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A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 165 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Capitol
Release Date: 27 August 2002
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock, Britpop
Summary
The UK quartet follows the critical and commercial success of their 2000 debut album 'Parachutes' with this long-awaited follow-up release, which the band has suggested may be their last.
Also By This Artist: Parachutes Prospekt's March [EP] Viva La Vida X&Y
Also On The Web: Official Coldplay Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly
Displaying a cohesion rarely heard in albums these days, ''A Rush of Blood'' bobs from one majestic little high to another.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
Fierce and noble and fragile and genuinely moving, 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' is a lovely furnace of searing goodness made by some wonderful contradictory bastards.
Read Full Review >Uncut
May well come to be regarded as the best British rock album since OK Computer. [Sep 2002, p.118]
New Musical Express
It's an album of outstanding natural beauty, an organic, wholesome work.
Read Full Review >Billboard
A stronger, more distinctive album than its predecessor in nearly every respect.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Parachutes was impressive, but Coldplay's new album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, is stunning, the amount of growth from Album One to Album Two equally so.
Read Full Review >Launch.com
A very tastefully crafted, tuneful, and affecting piece of work with a band that is still just beginning to tap its enormous potential.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
The key to 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' is to be found not in Martin's presence, but in the intensity, dynamism, verve and style that Coldplay have now nailed, when comparisons to Radiohead, Echo and The Bunnymen and, perhaps most pertinently, U2's 'Unforgettable Fire', manifest themselves in a series of killer strides.
Read Full Review >Neumu.net
It recalls U2's The Joshua Tree, and not just for its stunning guitar work but for its wild passion and spiraling tension-and-release dynamics.
Read Full Review >Blender
The sound is simultaneously terse and expansive--moody and powerful, shot through with singer Chris Martin's grainy delivery. [#9, p.145]
All Music Guide
A Rush of Blood to the Head might not instantly grab listeners, but it's not tailored that way. It pushes you to look beyond dreamy vocals for a musical inner core.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
With A Rush of Blood, Coldplay do more than fulfill the promise of "Yellow" -- they surpass everything they've done up to this point, making first-rate guitar rock with some real emotional protein on its bones.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Dressed up in subtle strings and pianos, and given time to slowly breathe and develop beyond simple pop, A Rush Of Blood's 11 graceful tracks sparkle and swirl, occasionally escalating into a booming crescendo before dissolving back into delicacy.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
A collection of vastly moving songs that will render stadiums as intimate as bedrooms. U2, Radiohead... Coldplay? It would seem so. [Sep 2002, p.98]
Trouser Press
The sound is fuller, the arrangements more complex; most importantly, the songs are just a whole lot better [than Parachutes'].
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
If you're presently in love, A Rush of Blood ... will make you want to frolic like Lily Tomlin with the cartoon animals in 9 to 5. Otherwise, it'll probably make you want to puke.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Coldplay's new record is a little edgier, trancier, and more conversational than their last. It is called A Rush of Blood to the Head, and in waves and swells of major tunes and frisky then looping time signatures, that's just about the effect it has.
Read Full Review >Spin
A guitar record equally suitable for a lost weekend or a good cry. [Sep 2002, p.125]
Alternative Press
A patchwork quilt of wispy Britpop ballads soaring majestically in an effort to overcome their own blandness. [Oct 2002, p.78]
CultureDose.net
Without the emotional resonance of Martin's voice at its most free, Coldplay's brilliantly minimal musical foundation has nothing to support. So it falters.
Read Full Review >Mojo
The line between hypnotic and tediously repetitive is occasionally crossed. [Sep 2002, p.94]
Pitchfork
But while the sound of this album is more expansive, the influences a bit less obvious, and the approach more varied, the guys forgot to tote along their initial strength: the songs.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine
It's Coldplay's lack of humor, the very straightness of its lyrics, that makes the dourness so detestable. And where miserabilists past had a strong pop sensibility, Coldplay is content to create directionless palettes of sound.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 165 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Adrian N gave it a10:
The album was probably the greatest I ever heard of. It also show you that alternative rock doesn't have to be loud with some of their songs that a mellow and slow. It was obviously best when it was recorded after 9/11 that gave them asome good ideas that they can record. One of my favourites was "God Put A Smile Upon your face" which is like a revenge song but with lots of warnings. It then.
D R gave it a4:
I remember buying this album when it came out after thoroughly enjoying parachutes and being underwhelmed. Very bland radio friendly stuff. No wonder the backlash against these guys; it started with this album.
Aaron M gave it a9:
The band's best work. An essential album. My only complaint is that many of the songs are about the same subject. Other than that, it's great.
Josh J gave it a10:
This album was the best Coldplay album ever. It is exciting and intelligent from start to finish. Impressive accomplishment.
H C gave it a7:
Luckily, since the good songs are all in the first half, you can delete the second. They're a singles band, but the singles are good.
Paul M gave it a9:
A Rush of Blood to the Head is, without doubt, a fantastic achievement. But for me, that's not the point. People can rave about the album's sales, or maybe complain about the band drawing heavy influences and therefore coming of as unoriginal. But its how the music makes you feel, how it reaches you, that matters. That, to me, is more important than anything. A Rush of Blood is, a beautifully compelling album, with a variety of songs that evoke different emotions from me every time I listen to them. What more can I say? Its an incredible album, and no matter what, nothing anyone says will dissuade me from that notion. The quality of the music is refined and stupendous, with songs like Clocks and In My Place transporting you to another place, affecting you in a way that I can't describe. The Scientist, which makes me close my eyes for just a moment, and listen to the beauty of music, and of lyrics that surpass most songwriters who have been writing for years. Politik, which brings about a certain inner rage, and reaches you in a different way that the rest of Coldplay's songs, is definitely worth listening too. God Put a Smile Upon Your Face is a song that makes you question everything you know, but brings an inner sense of peace. The only negative of this album is that the songs I've mentioned overshadow the album's other tracks; while good in quality, I often find myself skipping them to listen to those that are stunning in quality. But beside that, i think this album is a great collaboration of songs that range from phenomenal to good; not one song can be rated as bad.
Scott W. gave it a10:
Truly a beautifully cold album.The sound of coldplay is perfect in this second album. A classic and one of the the best albums ever made.
