i'll sing it one last time for you
Top 10 Albums Of The Decade
8. Snow Patrol - Final Straw (2004)(Swisslet)
2004 was – for me at least – the year of Snow Patrol Over the course of the year, I saw the band perform live four times: first supporting Athlete at Rock City in the week that their breakthrough single Run was released, then at Oxford Brookes as they surfed the crest of the wave; at Glastonbury as they duly provided the moment of the festival when they watched, awe-struck, as the crowd sang Run back at them; and finally at the Birmingham Academy at the end of the year, when the set was starting to wear a little thin and it was clearly time for the band to take a break and write some new material.
As a band, they’d been kicking around for ages before finally hitting the big time, but when they did finally make it, they made it really big, and for a while, Final Straw was inescapable. And no wonder, from start to finish it is packed with quality songs: How to Be Dead, Spitting Games, Chocolate, Run, Ways and Means, Tiny Little Fractures. You might not know all of the titles (and the band have something of a knack for terrible song titles), but I bet you know the songs.
Gary Lightbody has become famous for both his Northern Irish accented singing voice, and for his wide-eyed ballads. Yes, he’s got a taste for the soppy, something that he’s certainly over-indulged in recent years, but here it was new and fresh and we’d not heard it all before. It’s not fashionable to like a band like Snow Patrol, and they’re often derided as being sub-Coldplay pap, but in my opinion this is one of the best albums of the decade – it’s certainly one of the ones that I’ve listened to most often.
Listen to: Run
8. Damien Rice - O (2003)(LB)
The 2000s threw up some blooming great records and so by the time I've got to this stage it's like choosing between your children (so I am told). O is probably the single most breathtaking, stop-whatever-else-you-were-doing album I have heard in this last ten years.
It has its standout songs - singles Cannonball and The Blower's Daughter to name two - but is is staggeringly beautiful from start to finish. Sad, melancholy but with the amazing vocal combination of Rice and Lisa Hannigan, O is a truly magnificent record from start to finish. his acoustic performance at Glastonbury in 2005 was also one of my all time live music highlights.
I absolutely adore O, and listening to it again recently it hasn't lost any of its stripped-down, raw emotional power.
Listen to: The Blower's Daughter
8. Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002)(bedshaped)
What's there to say about Coldplay? Huge, huge, huge band now! Crazy huge!
A great debut album released to critical acclaim and by the time this album was released, I think everybody was expecting brilliant things from the band. And they didn't let anybody down.
It's taking Parachutes as the benchmark, and not only growing to the next level, but taking their sound, the lyrics and even Chris Martin's vocals to many levels higher.
Packed with well known songs; In My Place, God Put A Smile On Your Face, Clocks, and who could forget The Scientist with it's brilliant video. Any song from this album could have been released as a single. Absolutely no filler here.
I've seen them play live quite a few times. They sound great, but they're not the most exciting band to watch perform. And I hate to say it, but their live renditions are a little bit too....polished. I won't be seeing them again though. Since this album, for me, they have gone down, down, downhill. What happened Chris? What happened?!?!
Anyway....absolutely brilliant album. A great listen to from beginning to end. The title track is a really good stomper, but the jewel in the crown on this album for me is Amsterdam. And that's my favourite song from this, no question. Lovely piano intro. Chris gives his most emotional performance with his vocals on this track. And it builds. Oh yes, it builds. And "if you build it, they will come!" And I did! It's wonderful final moments come with full orchestra and lovely Hammond amongst other things. And then it falls apart again.
Beautiful song.
Listen to: Amsterdam
8. Snow Patrol - Final Straw (2004)(Swisslet)
2004 was – for me at least – the year of Snow Patrol Over the course of the year, I saw the band perform live four times: first supporting Athlete at Rock City in the week that their breakthrough single Run was released, then at Oxford Brookes as they surfed the crest of the wave; at Glastonbury as they duly provided the moment of the festival when they watched, awe-struck, as the crowd sang Run back at them; and finally at the Birmingham Academy at the end of the year, when the set was starting to wear a little thin and it was clearly time for the band to take a break and write some new material.As a band, they’d been kicking around for ages before finally hitting the big time, but when they did finally make it, they made it really big, and for a while, Final Straw was inescapable. And no wonder, from start to finish it is packed with quality songs: How to Be Dead, Spitting Games, Chocolate, Run, Ways and Means, Tiny Little Fractures. You might not know all of the titles (and the band have something of a knack for terrible song titles), but I bet you know the songs.
Gary Lightbody has become famous for both his Northern Irish accented singing voice, and for his wide-eyed ballads. Yes, he’s got a taste for the soppy, something that he’s certainly over-indulged in recent years, but here it was new and fresh and we’d not heard it all before. It’s not fashionable to like a band like Snow Patrol, and they’re often derided as being sub-Coldplay pap, but in my opinion this is one of the best albums of the decade – it’s certainly one of the ones that I’ve listened to most often.
Listen to: Run
8. Damien Rice - O (2003)(LB)
The 2000s threw up some blooming great records and so by the time I've got to this stage it's like choosing between your children (so I am told). O is probably the single most breathtaking, stop-whatever-else-you-were-doing album I have heard in this last ten years.It has its standout songs - singles Cannonball and The Blower's Daughter to name two - but is is staggeringly beautiful from start to finish. Sad, melancholy but with the amazing vocal combination of Rice and Lisa Hannigan, O is a truly magnificent record from start to finish. his acoustic performance at Glastonbury in 2005 was also one of my all time live music highlights.
I absolutely adore O, and listening to it again recently it hasn't lost any of its stripped-down, raw emotional power.
Listen to: The Blower's Daughter
8. Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002)(bedshaped)
What's there to say about Coldplay? Huge, huge, huge band now! Crazy huge!A great debut album released to critical acclaim and by the time this album was released, I think everybody was expecting brilliant things from the band. And they didn't let anybody down.
It's taking Parachutes as the benchmark, and not only growing to the next level, but taking their sound, the lyrics and even Chris Martin's vocals to many levels higher.
Packed with well known songs; In My Place, God Put A Smile On Your Face, Clocks, and who could forget The Scientist with it's brilliant video. Any song from this album could have been released as a single. Absolutely no filler here.
I've seen them play live quite a few times. They sound great, but they're not the most exciting band to watch perform. And I hate to say it, but their live renditions are a little bit too....polished. I won't be seeing them again though. Since this album, for me, they have gone down, down, downhill. What happened Chris? What happened?!?!
Anyway....absolutely brilliant album. A great listen to from beginning to end. The title track is a really good stomper, but the jewel in the crown on this album for me is Amsterdam. And that's my favourite song from this, no question. Lovely piano intro. Chris gives his most emotional performance with his vocals on this track. And it builds. Oh yes, it builds. And "if you build it, they will come!" And I did! It's wonderful final moments come with full orchestra and lovely Hammond amongst other things. And then it falls apart again.
Beautiful song.
Listen to: Amsterdam
delivered by LB at 8:05 AM
2 Discussions:
ah, can't argue with either of these choices boys.... LB is so right about the Blower's Daughter too. Beautiful song. Absolutely stunning. People are raving about Bon Iver as an album of the decade, but for me this album has got to be at least as good.....
Coldplay? I'll hold my thoughts on this one for a few days!
Great choices again guys!
I was this close *makes a tiny gap between finger and thumb* to putting this album in my list. Have I now made a mistake? I dunno. Yeah, brilliant album though.
Damien Rice? Never heard of him! Only kidding of course. I love Damien Rice and will be talking more about him later in my list. Woohoo!
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