Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 26.08.2002
"Now or never", Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, once sang.
In September 2001, the Twin Towers fell, and for a moment it felt as though the end of the world had arrived. Whatever you wanted to do, you had to do it here and now. That same sense of urgency also seeped into Chris Martin, frontman and leader of London band "Coldplay".
On September 11, Martin sat down and wrote the song that, 11 months later, would open the band's second album, "A Rush of Blood to the Head", released on August 26, 2002. Martin later recalled: "I wrote the song on 9/11 and we recorded it on 9/13. We were all a little confused and frightened." He explained that the experience reinforced his desire to keep creating because "you never know what might happen."
"Coldplay" was formed in September 1996 by Chris Martin and the band's lead guitarist Jonny Buckland after the two met while studying at University College London.
They were later joined by bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion, while manager Phil Harvey became such an integral part of the group that he has long been regarded as its unofficial fifth member.
Following the success of their debut album "Parachutes", "Coldplay" began thinking about its successor. Then came the September 11 attacks, intensifying the band's sense of urgency to write, play and move forward. Opening track "Politik" emerged directly from that atmosphere. Martin wrote it on September 11 and the band recorded it just two days later.
Only days after the attacks, "Coldplay" were already working on the new material. After beginning sessions in London, they eventually returned to Liverpool, where much of "Parachutes" had been recorded, reconnecting with producer Ken Nelson as they tried to figure out what their second album should become.
"A Rush of Blood to the Head" creates a mixture of songs dealing with love, loneliness and uncertainty, but running through much of the album is an unmistakable sense of urgency, reflecting the world as the band experienced it at the time. Martin himself explained that there was "a bit more urgency" in the new songs, born from the places the band had visited and the things they had experienced. The album also contains a tribute to an artist Martin deeply admired: Johnny Cash, who inspired the album's title track.
Some of the songs still carry traces of the intimate atmosphere of "Parachutes", while others already point toward the enormous stadium anthems that would soon become synonymous with "Coldplay". The band's expanding musical vocabulary can also be heard on "Warning Sign", whose guitar work incorporates elements of country rock, another indication that the group was beginning to look beyond the boundaries established by its debut.
Perhaps the album's most irresistible moment is "Clocks", driven by the hypnotic piano riff that runs throughout the song. Remarkably, it almost didn't make the album at all. Chris Martin came into the studio late in the process with the piano idea, when the band already believed the record was essentially complete. Producer Ken Nelson recalled: "We already had 10 songs for the album, and then Chris came in late one night and wrote 'Clocks' on piano."
Because they thought it was too late to finish the song properly, the band initially recorded a demo and placed it on a CD containing material intended for their third album, appropriately labelled "Songs for #3".
But in June 2002, with the album seemingly finished, "Coldplay" reconsidered. They felt the record still sounded too much like "Parachutes" and decided not to rush its release. Songs were reconsidered, the album was reshaped, and "Clocks" was brought back into the picture. It proved to be a crucial decision. With its relentless piano pulse and almost breathless momentum, the song didn't merely strengthen the album, it became one of the clearest musical expressions of the urgency that defines "A Rush of Blood to the Head".
Another major hit from the album, "In My Place", had already begun taking shape during the period following "Parachutes". Jonny Buckland's chiming guitar, combined with the melancholy in Chris Martin's voice, creates one of those moments where "Coldplay" still sounds closely connected to its debut album, while already beginning to think on a much larger scale. It was chosen as the album's lead single and reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
The fourth single released from the album, "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face", reveals a rougher and more rhythmic side of the band. During the recording process, the members of "Coldplay" felt that something about the song simply wasn't working. A change to the bassline finally gave it the groove it had been missing, helping transform a track that had struggled to find its place into one the band ultimately became particularly fond of.
And it is impossible to discuss the album without "The Scientist", one of the most recognizable ballads in "Coldplay"'s catalog. A simple piano progression carries a song about a relationship that has fallen apart and the desire to return to the beginning, trying to understand where everything went wrong. It is precisely that simplicity, especially when contrasted with the larger production found elsewhere on the album, that makes "The Scientist" one of its most emotionally powerful moments.
The album contains several other strong songs, including "Daylight", which already takes the band into slightly more experimental territory. The track opens with the distinctive sound of a slide played on a 12-string guitar, while parts and loops developed through the band's studio jams were incorporated into the recording. The result is an almost hypnotic song that gradually builds in layers, until the daylight Martin sings about seems to break through the music itself.
By contrast, "Green Eyes" brings the album back to acoustic simplicity. Jonny Buckland suggested giving the song an acoustic approach inspired by Johnny Cash, and the result became one of the album's most direct and warm love songs. Interestingly, like "Amsterdam", it was recorded relatively quickly and avoided much of the rewriting and repeated recording that characterized several other tracks on the album.
The title track, "A Rush of Blood to the Head", perhaps captures better than anything else the idea running through the entire album. Chris Martin explained that the song is about impulsiveness, about doing something now rather than waiting until tomorrow. Musically, it begins restrained and almost threatening before gradually expanding with the guitars, as though the "rush of blood" itself is slowly taking control of the song.
Then comes "Amsterdam", a quiet and beautifully measured conclusion to the album. It was recorded quickly and with an almost live feel, while different sections of the song were written in locations more than a thousand miles apart, including its ending, which Martin said he wrote in Iceland. His exposed voice and piano begin almost alone before the rest of the band enters, giving the album a finale that starts in fragility and ends with a powerful sense of release.
The album cover was created by Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø and features a grey, three-dimensional rendering of a woman's head and shoulders against a white background.
"Coldplay"'s second album further established the band as one of the leading candidates to inherit the kind of global stadium-rock status associated with "U2", and it went on to sell more than 15 million copies worldwide.
The success of "A Rush of Blood to the Head" extended far beyond sales. The album received widespread acclaim and earned "Coldplay" the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, giving the band its second consecutive victory in the category after "Parachutes". "In My Place" won Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, while the following year "Clocks" claimed one of the ceremony's most prestigious honors, Record of the Year.
Its reputation only grew with time. In 2007, the album was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "200 Definitive Albums" list, and in 2010 it was one of ten albums nominated at the Brit Awards for the title of Best British Album of the previous 30 years. That same year, its iconic artwork received another unusual honor when it became one of ten album covers by British artists featured on a special series of Royal Mail postage stamps.
"A Rush of Blood to the Head" has also appeared in editions of "Rolling Stone"'s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and has repeatedly been included in lists celebrating the finest albums of the 2000s. All of this has only reinforced its status as the album on which "Coldplay" stopped being the great promise introduced by "Parachutes" and became one of the biggest bands in the world.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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