Customer Reviews

Parachutes

5 star:		(150)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

On hearing Parachutes, it's easy to see why Coldplay have followed U2 and Travis in conquering America. This album is true popualr classic, creating a new sound that others are trying to emulate. But the combination of Chris Martin's soaring vocals, which give a strong, hopeful, yet vulnerable emotion, singing haunting and catchy melodies and great lyrics over epic guitars - awesome.

The opener, 'Don't Panic', is short and taciturn, but sets an uplifting, hopeful tone for the whole album...'we live in a beautiful world'. The album moves into second gear with the opening chords of the upbeat 'Shiver', one of the best song introductions ever...the guitars sing and lead you through a song about hopeful yet unrequited love.

The pace slows a little with the mellow 'Spies' and 'Sparks', the first of which will stick in your head for hours at a time. Then the album explodes into 'Yellow', a bright and sunny track with a catchy melody and a strong vocal performance. As if that could be topped, the masterpiece, 'Trouble', is next. The haunting piano riff is overlaid by Martin's over-wraught lyrics of pain and desperation, and I promise that you'll be pressing repeat on the CD player for this one.

After the brief and acoustic 'Parachutes', 'High Speed' kicks in, a mellow look at early romance with soaring vocals countered by an over-arching guitar that just bubbles away at you. Then the album slows a little too much, with 'We Never Change' and 'Everything's Not Lost' perhaps slightly overlong, but the musical tension and vocal emotion keeps you listening.

Overall, this is a must for any collection, and has a song for every occasion - it's great for summer chillin' or winter driving. Buy it and play it - lots.

Usually when someone jumps on the band wagon of a music phenomenon...they are not generally regarded as someone who knows much about music, and I confess, I may fall under this category. I have however, been avidly following Coldplay for a couple of years now and I can categorically state that these musicians are truly talented and this is in my humble opinion their best album to date (07/2005). Why, you may ask am I compelled to write a review for their first album now? The simple reason is that I believe it is the most innovative and the best and needs a riposte to its critics.

Recently Coldplay critics have bemoaned the montonous, boring and unimaginative tunes of Coldplay's music. I would hail these critics as themselves unimaginative and furthermore ignorant. For, in fact with PARACHUTES Coldplay were the innovators as it was they who started the Indie Revolution that has swept the UK in recent years. It is the other bands that sound like Coldplay not the other way round.

I implore you if you have been living on Mars for the last five years and havent heard this album, to at listen to Chris Martin's melodic and dulcit tones. The tracks on the album negate individual description and awkward literary praise, the quality speaks for itself.

This album really deserves the Mercury Music Award this year. I think it's chart success speaks for itself, straight into No.1. Personal favourites of mine are the two released singles "Shiver" and "Yellow", Chris Martin's ethereal voice, quivering with emotion, you feel that the they are part of you. Once I heard the album, I instantly fell in love with the new tracks. One song in particular and that was "Trouble". The piano being played was stuck in my brain for a long time. I would definately recommend a listen to other tracks such as the opening track "Don't Panic" - which has a nice little guitar riff, "Spies" and "Everything's not lost". I could list the remaining tracks and talk about them all day, but there would be nothing left for you to discover. Ignore comparisons of Coldplay to Radiohead, when you look deep into the depths of this work of art, you can really see that whoever started the rumour off really probably hasn't heard the album themselves. And one more piece of advice, try and catch them while they are on tour which starts shortly - you can't beat them live!

The Talent of cold play in the album"Parachute" was an incipient and likely to grow stronger in the coming years.
10 powerful songs profusing emotions , love , in a soft genteel ,and refined melodies.
"Yellow" the chart hit single expedited the success of the album whereas " Trouble" established the band for further future hits.
the group were circumspect to give birth for something coherent and aethetic in a way.
the Album remindes me of some Radio Head early songs.
Even though i am enjoying the album the best of all is "Trouble" and "Spies".......
Parachute is definetly a Five Star Album!

In my humble opinion this is without doubt the greatest debut album from any band anywhere.
In fact it has displaced Pink Floyd's The Wall as my favourite album of all time. I could listen to this album everyday and never tire of it, it is brilliant. Like Many i heard Yellow on the radio and thought it was a great song, i bought this album expecting to hear a few songs like yellow and fully expected the rest to be just okay, how wrong i was....

This album has some brilliant music ( Shiver & Yellow),
Touching Lyrics ( Sparks & Trouble ),
Excellent Mood ( Spies, We never change )
Great Optimism ( Dont Panic & Everythings not lost )

It is a combination of some very good songs, a very talented band and great production.

My view of this album is that it is Essentially about relationships, yes they go wrong and it does hurt but it is still a beautifull world and life goes on. It is by no means a depressing Album like many before me have said, if listened to properly it will not depress you!

I have seen Coldplay live at Slane Castle last summer they were good despite what i would guess was a very daunting experience for this still young band. I would like to see them again without the pressure of having U2 and the Chilli peppers to follow !! If their next album is as good as this then there is no reason why Coldplay can not become as big as the giants they were supporting that day in Dublin.

Since the first time i heard this album i have been waiting to hear the next one...

I still am

Caveat emptor: While this version of Parachutes is a limited edition 2-disc set, it consists of just the regular Parachutes CD (cat#27783) plus a 3-track 2nd disc, but the bonus/promo disc tracks are "For You"/"Careful Where You Stand" (also on the Shiver CDS) and "Help Is Round The Corner" (also on the Yellow CDS), so there's really nothing "special" about this version unless you weren't able to get the CD singles. (The music, of course, is still great!) For completists only! (p.s. My copy's discs (bought via this Amazon.co.uk link) were pressed in the UK (Parachutes) & Holland (bonus) and the packaging indicates it was distributed by EMI Music France, so the "Swedish import" tag is kind of misleading, too.)

I'm currently in disbelief that I haven't written a review of this amazing album, six months after I bought it. Coldplay's debut is a strong, melancholy-yet-uplifting album that exudes beauty from every track. From the opening bars of 'Don't Panic' to Chris's Thom Yorke-esque finale on 'Everything's Not Lost', Parachutes contains every possible emotion and does so in a heart-warming way, just like the best indie.

The strongest track has to be 'Shiver', which recieved unfairly little airplay when it was released early in 2000, but sonce then has got onto the playlist of some of the mainstream music channels. It's an uplifting, mellow-yet-energetic track with beautifully true lyrics and the only track that uses full ability of Will Champion on drums.

'Yellow' has gone on to achieve Top 5 success and even after all these months is still not tired. 'Trouble' managed chart success also, bleeding emotion from every bar with Chris's amazing voice and great lyrics.

Other strong tracks have to be 'Don't Panic' (their third single) and 'Everything's Not Lost', which single-handedly makes up for some of the more downbeat tracks on the album. Probably the weakest track is 'Higher Speed', which fails to create the atmosphere the other nine tracks do.

Parachutes is an eclectic, emotional debut album that will hopefully be a brilliant basis for future albums, which will hopefully see Chris, Guy, Jonny and Will moving more towards indie-rock.

No, it is not 'whiney, pathetic, high pitched wailing' as one reviewer commented. It is beautiful, heartfelt music from one of the best indie bands in many a year.

I know what it is like to read fantastic reviews of a CD, then buy it and think what terrible taste in music the people who gave it 5 stars must have. This is not one of those, I promise. This album is a superb mix of a lazy evening with a glass of wine, an evening with your mates and an energetic morning. Nothing could be better than the familiarity of 'Yellow' but just appreciate the other tracks, listen to them a few times before saying you hate them. At first I hated this album I have to be honest but then you listen again and it clicks. Fantastic songs on this album are 'Everythings not lost' and 'Shiver' but every song in its own way is classic ColdPlay excellence!! Trust me I've been there, if chilled out lyrics and lazy beats with a spicey guitar solo is your thing please please dont think twice. Even if you like it more up beat this album wont disappoint you, its truly a star buy.

The start of Coldplays wonderful career starts with this marvellous debut album, full of classic pop tunes, some people say its boring, some people say its different. i think its wonderful, the best debut since Definitly Maybe, and how many times have you heard that been said before.

"Don't Panic" - A wonderful start not very long but still a fine opening. 4/5

"Shiver" - The first single maybe a bit long but wonderful non the less. 4/5

"Spies" - The darkest song on the album, this song got the album banned by the Chinese Government because of the lyrics I think that it is a wonderful song though. 4.5/5

"Sparks" - A lovely song, another great highlight on the album. 4/5

"Yellow" - The classic on the album, still played live by the band and often described as there best ever single. 5/5

"Trouble" - Another wonderful ballad that always gives me shivers when i hear it. 5/5

"Parachutes" - The slowest song on the album. 3/5

"High Speed" - Good song, a bit like Radiohead, but still great. 4/5

"We Never Change" - quite good, possibly the one song off the album which i don't listen to that much. 3.5/5

"Everything's Not Lost" - Brilliant song that ends the album in style. 5/5

Parachutes is the debut album by the ultra-talented Coldplay. It has a soft sound to it,that anyone fond of the likes of Radiohead, Muse or the Doves, should enjoy.

1:Don't Panic: 9/10

A beautiful opener. It has a simple melody but a deeply moiving chorus of "We live in a beautiful world"

2:Shiver: 9/10

Another great track with a cool guitar line running throughout it. It is perhaps one of the "Rockier" tracks on the album.

3:Spies: 9/10

A soft beautiful song that was reportedly banned in China for it's mentions of a "Spies". It is mostly soft but has a real epic sounding verse of "If we don't fight here, they're gonna find us".

4:Sparks: 9/10

Perhaps the most beautiful song on the album. It is a soft romantic song about seeing "Sparks".

5:Yellow: 9/10

This is the song that made Coldplay famous. It has a beautiful verse, a great chorus and while it is a sad song it has a positive feel to it.

6:Trouble: 8.5/10

Another song you've probably heard a few times on the radio. It is yest another soft piano driven tune, with a nice chorus.

7:Parachutes: 8/10

A very short, but sweet song.

8:High Speed: 7/10

Possibly the weakest song on the album.

9:We Never Change: 9/10

A beautiful song despairing on the darkness and faults of the human species.

10:Everything's Not Lost: 9/10

A Brilliant positive ending, with the best chorus of any song on the album. The guitar line lifts the outro and gives it an epic feel. There is also a positive acoustic bonus track at the end which finishes the album brilliant.

Overall: 9/10

This is a beautiful debut that stands among the greatest albums yet produced by Mankind.