A Rush of Blood to the Head (Digital Album)

by

Coldplay

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Sadly, I don't have Parachutes. Still, when the chance came I decided to get this follow up album. I've never thought a great deal of Coldplay, always thinking of them as aimless depressives. But I was of course, wrong... behind every miserable sounding Trouble and Don't Panic there's a real message, and usually an optimistic one. They're a band who may throw you, but listen again...

On to this album. I bought it on the strength of In My Place, a fantastic, cheerful song, the liveliest on the album probably. But it's not the best. Politik is a song with great variation, one minute moody and doom-ringing, then soaring and hopeful. The Scientist is probably my favourite, a heart-wrenching, tear-jerkingly beautiful piano song, which has all the love of Yellow with even more feeling. Singer Martin's voice is so strong yet frail, you'd think he honestly believed what he was singing. Which of course he does, with the political undertones of Politik.

Some of the album is a little bland - the tune to Daylight sounds maddeningly familiar - but there are highlights. Green Eyes and Warning Sign are beautiful, Amsterdam is sweet and the title track - a future single, I hope - is fantastic and not a second too long.

There is so much hope and inspiration in this happy, it's so incredibly uplifting sometimes, yet seems so serious that it makes you stop and feel what they're feeling. It's powerful stuff. I can't say if it's better than Parachutes, having only heard the singles from it. But still, a fantastic album that manages to be beautiful and haunting at the same time, that simply should not be missed.

Not being a fan of Coldplay and not having even heard "Parachutes", minus the singles "Yellow" and "Trouble", I picked up "A rush of blood..." on the strength of the first offering, "In my place" after quickly previewing the album before it's release. Comparisons to Radiohead and the lesser, Travis, are undeniable given the lilting falsetto of Chris Martin is so akin to the vocalizations of those bands. I'm pleasantly surprised by the overall melodic content of the record although tracks such as "The Scientist", "Green Eyes" and the title track wilt under the mopey sentimentality of Martin's delivery when not backed by a catchy hook. Songs are memorable for so many reasons, be it a hypnotic riff or a lyric that mirrors your own fate. Chris Martin's desperate pleas on "In my Place": "Please, please, please Come back and sing to me..." capture the intense longing of a broken soul. The superb "Clocks" almost didn't make it onto the album, but it proves to be a standout track. The chord changes are sublime and when Chris timidly sings "You are, You are" it is simply arresting. "Whisper" provides an interesting diversion and seems like a faultering Radiohead song. "Warning Sign" and "Amsterdam" are other favourites, with the latter highlighting what Coldplay do best; graceful piano ballads, tinged with languishing guitars. Their sound is sort of a poppy, tempered melencholy. Although lyrically often one dimensional, they are sonically more palatable and optimistic than the latest offerings from Thom Yorke and the boys, as good as those records are in their own right. "A rush of blood to the head" is not groundbreaking,(nor does it have to be) but it will please their fans and should affirm Coldplay as a key force in the "Brit-pop" music scene.