Posts Tagged: a rush of blood to the head

2009 / 3 stars / reviews / the fray — 1 Comment
20
Feb 09

The Fray (2009) by The Fray

The Fray by The Fray

The Fray
The Fray
2009, Epic
alt rock
3

Taking to heart the lessons from their previous double platinum debut How To Save A Life, The Fray returned at the beginning of the month with their sophomore album. Sonically, they’ve pushed the piano away just a bit to focus more on their ‘pop rock’ sound. Even their slower songs lack the drudgery of half of How To Save A Life, which seems both a blessing and a cop out.

Essentially, this album is populated with different versions of “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and “How To Save A Life.” I wish I could say differently, but even their lyrics are eerily similar to what was in How To Save A Life. One has to wonder if this band simply hasn’t grown in any way, or if they’ve fallen back to the tried-and-true Coldplay strategy of spitting out different versions of the same song in hopes of making money. The Fray may make a lot of money from this album, but there aren’t any songs here that can compare to the catchiness of “Over My Head (Cable Car).” If their third album is the same, they will degenerate into a two-hit wonder.

“Enough For Now,” “You Found Me,” “Where The Story Ends.”
website, myspace
Coldplay’s A Rush Of Blood To The Head, As Tall As Lions’s As Tall As Lions

  • Share/Bookmark
2002 / 4 stars / coldplay / reviews — No Comments
6
Nov 08

A Rush of Blood To The Head (2002) by Coldplay

Genre: alt rock
Rating: ½
Check Out: “The Scientist,” “Clocks,” “Warning Sign,” and “Politik.”
last.fm

As their second album, Rush of Blood was an instant hit for Coldplay and made them the stars that they are today. Unlike their debut Parachutes, Rush of Blood showed an attempt at a more cohesive sound. Every song here seems sonically related to “Clocks,” and that same song has obviously been their inspiration in their future albums.

At its most basic level, this album is not much more different than Parachutes. The addition of two politically-minded songs and the more cohesive sound just camouflages the standalone lyrics that plagued them in the past. The one saving grace for Coldplay was the fact that they could mine Rush of Blood for more radio-friendly singles than they could in Parachutes.

If you’ve noticed, I’m not the most complimentary reviewer of Coldplay, particularly of their newer work. I happened to (and still do) like Rush of Blood, as the rating above proves. My only problem with Coldplay is that they’re now focusing on making all their new work comparable, if not similar, to “Clocks” and “The Scientist.” Vida la Viva was a slight departure, but this band has become a one-trick pony that just bores me.

  • Share/Bookmark