July 10, 2000 - Coldplay and Parachutes

Six days after my last release a new band joins my library when Coldplay released their debut album "Parachutes" on July 10, 2000. But who are Coldplay? They are a four-piece pop-rock band from London, England consisting of Will Champion (drums, percussion), Guy Berryman (bass), Jonny Buckland (electric guitar) and frontman Chris Martin (lead vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar). Coldplay have all the components of a rock band, but they play a very light and pop-y style of rock that is very accessible and radio-friendly. Let's see what Coldplay is all about!

The album begins with the short song "Don't Panic" and Martin plays a light acoustic guitar riff to drive things and then sings his first verse as we get our first taste of Martin singing. He has a high, pretty pop-y voice, but it's very smooth and solid. Buckland adds some decent light electric guitar as well and this is a pretty good soft intro into what Coldplay are all about. It's quiet and not very flashy, but it's not trying to be rock and roll and they do a good job with this light rock setting. Up next is the album's first single "Shiver" and Buckland leads the way with a pretty cool lead guitar riff that sounds much louder already than the first song. He slows it down when they reach the verse and Martin sings a nice soft verse to lead the way while Buckland adds some cool new guitar to back him. Martin impressively hits some really high notes at times and everything sounds really smooth and solid. This song is firmly more rock than pop and that's definitely how I like it, but it's still very accessible to just about everyone. After a couple rounds they nicely ramp into a similar but new part and Martin delivers a really nice new verse before they quietly close things out. This was pretty cool, even if it's not my typical headbanger! Track 3 is "Spies" and Martin plays a nice acoustic guitar riff to carry things before coming in to sing a perfect light verse to match the mood. It quickly leads to a similarly light chorus and Martin goes really high for "their all spies" and then the rest of the band joins in to complete the main riff, including a catchy drum beat by Champion. This pretty much sums up this song, but things sound pretty good and I never found that things dragged, except for maybe a bit at the very end. The next track is "Sparks" and Martin plays another nice acoustic guitar riff to keep the pace and Berryman plays a nice slow bass riff to back him. Martin sings a slow verse to match the mood and this is easily the sappiest song so far, but Martin still hits some nice high notes even if the music is a little lame. Track 5 would become one of Coldplay's biggest songs and it's called "Yellow". Martin starts things off on acoustic, but Buckland quickly takes over with a fairly simple but also easily memorable main riff on electric guitar. Martin sings the verse in his nice high voice and while things are pretty pop-y, they are also decent and the way Martin sings "and they were all yellow" would become instantly recognizable Coldplay. This song is like the definition of made-for-radio and it's no wonder at all that it would become an instant hit. Martin hits so many high notes and it's an undeniable classic, despite not actually being all that exciting. Up next is another single called "Trouble" and Martin plays some piano for the first time and he does a nice job of leading the way with a cool piano riff and the rest of the band nicely backs him. Martin sings a perfect verse to match the mood and things get a little louder in the chorus as things still sound very smooth. It's easy to see why this was also a single, it's hard not to lightly bob your head along to this catchy song. A very well done single. Track 7 is the title track "Parachutes" and it's only 46 seconds long! It's just Martij as he plays a shirt acoustic guitar riff and sings a couple short verses overtop. It's really nothing that special and it just seems like an intro, not really enough to be it's own track. The next track is "High Speed" and it's got a quiet but smooth main riff with Berrryman playing some solid light bass and Buckland playing some cool light lead guitar. Martin sounds good as usual and things are very smooth once again as these guys blend their light rock parts perfectly. Once again, nothing too flashy or intricate, but a well executed pop-rock song. Track 9 is "We Never Change" and Martin leads the way with a simple acoustic guitar riff and as we've come to expect he sings the perfect high, pop-y verse to match the mood. The rest of the band finally joins in for the chorus as we hear some high, slow electric guitar that makes things a bit more interesting, but even though the verse is just Martin, he does sound pretty quietly epic by himself. The past few songs were all decent, but also really light and certainly not my favourite (still good, but way near the lower end of the spectrum). The final song on the album is over seven minutes and it's called "Everything's Not Lost". Martin sings and plays piano and his voice sounds great as usual (he's just a really good pop singer) but the piano on this one is really good I think as Martin really carries things. The rest of the band eventually come in as  Buckland leads a decent light riff, but it's the piano that is center stage as Martin sings the several verses. Martin eventually shifts to a new verse that words just don't so justice for. I think his singing sounds really good and this closing section is really well done. Martin epicly ends the song by himself around the five and a half minute mark and then after ten seconds of silence we get a short bonus song called "Life Is For Living", which has Martin singing a quiet verse overtop some acoustic guitar and then some sort of accordion-like keyboards! It's a really interesting sound that I can't describe well and it seems to be a fitting way to tie a bow on this album.

That is the end of "Parachutes" and I thought it was a decent debut album by Coldplay. Chris Martin is definitely the draw with his perfect pop voice and some cool piano as well, but the rest of the band are a perfect compliment and they are great at writing smooth pop-rock songs. I look forward to seeing Coldplay develop from here!