Listening Room: Coldplay - Parachutes
Reading the news about the upcoming Colplay record had the expected effect: I’ve gone back and started listening to those first three records. X&Y must have sucked more than I thought because it killed any desire I had to listen to these records anymore, and that’s a shame. Okay, so it’s not all because of X&Y, I just can’t think of a better explanation.
Whatever it is or was, I did go a long stretch without listening to either Parachutes or A Rush of Blood To The Head and it is a shame. These really are good, pleasant, indie pop records. By all rights, I should loathe these guys. I abhor pretentious, sensitive, activist pop. Coldplay is the exception to that rule.
Parachutes is a lovely record because the band keep it simple. Chris Martin croons and warbles aching melodies in that broken falsetto over music created by gently strummed guitars, quiet pianos, and subdued percussion. Only on rare occasions does the tempo quicken or the guitars thicken. It’s a record that’s so subtle it’s almost subliminal and that’s where the melodies come in.
Martin’s melodies aren’t the most original or challenging in the world, but they’re so pleasant and well-meaning you can’t resist them. Why would you want to? This is the Chris Martin who not only didn’t have the girl, he was pretty sure he’d never get her. That’s a hell of a lot more interesting to me than the dude who knocked up Gwynnie Paltrow twice.
“Yellow” is the single that broke them and convinced me to try the record. “Trouble” was the first song I fell in love with. I still like both, but both got played a little too often back in 2000 when I bought the album. These days, I’m much more likely to listen to the 42-minute album in its entirety rather than piece it out a song at a time.
Filed under: Listening Room
