This review is way overdue.
My review for their debut album appeared on mouthshut almost two years back (before I took my sabbatical). In fact most of my music reviews are way too old (and way too few). Of late I have been reading a lot more than I have been doing anything else. Which may or may not be a good thing. (I am engrossed in Letters in Penthouse 8, at the moment. It is very gripping indeed).
This is what collectively got me thinking on writing a music review. Looked around, found the Coldplay disc on the microwave (isn’t burning illegal?), and decided to make a few of you cringe, some even cry out in pain by writing a review. The original objective though is to inform you about a product through an experience and maybe bring about a small nervous twitch in the upper lip area.
Alan McGee. I keep coming back to this dastard (a wholly new word, designed to keep the juvenile junta happy and say, ’’Gee! Whatta nice web site this is Mummy! They spell all the swear words wrong on purpose!’’)
Anyways, Alan McGee (read my review on Parachutes), was the star maker of Oasis. He also belonged to Creation Records (which is still reeling with dyspepsia thanks to Kevin Rowland). he also decided, in his own construed little mind that Coldplay is the scum of the earth and should just stop playing music. From being labelled Art School Schmucks to Radiohead wannabes, Coldplay had a tough time pre-release.
Apres release - Silence.
The second album of Coldplay is titled ’’A Rush of Blood to the Head’’.
The British Rock music scene is ever evolving. There is a sense of uncanny expectation, a waiting to see who would upstage Radiohead, or maybe become a worthy successor. With the end of the so-called straight rockers namely Oasis and Blur (though Travis, with their two exceptional albums come close) it was felt that there is an emptiness waiting to be filled.
Beatles, anyone?
Enter Coldplay. Their debut album, the sublime Parachutes propeled them into the league of the superheroes. Radiohead comparisons be damned. The Coldplay quartet had a tougher challenge here - to live up to the hype and expectation of their first album. And they deliver. With an album sound that’s both down-to-earth and yet seeks higher ground, that’s accessible, that’s out of reach, that’s simple yet disturbed, creepy yet soulful - one that’s both exceptional and brilliant.
Are they ordinary? Yes, almost pedestrian in appearance. Lanky, ill-fed, unkempt, British. Their music however is supremely confident.
Interestingly, Tom Blaxland of Monster once said that if the Beatles had digital editors their experimental albums would be far more intense and experiential, not too mention complex. While cut-and-paste technology allows a band creative freedom, in the wrong hands (or bands) it becomes a nauseated effort that just sounds poor and forced. Coldplay have effectively used such technology, which adds flavour to their music as well as makes it a more subtle attempt.
The talented quartet of Martin, Buckland, Berryman and Champion have walked down a slightly different road this time. Musically, they have grown since Parachutes, here the listener waits longer and is somehow left with a sense of emptiness. Not because of what they got, because of what they might have expected. Martin’s voice haunts you like never before. ’’In My Place’’, one of my personal favourite, is a soulful, melodic vocal experience that reminds you of the early 70’s Jam Experimental Sessions. Not only are the songs more introspective, but it seems each song is a story, one that you would love to completely comprehend, but are deliberately denied.
’’Clocks’’, ’’Daylight and ’’God Put A Smile On Your Face’’ are the ones that are like open fields. each one beautiful in its own right. Where you would love to sit for hours, yet indistinguishable from the others as a single s attempt. (Am I being too hard here?) What marks this album from the others is that it deliberately deserts the sense of paranoia and exercises more control that Parachutes. Why do they play their notes in unison though? It gives the song a sense of purpose while confirming to what can be called the Perpetual Coldplay Rift.
’’Politik’’, remains another favourite. It is a refined number that opens exquisitely and is one of the best tracks on the album. There’s also a lot of Piano on the album. Mellow fingering that makes the songs reek of softer places, that which touch you in sinister places (?). ’’Scientist’’ is wierd, but has a great haunting rhythmic quality. What you should expect with ’’A Rush...’’. is a mature band, with a mature sound. Lyrically, it is a treat, with Martin coming on his own and proving most wrong in the process.
If you have a habit of mumbling sad songs at the breakfast table, pick up the album. It’s sure to make the crunchiest of cereals taste soggy and nice.
p.s.
I downloaded a track called ’’Brothers and Sisters’’ a long time back. While it did not appear on Parachutes, I thought maybe they would feature on the second. Hmm...!