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The Lone Sharks
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Steve Winwood
Moneyland
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I'm Not There (Original Soundtrack)
Various Artists
Home Before Dark
Neil Diamond
Toby Keith's 35 BIGGEST Hits
Toby Keith
It's A Shame About Ray (Collector's Edition)
The Lemonheads
About a Son
Otis Blue (Collector's Edition)
Otis Redding
Loaded
Wood Brothers
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Coldplay
To me, a great band is one that achieves exactly what it sets out to do. Of course, it’s a bonus if the band happens to share aesthetics similar to my own, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. With Coldplay, they have reached their goal of creating a catalog of melodic and engaging songs, and this is only their second album! A Rush of Blood to the Head adds a bit of muscle to their lush debut, Parachutes, so it may take some getting used to by fans of that album, but it isn’t really all that different. Chris Martin is still obsessed with emotional self-control, love (or the lack of it), and songs that contain no fat. In this case, that means no solos, no flashy interplay, and no excessive lingering on predictable and/or redundant song structure.
A Rush of Blood to the Head is the kind of album that screams out to be a critic’s favorite, but it also has everything it needs to be populist, too. It doesn’t take long to recognize the album as one of the year’s best. There are moments that are earth-shatteringly gorgeous, due as much to the tasteful interplay of the band members as to Martin’s rich melodies. Martin consistently writes the most engaging and original melodies since…boy, it’s been a while since we’ve had an album this melodic, hasn’t it? "In My Place" is so lush that it’s something of a miracle, managing to sound like an understated anthem of sorts. "The Scientist" deserves some type of award for plain greatness but if you’re suffering from a broken heart, you might want to avoid it, since its lyrical content is as sad as it is addictive;
"Nobody said it was easy, It’s such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh, take me back to the start."
Just as sad and lovely is "Warning Sign," as the cry in Martin’s voice rises, singing, "but the truth is, I miss you." It’s the understated simplicity of it all that makes the song so effective.
Throughout the disk, the musicianship is near perfect, remaining understated and in dedicated service to the song. Coldplay is so refreshing as a band because they don’t hide behind pretense or studio gadgetry to cut through, just beautifully formulated tones and intelligently constructed parts that suit the mood of each song. Repeated listening reveals the formula of Martin often performing the first verse solo before the band joins in, but it works so well that it barely deserves mention. I have little doubt that I’ll love this album in twenty years as much as I do now.
Grade: 
 
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