So Coldplay's X and Y was ehh. So Parachutes was too boring. Put your feelings of Coldplay aside people. A Rush Of Blood To The Head contains some of the greatest songs ever written. Chris Martin really put his soul into this one. The sound, to quote Rolling Stone, is that of a small band daring to try to make it big. And it's beautiful. This album is the defenition of what Coldplay should be about. A mix of beauty and rock blended together to form the heart warming, soul twisting sounds that have become what Coldplay was, and still tries to be about.
1. Politik
Politik is a five minute epic, beginning with some loud, passionate guitar. The bottom drops out, leaving Chris alone with his piano to gently hum the spaced out verses. The chorus is still all about Chris, but this time the loudness returns to put some power before Chris's plea "Open Up Your Eyes". However, the highlight of this power ballad is the 2 minute coda at the end, with Chris and his piano reaching the upper, beautiful parts of their range. In the bridge, Chris's falsetto is fantastic enough to give you goosebumps. Then the booming guitars return with the piano over them this time to do the aforementioned soul-twisting. This is one of the best songs Coldplay has ever done.
2. In My Place
In My Place begins with some standard rock drumming from Will, and then becomes a pretty decent song. It's not a classic, but it has it's moments. The guitar seems a little cliched at the beginning. Chris sings some hidden-meaning lyrics (though I still havent found the meaning yet), and then it gently eases into the chorus of "Yeah, how long must you wait for?" His falsetto puts all your troubles at ease with gentle power, a staple of his singing. I've never gotten all that much into In My Place, but I've heard other people say they liked it, so looking at it from an objective standpoint, I say it's a pretty good song.
3. God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
This song is a weird one. It starts off with an off-key sounding guitar riff. Chris attacks this song with almost darkness, and if it weren't for his self appreciating lyrics ("God gave me style, and gave me grace") one would think it was dark. The chorus is spacy, and pretty much uninspired. GPASUYF is pretty much a track they threw together with an easy riff and drum beat, IMO.
4. The Scientist
Getting back to the classics, The Scientist is the ballad of the new milleniium. Such gentle piano, and Chris's lovely forlorn singing give this song the edge it needs to become one of the classics of life. The power slowly rises beginning in the chorus, when some effects are put behind the piano to give the song some power. The second verse introduces some acoustic guitar and drums. I originally thought this concept might ruin the song, but it gives the song a little more spirit. The bridge finds Johnny giving a now famous slide guitar riff. It ends on the highest of highs, with Chris showing off his falsetto voice with some Ohh ooooo's. This is called by Chris as the most beautiful song Coldplay's ever written.
5. Clocks
Clocks is the biggest single off AROBTTH, and understandably so. It begins with that rolling piano that gets your head spinning. I like Guy's bass in this song. His talent is underrated, because if he were to do anything more difficult, it would probably lead to the ruin of most songs. But here, his work is highlighted. The verses lyrics are once again not the important thing, only Chris's melody. The chorus is just some Eeee eeee ahhh's. After that though, the interlude shows has the piano going into the high ranges beautifully. The bridge is what makes this song a classic, though, with Chris flipping between ranges on his power-filled line "And Nothing Else Compares". Curiously, the song ends with Chris going into the deepest parts of his range. However, that part is greatly complimented with Will's crash drumming. Fine song.
6. Daylight
Some people might call Daylight a skip track. And I.... would have to agree with them. It is a dark song with some spacey effects on Chris's voice, and that makes the song listenable every once ina while. Also there's some nice bass work done by Guy. But the chorus is cliche Coldplay, with Chris flipping his voice as he does in most songs. The outro is cool with the line "Slowly breaking from the daylight" being repeated many times.
7. Green Eyes
Here's where we get into the lowpoints. It starts off with a Johnny Cash-esque "Honey You Are A Rock." I hate country and it sounds a little country to me. Once we get out of that, I like his chorus that rises with emotion. But there's too much country evidence for me to get really into it. In my opinion, it's probably the weakest song on the album.
8. Warning Sign
Another countryish riff starts this one, but it's more like pop-rock Sheryl Crow country, and I don't mind it too much. Everything is pretty standard, from the drum part, to the guitar. The chorus explodes with the line "truth is, I Miss You", but it's not enough to save this song from the mediocrity that has plagued a few of the songs on this album.
9. Whisper
We start to crawl back to the greatness of the beginning qith Whisper, and underrated, funky time track. The verses are just Chris saying "whisper", but then the best part comes, a Who-style cry of "I hear the sounds, ticking across". The choruses are average, nothing to gawk at. But as I said, those cries make this song what it is. The ends drags, which I never usually care about, but it gets annoying.
10. A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Classic number 3 standing right here. At this point, you might be saying "Is this guy insane? He gave this a 4.5 out of 5, yet he only likes a few songs." The answer is right here. A Rush Of Blood To The Head is a powerful, dark ballad featuring all of the greatness Coldplay can produce when they put their minds to it. The verses are sad and dark with lines like "I'm gonna buy this place, and tear it down" and "So I'm gonna buy a gun andstart a war/ If you can tell me something worth fighting for". The chorus is the highlight, though, with Chris's singing wrapping it's glory all around your head. It's so powerful. A classic number.
11. Amsterdam
Most of the world would have been content with AROBTTH as a fine conclusion, but we still have Amsterdam left. Amsterdam is a sad track, with Chris sounding all alone with his piano for 4 minutes. Like 'Fix You', this song is all about encouragement with lines like "And Time/ It's on your side". The message is not lost, like it is with most Coldplay songs. The love that Coldplay has so deftly shown is present again. The end though comes in with a bang that was built through the 3rd minute of the song. Everyone shows up, as if to give Chris the support he seemed to be yearning for in the beginning. The emotion in this song is not unnoticed. Another fan favorite and a good conclusion.
Overall: You may have noticed that I didn't give some of the songs the highest of praise. I gave this song the rating I did because of some of the songs sheer dominating power that got lost somewhere between here and X&Y. Songs like Politik, the Scientist, and AROBTTH are such great songs and they are reason alone to go out and buy them. And most of the rest are solid tracks as well. Clocks, Amsterdam, and In My Place are all fine examples of Coldplay's music. The rest are none of them terrible, all just pretty average. If you want some of the best music you'll hear for a while, then I suggest you buy this really soon.
Recommended Tracks:
Politik
The Scientist
Clocks
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Pros:
Some truly mind blowingly powerful music.
The emotion here is definitive Coldplay.
Chris's voice in everything.
Cons:
A few skip tracks
Not much work done from anyone except Chris.
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