1.Clocks [album version] (5:08) 2.Crests of Waves (3:38) 3.Animals (5:33)
It's just possible that you might have heard this song before... When last I heard, the parent album A Rush of Blood to the Head had sold nine million worldwide, and you can scarcely have listened to a radio over the last two years without hearing this somewhere.
In fact, you've probably heard Clocks on the radio so many times now that it doesn't make much of an impact. Even if your station of choice is one of the few that doesn't favour it, you'll have heard the insistent piano riff backing trailers on the telly or in a movie somewhere.
Somewhere down the line, this fame (which began even before the track was scheduled as a single) has led to the impression that this song is a quiet piece of wallpaper - yet, whilst I accept that the band are at times capable of the humdrum, I hear this track as really compelling and angular. Sure, the piano part is familiar now; but it's actually quite inventive, to say nothing of the oddly off-time drums and the cutting bassline which works against the piano's rhythm to indicate the confused foggy mood of Chris Martin's impressionistic lyric. Alas, some of these subtleties are lost to radio stations' compression; perhaps the 4:13 edit sent to radio (but not on the commercial single, except the DVD video) does more harm than is obvious. I could in fact write more about this song - but it doesn't exactly need me to publicise it.
Thanks to the relentless exposure of Coldplay's singles and even some album tracks, their B-sides becom something of a refuge for me: the part of their catalogue that feels least like a busman's holiday. Crests of Waves is not a definitive example, but an entirely acceptable one. It showcases the band's slightly rockier side, in a similar way to the better-known 'One I Love'; few will be surprised by my contention that this comes less naturally to them than quieter fare. The band possibly realised this, as both tracks share a slightly distant-sounding production, as if little time was invested in them. The present song, like its A-side, has a largely wordless chorus but the lyrics are chiefly noteworthy for their (relative) optimism: "It could be worse," begins Martin rather Britishly I feel, before exhorting the addressee (himself perhaps?) not to "sink when you know you can swim" or surrender to defeatism. There's also a mention of "Ocean Rain", which is of course the title of the fourth and most acclaimed album by Echo and the Bunnymen, whose 'Lips Like Sugar' the band covered on a DVD single. The famously outspoken lead Bunnyman, Ian McCulloch, became something of a mentor to Martin after Colplay broke big, a favour repaid by his guest spot on a McCulloch solo LP.
Is there another tip of the hat in Animals, which shares its title with a Pink Floyd LP? Certainly there's an expansive tendency on this track, echoing (pun not intended!) the prog-rock giants, although U2 are likely to have been a more direct influence. The appearance on CD of this live favourite was greeted with some excitement by fans, though in some way the effect is closer to early recordings like 'Such a Rush' than the style established on A Rush of Blood... - presumably the reason this didn't make it to the album. Not for the first time, our protagonist bemoans human emotional frailty, not least his own. Martin pushes to the top of his vocal range to good effect, concluding that "I crumble and fall like an animal", which may not be zoologically correct but sums up the feeling. Those not enamoured of Coldplay before won't find this to their liking, but fans would and did enjoy it, even though it wasm not ther strongest work.
No more UK singles were pulled from the album, although 'God Put a Smile on Your Face' was issued elsewhere in Europe - however, I for one was in no mood to play import prices for one B-side. They ended the year with a live DVD/CD package, but have clearly been otherwise occupied so far in 2004.
ONLINE:
Official site.
Discography site (full disclosure: I contributed a small amount of info).
Coldplaying.com is worth visiting for its extensive forums section, home of the world's longest sig files.
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