Coldplay — A Rush of Blood to the Head
Release Date: August 26, 2002
Length: 54:12
Genre: Alternative
Label: Capitol/Parlophone
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
If Coldplay’s first album, “Parachutes,” put the band on the map, then their sophomore effort, “A Rush of Blood To the Head,” established their own continent.
Let’s backtrack a bit …
In the spring of 2003, I heard that Coldplay would be making a tour stop near my hometown. At that point I already owned a copy of “Parachutes,” which I had talked a friend into buying for me (don’t ask me how, I guess I didn’t want it bad enough to pay for it myself). The main reason I wanted it and the only thing I really listened to on it was the song “Yellow” — probably the song that Coldplay is best known for. Needless to say I wasn’t too much of a fan by then but since big-name acts like this rarely, if ever, came through my neck of the woods, I figured I’d better go to the concert just to check it out.
After I purchased my ticket I figured it might be a good idea to buy a copy of their newest album. I wanted to be able to seem cool and in order to do that I needed to be able to sing along to more than just one song. I listened to the album a few times through and was gradually becoming more of a steady fan. But the real turning point for me was seeing them in concert. After that night I knew I was a Coldplay fan for life.
If you’ve ever seen this band live then you know exactly what I’m talking about. From their display of passion, intensity and energy all the way to the amazing green laser that formed a kind of roof over the crowd during the song “Clocks,” I was beaming the whole time.
I’ve seen them in concert three times now and their awesome live shows coupled with the fact that they simply make darn-good music really makes these guys a force to be reckoned with in today’s music scene.
Lots of bands like to claim that they have an “original” sound, but more often than not I’ve found that this is a total lie. In Coldplay’s case, especially with “A Rush of Blood To the Head,” true originality not only presents itself, it rams itself down your throat. Before this album came out, and still to this day, I have never heard an album quite like it (except for maybe elements of the band’s follow-up “X&Y”).
This is one of those rare albums that would take entirely too long to list off everything about it that makes it great, but a few key points in the album (some of which will make you wish you knew how to play piano if you don’t already) are:
• The haunting chords of the album’s opener “Politik.”
• The soft and sentimental chord progression of the amazing “The Scientist.”
• The recognizable and catchy theme of “Clocks.”
• The lyrics to and overall feel of the title track.
• The contemplative progression of the album’s closer “Amsterdam” (possibly my favorite of the whole album) — an absolutely exquisite closing song.
Upon first listen to the album’s opening track, “Politik,” it seems like the whole experience might be overshadowed with a tone of negativity. But as the song progresses you actually find that what Coldplay seems to convey is that, yes, there are frustrating things about this world but they’re not going to let these things discourage them or cause them to want to give up. This is evident in the second half of the song where Chris Martin just sings the same lyric over and over, “Give me love over this.” It is as though he is choosing to take all of the things about this life that frustrate him and channel them into something that fuels love rather than hate.
If nothing else, “A Rush of Blood To the Head” was a statement of intention that Coldplay planned on being around for a long time. Well, here we are almost eight years later, and since then these four boys from England have delivered nothing but purely amazing music and will hopefully continue to do so well into the future. It seems like the statement this album made has held true. What they began with “Parachutes” they truly took to the next level with this album. If I were any one of these men, looking back I would wonder to myself, “How did we ever successfully transition from an album like ‘Parachutes’ to something on such a grand scale as ‘A Rush of Blood To the Head’ without experiencing a total train wreck?” At that point I guess I would just stop wondering and simply be thankful.
A track from this album that seems to have gotten little attention is the song “Green Eyes.” It is one of my favorite tracks. But oftentimes the real gems are hidden beneath the surface. It’s a very catchy acoustic ballad that can’t help but make you think of a loved one when you hear it. My favorite lyric from the song is, “I came here with a load and it feels so much lighter since I met you.” And that’s exactly how I’ve always felt every time I’ve come away from listening to this album — that no matter what mood I may have been in or what problems I may have been experiencing in life, my load feels just that much lighter thanks to the special place in my heart for this collection of songs.
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