FEATURE:
In My Place
Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head at Twenty
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ALTHOUGH I have not really…
listened to Coldplay’s albums since A Rush of Blood to the Head in 2002, this album particularly is one that I love a lot. Released on 26th August, 2002, I wanted to feature the brilliant second album from the band. Following the celebrated debut, Parachutes, in 2000, there was a lot of critical focus and expectation in their direction. They sort of came out of nowhere and released this stunning debut. Maybe A Rush of Blood to the Head does not garner the same acclaim, reputation and stature as its predecessor, but it is a terrific album that arrived at a very strange time. Less than a year after the terror attacks in the U.S. that shook the world, music was still reacting and adapting. There was still celebratory music, but there seemed to be this brief hiatus as artists created more serious or reflective work. I think that some of the best albums of the decade arrived in 2002. That is definitely the case with A Rush of Blood to the Head. It is an album you can get on vinyl. Go and grab a copy of you can. As I do with album anniversary features, I am going to finish with a couple of reviews. There are features that provide a bit of background about the album.
Albumism looked back at A Rush of Blood to the Head in 2017. They talked about (among other things) how it took Coldplay to a new level and saw their work opened up to a wider audience. It was true that they were a major band by the time their 2002 album was revealed to the world:
“When Coldplay announced their arrival with their debut LP Parachutes (2000) they got what every band starting out hopes for: a critically acclaimed and commercially loved album that saw their appeal spread from their homeland of Britain to every corner of the world. With each passing month and new single release, the band transitioned from playing small intimate clubs to midsize theatres as their popularity around the world grew on the heels of breakthrough hit “Yellow” and follow up singles “Trouble” and “Don’t Panic.” Seeing them live during their debut world tour, you got a sense of a band daring to reach for more than the venues they were caged in. A band wanting to further conquer the musical landscape and ascend to the heights of arena and stadium shows. A band with the desire to be “one of the best bands in the world.”
So it was with this destination in mind that they set about recording their follow up, A Rush Of Blood to the Head. As the title suggests, the album was recorded with a heady sense of haste as if they didn’t want the opportunity to build on their debut’s success to slip through their fingers. The result of initial recordings, however, saw them flounder under both their ambitions and expectations with the album shaping up to be a small evolution from—and in some parts a carbon copy of—the sound of Parachutes, rather than a bold step forward.
At a musical fork in the road they faced a hard decision: build on the momentum gained with a quick release or start afresh and record an album that better reflected who they wanted to be. Thankfully for us, with a release date looming, they decided to put a halt to recordings and push through the growing pains of reaching beyond their comfort zone. In the process they scuttled many of the songs already slated for release and got to work on new material.
As album opener “Politik” attests, the new material grew out of the ambition to cross the threshold of playing small to midsized venues and step into the world of arena rock, moving in on territory usually reserved for the likes of U2. With its slow build and pounding drums, “Politik” announces their intent fittingly, kicking off with an energy akin to a coda. Set to reverberate through stadiums, “Politik” encapsulates a sense of post-9/11 isolation and desperation pitted against a desire to connect and a dare to hope. It’s a more epic sounding, dramatic Coldplay being presented here. One ready for a wider stage.
In fact, it’s possible to view the entirety of A Rush of Blood to the Head as a live show. Perhaps weary of the more intimate moments of Parachutes, A Rush of Blood is Coldplay amped up. The addition of heavier sounding guitars and the greater prominence of piano not only hint at their development and surety as musicians, but also injects their songs with a broader scope.
Upon its release in late August 2002, A Rush of Blood to the Head was lauded by critics and the public alike. It self-fulfilled the prophecy that envisaged Coldplay growing in stature and appeal, conquering a bigger world stage and picking up Grammy awards along the way. It remains Coldplay’s best-selling album to date.
And 15 years after its release, A Rush of Blood to the Head remains a vibrant, relevant, urgent album. None of its lustre has been lost over the years and it remains Coldplay’s defining moment. It has rightfully become the album that the band’s subsequent releases are measured against. For in this perfect storm of ambition and focused follow-through, Coldplay rightfully took their place as “one of the best”.
Also in 2017, The Young Folks spotlighted and revisiting the wonderful second studio album from Coldplay. They note how, like some artists (though relatively few), their lead Chris Martin was unafraid to challenge a post-9/11 world:
“Some records are historical for their unique sound, and some are just important to the society for the time. Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head falls into both categories. With the horrendous 9/11 attacks still fresh in the minds of everyone, the American people were looking for anything to get the terrible tragedy off of their minds.
Enter in the revolutionary English rock band lead by Chris Martin to help relieve people from grief. With a perfect blend of love ballads, anthems, and memorable instrumentals, it’s safe to say that Coldplay avoided the so-called “sophomore slump” with their second album.
The sense of urgency to create this record was evident through the production style and songwriting. Martin said it himself in an interview that although the band didn’t exactly know how to approach this project, they still knew that a hopeful tone would be their backbone.
Coldplay has shown throughout their discography how stunning but subtle music can be, while being just as impactful. You wouldn’t think that a band from Britain could make a political statement about America without sounding uneducated, but Coldplay found that balance on A Rush of Blood to the Head of saying something significant while making it a fantastic listen as well.
By using the first official single on the record “In My Place” as a stepping stone for the rest of the tracks, Martin figured out what direction him and his bandmates wanted to go. The song “Politik” is where we really got a sense of the different underlying themes riddled throughout the album. Martin solidified himself as an important voice in the music industry right off of the bat with this track, and he wasn’t afraid of challenging the state of our world following 9/11.
Martin also doesn’t shy away from going back to their vintage sound that helped Coldplay get heard on Parachutes. “Warning Sign,” the eighth song on the record is a perfect representation of that. That idea is immediately thrown out the window however on “A Whisper” where the track becomes dizzying and daunting, and the lyrics found the band diving headfirst back into the importance of time and how it can be overwhelming for people”.
I am going to wrap things up with a couple of reviews. As I so often do, I will bring in AllMusic, because their take on A Rush of Blood to the Head is one that made me think deeper about an album that cemented Coldplay as a British band who were going to conquer the world:
“In 2002, the members of Coldplay were still in the midst of their ascent, riding the breakthrough success of their sleepy debut, which established wide-eyed vulnerability and earnestness as an indelible part of their image. Soft and soothing, the precious Parachutes set them up for a lifetime of inaccurate comparisons to Radiohead, even though the similarities started and ended with The Bends. And just like Radiohead, they quickly evolved into another beast altogether: plugging in the guitars, amplifying the bombast, tattooing their hearts on their sleeves, and shooting for the arena rafters in a fashion more similar to U2. Their sophomore effort, A Rush of Blood to the Head, made the message clear within the first seconds of the intense opener "Politik." As Will Champion's drums crash, Jonny Buckland's guitar swells, and Guy Berryman's bass churns, frontman Chris Martin bursts through the Wall of Sound, jolting listeners awake with the desperate cry, "Open up your eyes!" Angsty and urgent, songs like "Politik" and the title track introduced fresh elements into the Coldplay repertoire, expanding their emotional palette and showing critics that they could really rock when they wanted to. This was the sound of a new Coldplay, one that developed confidence, a voice, and a budding imagination to separate themselves from the Travises and Elbows of the world. The aggressive wallop of "God Put a Smile upon Your Face" -- a live staple and fan-favorite single -- typified the trademark sound of the era, combining Champion and Berryman's groove with Buckland's outer-space noodling, a style that they'd blast into the stratosphere on the follow-up effort, X&Y. Along with "Daylight" and "A Whisper," the track helped establish Coldplay as an arena rock presence, pulling them out of the indie-dwelling bedroom and onto the big stage. From that platform, Coldplay also delivered three of their most enduring and beloved singles: the sparkling "In My Place," the weepy ballad "The Scientist," and the piano-kissed showstopper "Clocks." With A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay pulled back the curtains to reveal a robust and energized unit, one that would soon conquer the mainstream with a steady evolution into the world of pop. At this moment -- before issuing the two highest-selling albums in the world in 2005 and 2008 and becoming an international stadium sell-out presence -- Coldplay were coming to grips with their music's power and possibility, a young band hungry, bright-eyed, and primed for stardom”.
I will complete things by quoting Entertainment Weekly. They gave A Rush of Blood to the Head an ‘A’ when they sat down with the album in September 2002. Though some gave the album a mixed review, there was more than enough backing, love and kudos for Coldplay in 2002. A Rush of Blood to the Head has earned plenty of applause since then:
“The dramatization of the old Manchester indie rock and rave scene in ”24 Hour Party People” is an occasionally enlightening slice of alt-rock nostalgia. It also offers a few educational lessons on England’s newest hitmakers. Back then, as the movie demonstrates, the throbbing, intense sonics of the bands mattered. But so did the personalities, be they Joy Division’s pale-rider frontman, Ian Curtis, or Happy Mondays’ own 24-hour party animal, Shaun Ryder. They may have been ”new wave,” or whatever phrase we used at the time, but they were also rock stars in the old-fashioned, attention-getting sense.
Manchester’s days as a hugely influential music community may be over, but guitar-wielding U.K. bands aren’t; in the last few years, one boat after another loaded with musicians has docked on our shores. But as striking as some of that music has been, from the ingenious quirks of Clinic to the six-string symphonics of Doves, you’d be hard-pressed to name a single band member or picture one of their faces. Call it Oasis Syndrome: Act like an overbearing, entitled pop star, and you risk alienating as many people as you attract, so best to keep a low profile. The current, post-Oasis bands, taking a cue from the Gallagher brothers’ ascent and crash, seem to purposefully refrain from putting themselves out there. They’d much prefer to hide behind waves of enveloping sound, thank you very much, as if the idea of rock conquering all were just a distant, baffling memory.
Coldplay appeared to be part of this trend when ”Parachutes” arrived two years back. Sober, mildly rocking university types with a singer who was a sucker for his own falsetto, they were immediately labeled Radiohead Lite, and with good reason. But didn’t their ”Yellow” and ”Trouble” age better than most of Radiohead’s meandering ”Amnesiac”? Wasn’t Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin, in some ways a cut above his peers in the charisma department, a sort of rock Rupert Everett? And could Coldplay actually have more to offer than some of their competitors?
The answer to all three questions is yes, and the proof lies in A Rush of Blood to the Head. Second albums are problematic, never more so than when their predecessors are sleeper sensations. But as sophomore discs go, ”A Rush of Blood” is strikingly wonderful, if not immediately striking. If one were to choose a ”Parachutes” track as a starting point, it wouldn’t be the blaring riff from ”Yellow” but the mel-ancholic vibe of ”Trouble.” The songs are built on gentle, stately pianos and elementary guitar patterns. Even when tempos accelerate, as in the tribal stomp of ”Politik,” a dewy-eyed appeal to some higher power to save us, the music remains restrained and mournful.
And for once, there’s nothing wrong with that. Displaying a cohesion rarely heard in albums these days, ”A Rush of Blood” bobs from one majestic little high to another. Songs like ”In My Place” and ”Warning Sign” marry lyrics imbued with deep regret and mistakes (”…You were an island / And I passed you by” in the touching latter song) with lyrical melodies and guitar hooks that twinkle and sparkle. (Momentary sunniness is provided by the fairly jaunty ”Green Eyes,” about a relationship that actually seems to have stuck.) At a time when so many bands, Brit or American, are intent on cramming as many genres as possible into each song, it’s a relief to hear music that revels in the joys of a simple, graceful melody. The overall effect is tuneful and hypnotic — ambitious, but in the sneakiest, quietest way.
Using his falsetto to sublime effect, Martin never overdoes it or turns cloying, an accomplishment in itself. Much like ”Parachutes,” the new album still has plenty of outside reference points: ”Clocks” has a rushing-waterfall piano straight off a Moby album, while ”A Whisper” delves into a space-rock artiness reminiscent of a ’60s hippie-flick soundtrack. But Coldplay manage to pull off an even grander gambit: In their hands, the new low-profile Brit rock actually has a profile”.
Upon its release, A Rush of Blood to the Head went to number one in the U.K. The album spawned the hit singles In My Place, The Scientist, and Clocks. Coldplay received three Grammy Awards for A Rush of Blood to the Head: the 2003 Grammy for Best Alternative Album, which was the band's second win in a row; the 2003 Grammy for Best Rock Performance with the song In My Place, and the 2004 Grammy for Record of the Year with the song, Clocks. Ahead of its twentieth anniversary on 26th August, I wanted to spend time exploring Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head. The band followed 2000’s Parachutes with an album that took them…
TO new levels.