHCP's newest album is the best thing since ATYCLB but I will tell you this sounds like a close second for me or could ovwercome the Chili Peppers in my "best since ATYCLB" category once I have the actual CD.

(Spoilers)

I can't get over how U2-ish it sounds, the shimmering guitars and passionate singing. I also was sooooo glad they picked up the pace. I am NOT a fan of Coldplay, I like probably 2 songs because the rest put me to sleep with that droning and repetitive music but THIS album, WHOA LOOK OUT it is DAMN GOOD and it is creative and uptempo and theres still dreamy stuff but the whole album isnt "out there" like most of their last one was. I REALLY like it and plan to BUY it in the store (believe it or not) on Tuesday.

I was wondering if anyone was going to post about it here and thought about doing so but just didnt feel up to making a new thread...

 

[martha]

even if it means ditching a little school to do it.

Sometimes thing are just more important than school! Music is one of them!

 

[Achtung Bubba]

More specific analysis of the first seven songs:

1) Politik

Oddly enough, this sounds like an uplifting partner to Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt," and it's a HELL of a way to open an album (and a tour; I saw them live a couple weeks ago in Philadelphia).

Like many alt-rock songs (Beautiful Day, Radiohead's Creep), it alternates several times between a soft whisper and a thunderous explosion of sound. Too often in rock songs, the quiet parts are just filler, moments to allow one to catch one's breath between the explosions. Here, they are just as gripping as, and perhaps more chilling than, the explosive chorus.

2) In My Place

This song earned its position as the first single off the album - it's a bright, simple, and beautiful love song, with a very Edge-like chiming guitar and honesty that nearly brings tears to my eyes.

I've compared it positively to With or Without You before, and the comparison still holds after MANY repeated listens.

3) God Put a Smile Upon My Face

Like Politik, this is another song that could have not been predicted from the sound of Parachutes: loud, funky, and dark.

Honestly, I love their first album, Parachutes. But these first songs are so much more confident than almost anything on that album - Yellow and Shiver being possible exceptions. It's Coldplay's announcement that, not content with the critical and commercial success of Parachutes, they're gunning for U2's position of biggest AND best band on planet Earth.

They make a compelling case with this song.

4) The Scientist

Your jaw will drop at this one.

This song, which begins with just the lead vocalist Chris Martin at a piano, is an achingly beautiful love song:

Come up to meet ya, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need ya
And tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets, and nurse me your questions
Oh lets go back to the start
Running in circles, coming in tails
Heads on a science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start

In My So-Called Life, the short-lived TV show that became a cult classic and launched the career of Claire Danes, the lead character had a stunning way to describe beauty: "It hurts to look at you."

It hurts to listen to this song.

(Also, its placement is perfect - the first three songs rip the listener's chest open and forces him to listen with his heart, then this song comes in. Brilliant.)

5) Clocks

A more straight-forward rock song, and a good way to follow up The Scientist. In this case, even a straight-forward song is built around a driving piano, a funky bass, and some otherworldly sonics in the background. The crisp piano and the ethereal sonics complement each other quite well.

Like The Scientist before it, it's actually possible that this song refers to God rather than some earthly love - similar to many U2 love songs. Rather than make the song seem unoriginal, this adds more meaning to an already good song:

Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
You've put me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead (singing)
Come out of things unsaid, shoot an apple of my head (and a)
Trouble that can't be named, tigers waiting to be tamed (singing)

You are, you are

("You are" could be a reference to God, who called Himself "I am" in Exodus.)

6) Daylight

Another great song: an Indian-influenced intro gives way to a driving song about the joy of a sunrise, real or metaphorical. Rather than just celebrating the rising sun, the optimism of the closing refrain seems to coax it out from behind the horizon:

Slowly breaking through to daylight
Slowly breaking through to daylight
Slowly breaking through to daylight
Slowly breaking through to daylight...

7) Green Eyes

This is the Wild Honey of this album. Many, MANY people hate throwaway pop songs to interrupt their album, but many of the greatest albums have just such a moment to provide a moment of peace in which the listener can catch his breath:

Trip Through Your Wires
Trying To Throw Your Arms Around the World

As far as these songs go, this is a damn good one. To me personally, it helps that my girlfriend has gorgeous green eyes.

(Sparks, from their last album is the first song we ever slow-danced to. I imagine this song will also become meaningful for the two of us.)


I would have more analysis of the last four songs - all very good in their own right - but I'm still exploring them, letting them sink in.

The bottom line is: in an era of singles and compilations of chart-topping hits, Coldplay has made an ALBUM. When most artists cram their CDs with as much music as they can, Coldplay held back, delivering 54 minutes of beautful, exhausting, uplifting music. When bands are choosing between selling out to sell millions and crawling back into relative obscurity, Coldplay strongly asserts this very accessible, very haunting album.

Best album this year, easily.

And if Coldplay keeps this up, they will be the first real heirs to the throne that U2 now occupies: best band on the planet.

Bubba

 

[Achtung Bubba]

Some reviews:

Amazon.com

As a band they have advanced to a stage where they outshine nearly every one of their rivals in terms of imagination and emotional pull... Even if they haven't come up with another "Yellow," you would be hard-pressed to care. This is exquisite stuff.


Amazon.co.uk

"Give me real, don't give me fake" says Martin in the opening "Politik" and it's an appropriately uncompromising demand, for A Rush of Blood... is without doubt the most heartfelt and emotionally liberated album to top the charts in ages.


dotmusic

In 2000, armed with an undisputedly touching debut album, Coldplay emerged as serious contenders. That they were marginalised in some quarters by the tawdry bleating of frontman Chris Martin - resulting in Alan McGee's infamous "bedwetters" slight - is also hardly in question. For this was a band whose swollen emotional gravitas also left them terminally noosed by sorrowful self-pity. But, as Glastonbury suggested, and 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' now resolutely attests, maturity, bravery and fire make the man. They also make Coldplay's second album a stellar triumph.


Billboard.com

On A Rush of Blood to the Head, the U.K. foursome proves worthy of the superlatives, crafting a stronger, more distinctive album than its predecessor in nearly every respect.


The Sun (UK newspaper - not online, so here's the full article)

COLDPLAY's follow-up to their dubut No1 album Parachutes proves the band can take on the mighty RADIOHEAD and U2 to make it big in the US.

A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD is out on August 26 and it is so good that world domination seems inevitable.

Here's the Sun's track by track preview with marks out of 10.

POLITIK - Their most adventurous track so far. Opens to loud angry guitar before it quietens into a pleading CHRIS MARTIN: "Open up your eyes". 8/10

IN MY PLACE - Their new single makes the hairs on you neck stand up. It should be their first number 1. Trademark irresistable guitar - riff that the EDGE will wish he'd written. 9/10

GOD PUT A SMILE UPON YOU FACE - A live favourite from their recent tour, reworked into a quality version for the album. 8/10

THE SCIENTIST - A stand-out track with spine-tingling piano. A melancholy tale of the heart with Chris pleading "Nobody said it was easy, it's such a shame for us to part". It will become the soundtrack to a thousand break-ups. 10/10

CLOCKS - Another instant classic. The pounding piano is addictive. Death and under-achievement are the themes. This is a truly beautiful song. 10/10

DAYLIGHT - An Eastern feel to this in ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN style song which features their singer IAN McCULLOCH and some STONE ROSES style base. 6/10

GREEN EYES - Some fans wont like this folky acoustic jaunt. But it builds into a lovely anthem which will resound around Britain after a night down the pub with your Green-Eyed missus. 8/10

WARNING SIGN - This is the one - Their finest moment. Simple yet stunning. If you thought their second album would struggle, this would prove you wrong. 10/10

A WHISPER - The menacing sound to this song puts a nail in the coffin of the "old Coldplay" sound. Jagged and uneasy but doesn't stand up against it's predecessors. 7/10

A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD - An intimate number that starts with the whisper: "I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down". It slowly builds into something magnificent and then you'll realise your listening to a very special album. Great harmonies. 8/10

AMSTERDAM - A heavy piano tune with Chris singing - "My star is fading". But he couldn't be more wrong. A mellow end to a melancholy record (are they the new SMITHS?). Builds into a stadium scarf-waver, proving that COLDPLAY can be as big as U". 9/10

Overall: 9/10 A seminal work. It's only a matter of time before the rest of the world wakes up to them.

Memo to Coldplay: Book your table at the Brit Awards NOW.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Is it just me or is the summer of 2002 giving us some of the best albums ever?

Bowie's Heathen Chemistry - 4 Stars!!!

Plant's Dreamland - 4 Stars!!!

Pepper's By the Way - 4 1/2 Stars!!!

and now...

Coldplay's A Rush of Blood... - 5 Stars!!!

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Check out the B-side to In My Place called "One I Love."

A U2-like track that I am having a real hard time accepting that somebody decided that it was not worthy to be on the album.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Bubba,

Have you heard The Last Broadcast by Doves? That is the best album I've heard all year, and comes closest, in my opinion, to what U2 was able to achieve on a given album between the Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby years.

 

[walkon11]

Sometimes thing are just more important than school! Music is one of them!

As you can see, I have my priorities in order.

 

[MonaVox]

I keep trying to listen on their website but I can't!

 

[Bono's shades]

I think I will defiintely be buying this album, based on the glowing reviews and the fact I love, love, love the song "In My Place."

 

[The Wanderer]

I guess I'm in the minority on this one, but from my standpoint, it's merely a decent album and there are a number of other albums that have been released within the last year that are much better -- including the new Doves, Elbow, Electric Soft Parade and Gomez

it's a nice little album, but I still had to laugh at it being compared to the Joshua Tree

 

[walkon11]

Is it just me or is the summer of 2002 giving us some of the best albums ever?

Bowie's Heathen Chemistry - 4 Stars!!!

Actually, Bowie's album was just called "Heathen"...Oasis' new album was called "Heathen Chemistry", which was amazing as well...just thought I would note that.

 

[Lemon Meringue]

Question

Since I did not like the song Yellow, do you think I will like or hate this new disk?

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves...

 

[walkon11]

Re: Question

Since I did not like the song Yellow, do you think I will like or hate this new disk?

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves...

I liked it, but it was not the best song on Parachutes by far...there are a lot better...still, from what I've heard of this new one, its more uptempo, more diverse...I would download a few songs first (take your pick from the lists provided above by Achtung Bubba) to see if you'd like it.

 

[SkeeK]

I'm a moderate fan.. I appreciate them, haven't listened to Parachutes all that much though. I must say this new album seems quite phenomenal from what I've listened to (most of it).

 

[anitram]

The Scientist is a wonderfully lovely tune.

A couple of the lines seem to be directly lifted from a Sheryl Crow song.

Still a hauntingly beautiful song. Best on the album, IMO.

 

[U2girl]

I loved Parachutes, and personally i'll wait till the second single comes out and decide!

 

[SkeeK]

No U2girl, don't wait. Trust me. You'll just be depriving yourself of great music. I think this one is much better than Parachutes.

I'm totally in love with clocks.

 

[Achtung Bubba]

I love Parachutes, and I STILL think this album is better.

Parachutes is, to me, one of a handful of good "quiet" albums that appeared a few years back - the type of albums you listen to at 2 am, when you want to unwind or when you can't go to sleep.

(That short list also includes David Gray's White Ladder, Dido's No Angel, and Aimee Mann's Magnolia soundtrack. I recommend all three highly.)

But A Rush of Blood to the Head?

It's A REVELATION.

The Wanderer may laugh at the comparison, but I think this may be comparable to The Joshua Tree in at least one respect: after Joshua Tree, there was no doubt that U2 is among the world's greatest rock bands.

After A Rush of Blood, it's clear that Coldplay has entered the realm of greatness.

There are so many brilliant songs on this album: ANY one of them could be a single. ANY one of them would have made this album worth buying.

Bubba

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I have piqued my girlfriend's interest in Coldplay, she's gonna have a listen this sunday when she comes in. But wow, I must say this album is really good. I'm on my third time listening now, and it's much much better than I thought the first time. It's also very promising because Parachutes is still growing on me, 2 years later, and if this one does the same, then I may just have to elevate Coldplay to a new seat in my pantheon of musical greatness. The thing I like about Coldplay is that they can be classy and creative and artsy, but be completely accessible at the same time. Class band, and 2 great albums under their belt. Just hope they can hold it together.

 

[The Wanderer]

well I won't go as far as Hot Press and call them "a bunch of bedwetters," because I do like their music, but I just can't call them a "great" band, they're a good band without much versatility, they write some beautiful ballads, but they don't exactly "rock" and their lyrics don't come close to grasping the different themes that Bono covers, so yes, I think comparing them to U2 is laughable

 

[Cowgirl]

Oh boy, I missed this one and Bubba I am agreeing.
I liked Coldplay and loved songs like Shiver and Everything's Not Lost but found Parachutes a little too depressive.
However, this album im absolutely loving.
I MUCH prefer it to Parachutes, stand out tracks are Clocks, Politik, Amsterdam and Daylight for me.
WOW WOW WOW

I this album!!!!
Between listening to it and E Storm, ive been in musical heaven the past 3 days

Bubba said:
ANY one of them could be a single. ANY one of them would have made this album worth buying.

Excellent.

Go buy this album people!!!!

Thank God for Rock

 

[Jody]

I bought the album yesterday morning and have listened to it non stop since. I was expecting it to be great but it was beyond my expectations. Everyone with any doubts, buy it, Im sure you wont be disappointed.

I the scientist.

 

[Achtung Bubba]

well I won't go as far as Hot Press and call them "a bunch of bedwetters," because I do like their music, but I just can't call them a "great" band, they're a good band without much versatility, they write some beautiful ballads, but they don't exactly "rock" and their lyrics don't come close to grasping the different themes that Bono covers, so yes, I think comparing them to U2 is laughable

While the complaint of predictability may apply to Parachutes, I'm not sure it applies to A Rush of Blood.

Certainly, there are Coldplay's signature love songs - lush, gorgeous songs. But...

9/11/01 apparently impacted this album: while there is no song as overtly reactive to an event as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "Peace on Earth," you CAN hear the impact in "Politic."

There are teeth to some of the songs, "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" and "A Whisper."

Then there are uplifting songs of invocation, like "Daylight," a song that deserves comparison to "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Beautiful Day."

Then there's the haunting closer, "Amsterdam," which raises the spectre of suicide.

Certainly, this one album doesn't compare in variety to all of U2's songs, but that's comparing apples and oranges - or, rather, albums and catalogues. I believe this album stands up well when compared to any single U2 album.

Now, it seems, the shoe is on the other foot: 15 years ago, U2 fans began to assert that their band just might be occupy the same rarified heights as the Beatles, and Beatles fans scoffed - and still scoff - at the notion. Now, we are seeing the emergenceof a band that I believe may ascend to similar heights.

One hopes that U2 fans don't condemn this work as second rate without giving it a chance to prove itself.

Now, I'm off to buy an album.