Coldplay - A Rush of Blood To The Head

 

Following a long absence from this blogging lark I had time to stumble upon one of my favourite all time albums. A Rush of Blood to the Head in my opinion captures Chris Martin and co just before their fair trade loving and grandiose selves found in their more recent albums and this can be said to be refreshing to say the least.

This album is in my opinion is the best of all of Coldplay’s albums. Quite simply many if not all of the songs are good to brilliant with many notable standout points. The album opens with  ‘Politik’ which has Chris imploring people to ‘open up your eyes’ at the poor fair trade policies in countries around the world (perhaps this was the start of Chris and the boy’s influences for future albums). Next comes ‘In My Place ‘which for me is arguably the standout track of the album along with Clocks and The Scientist. ‘In My Place’ blends brilliant lyrics conveying emotion with a catchy guitar riff and that’s all you really need isn’t it?  This has ultimately lead to the song being an anthem in live performances and one of the bands most recognizable songs. Further Standout points in the album come with Martin’s piano skills especially on the song ‘Clocks’ which has given us one of the most memorable piano riffs of the past 20 years if not longer. Also on ‘The Scientist’ which continues the albums generally relaxing and slow mood. Furthermore, on a song called ‘Amsterdam’ which closes the album fantastically, truly one of Coldplay’s underrated if not recognised pieces of work.

As previously stated this album doesn’t really harbour a bad song. However some songs just don’t seem to belong either in the running they are on the album or on the album at all. One song that springs to mind when mentioning this is ‘A Whisper ‘which comes between 2 smooth, relaxed songs (Green eyes and A Rush of Blood to the head) and offers little more than a break from the calm you will find yourself in when listening to the album.

In all honesty this was the only fault I could find with this album. A Rush of Blood to the Head offers up a brilliant album which will have you returning to listen many times with some songs fully appreciated on one of these return listens.