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Although Coldplay was already big before A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD's 2002 release, nothing could have prepared the British band for the album's Grammy-garnering runaway success. In addition to becoming a full-blown rock star, frontman Chris ... Full DescriptionMartin remained in the media spotlight through his marriage to actress Gwyneth Paltrow and the subsequent birth of the couple's child. What followed for Coldplay was, reportedly, a difficult and lengthy recording process where the group tinkered extensively with their signature sound and eventually arrived back at square one.
"Square One" is, in fact, where X&Y, the band's third album, begins, with a subtle, dreamy keyboard line giving way to a barrage of razor-sharp guitar riffs and Martin's plaintive vocals. In keeping with RUSH's overall theme, the songs of X&Y aren't simply catchy singles so much as engaging and meticulously crafted tracks that fit seamlessly together. Many of the record's songs clock in around the five-minute mark, revealing that the quartet feels no obligation to create short, snappy hits; instead they take their time establishing a resonant, anthemic atmosphere, most notably on the slowly building "Fix You." It's clear on X&Y that nothing about Coldplay needed to be fixed, since this album serves as a potent reminder of the band's charms and talents.
Contains the hidden track, + on track # 13.
Coldplay: Chris Martin (vocals, piano); Jonny Buckland (guitar); Guy Berryman (bass guitar); Will Champion (drums).
Recording information: 2005.
Additional personnel: Matt McGinn (guitar); Brian Eno (synthesizer).Spin (pp.99-100) - "By ratcheting up their guitars and still singing about everyday themes, Coldplay are recasting their nerdy-student Britpop as Important Rock Music without sacrificing the homespun vibe..." - Grade: B+
Uncut (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Coldplay's third album finds this remarkable band cruising into their prime...X&Y is an exceptional pop record."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.63) - Ranked #37 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[N]o contemporary group builds a crescendo more masterfully..." Hide DescriptionPurchase X & Y CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Coldplay Parachutes CD (2000)
X & Y album
 $13.95   
PARACHUTES won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
In 2000, a small wave of British pop bands clearly heavily influenced by Radiohead's brand of anthemic mope rock arose, with Travis, Muse, and Coldplay at the forefront. Coldplay are the most clearly Radiohead-like, compared to the poppier Travis and the more electronic-oriented Muse, and their US debut, the 10-song PARACHUTES, should appeal to any fans of OK COMPUTER or THE BENDS who found KID A too weird for their tastes. (Coldplay even swipe a song title, "Don't Panic," from Douglas Adams, as Radiohead did with "Paranoid Android.)
The soaring ...
| | Coldplay Rush Of Blood To The Head CD (2002)
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"Clocks" won the 2004 Grammy Award for Record Of The Year. A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. "In My Place" won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
In 2000, Coldplay appeared seemingly out of nowhere and immediately advanced to the head of the Britpop class in the UK, while easily outdistancing the likes of Oasis and Blur in terms of US popularity. The most striking thing was that they did it with zero attitude and unassuming, melodic tunes humbly presented with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of memorability. That trend continues on the band's second album, A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD.
There's little stylistic alteration from PARACHUTES here, which is just fine, considering how enormously and instantly appealing that style is. While Travis, Elbow, and other entrants in the Britpop sweepstakes offer a not dissimilar sound, none can communicate with the honest immediacy and directness of Coldplay. Part of the key, apart from melodies so ridiculously catchy as to make Belle & Sebastian sound like Public Image ...
| | Green Day American Idiot CD (2004)
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Rock opera and punk are usually two mutually exclusive musical styles. Then again, Green Day has never followed any rock rulebook, so it's not entirely surprising that the trio crafted a punk-rock opera that takes the Bush administration and its policies to task. It doesn't get any more pointed than a couplet from the frenetic title cut that states, "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda/Now everybody do the propaganda!"
Under the guidance of any other group of agitated punks, the results of such an undertaking could easily become didactic. But with creative spearhead Billie Joe Armstrong at the helm, AMERICAN IDIOT is melodically driven, with the kind of intellectual bent that allows for a pair of mini-operas, "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming." Trimmed with a light sprinkling of piano and a big guitar sound occasionally reminiscent of Mott the Hoople, the former ...
| | Porcupine Tree Deadwing CD (2005)
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Considering their cinematic scope, it's fitting that the songs on DEADWING were actually inspired by a film script written by Porcupine Tree mastermind Steven Wilson. Not that this should come as any surprise to longtime fans who know the UK act's reputation for churning out epic progressive rock so sonically descriptive that it's practically visual.
Porcupine Tree creates works with complex structures that do not alienate or obscure the songs themselves, pieces that are dark and psychedelic without being sinister. On the 12-minute opening title track, weighty guitar riffs and spacious synths immediately recall Nine Inch Nails, but swooping melodic changes give way to ambient passages, making it plain that this is no industrial-rock rip-off. "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" begins with processed backwards guitar, building into a harmony-fueled crescendo before dropping ...
| | Audioslave Out Of Exile CD (2005)
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OUT OF EXILE presents a band that has grown comfortably into its own skin. Three years after Audioslave's highly successful debut, the supergroup crafted a truly formidable rock album with a fresh, live-in-the-studio rawness. Former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello rolls back the distortion subtly, playing with a notably more melodic touch, best evidenced on "Heaven's Dead" and "Dandelion." Soundgarden's Chris Cornell's weathered voice at times walks a perilous ...
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| | R E M Dead Letter Office CD (1987) (Import) Bonus Tracks; Netherlands
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DEAD LETTER OFFICE is a collection of early B-sides and unreleased tracks. It includes the entire CHRONIC TOWN EP.
Additional personnel includes: Mitch Easter (acoustic guitar).
The "outtakes" album is all too often treated as a dumping ground for excess studio tape or contractual obligation. While this collection of rarities makes no effort to refute either charge, it is wide-ranging, informative and uniformly rewarding nonetheless. Spanning the band's career, DEAD LETTER OFFICE is culled from a variety of albums and other sources. It provides a novel perspective, playful and occasionally downright silly, with friendly, self-effacing liner notes by guitarist Peter Buck.
The range of production varies greatly, too: some outtakes, such as "Burning Down," are given full treatment. In fact, "Voice Of Harold" is the complete backing track of "Seven Chinese Brothers" with a bizarre vocal take by Stipe (not that the one they kept on RECKONING was any too straightforward). Covers abound, including the opener "Crazy" by fellow Athenians Pylon, a drunken, clumsy take on Roger Miller's "King Of The Road" and yes, Aerosmith's "Toys In The Attic," as well as three Velvet Underground songs. The most striking and inspirational thing about DEAD LETTER ...
| | Kawaii If It Shines, We Have It CD (2004)
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| | Status Quo Blue For You CD (2005) (Import) Bonus Tracks; England; Remastered; United Kingdom
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| | Enrico Pieranunzi Special Encounter CD (2005)
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| | Glove Blue Sunshine CDs (2006) Remastered
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A unique psychedelic collaboration between members of new wave luminaries of The Cure and Siouxie & The Banshees; includes "Sex-eye-make-up" and "Blues In Drag." 1990, German import.
Though not officially a Cure album, the Glove's sole outing, 1983's BLUE SUNSHINE, ...
| | Phillips, Craig & Dean Greatest Hits CD (2007)
X & Y album
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| | Connie Lim Shifting CD (2007)
$9.35 |
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