#10. These Friends of Mine - Rosie Thomas (2006)
Fact about the album
When Rosie Thomas talks during this album -- something she does quite a bit -- she sounds like what a pixie might sound like.
Why it makes the list
I’d be lying if I said I think this album is better than most, or indeed any, of the ones that are lower down the list. Its presence at the tail end of my top 10 is more as a representative album for all the ladies in the house - that is, all of the female-led groups that I’ve come to enjoy in the latter part of this decade. Ida, Hem, Trespassers William, Over the Rhine to name a few.
But Rosie Thomas was the original, and this album broke what might be considered my musical sexism. There is a distinct formula to her songs, but instead of making things monotonous, it gives the album a sense of familiarity. As renowned music critic Johnny Giles says, simplicity is beautiful. These Friends of Mine is simple, and for that reason it is beautiful.
Memories it evokes
Playing in the snow.
Favourite tracks
Much Farther To Go, Say Hello, Kite Song
#9. A Rush of Blood To the Head - Coldplay (2002)
Fact about the album
Coldplay stole the riff for ‘Clocks’ from Kelly Roland.
Why it makes the list
As I said already, Parachutes isn’t my favourite Coldplay album. In A Rush of Blood… Chris Martin lays down his guitar for many of the songs and sits behind a piano instead, with a great degree of success. Everyone knows the singles, but it’s the other tracks on this album that propel it to a top 10 place on my list. ‘Green Eyes’ is a pleasant acoustic ballad, ‘Warning Sign’ is yearning ode to love which finishes with the line “And I fall back into your open arms” repeated in falsetto, and ‘Amsterdam’ is one of my favourite tracks of the decade, and as fitting an end to an album as there ever was. (By the way, if you want to tell if an album is good, listen to the last song. A bad last song doesn’t exactly tell you much, but if the last song is good then you can be almost certain that the rest of the album is good too.)
There is one caveat though, and it comes in the form of ‘God Put a Smile Upon Your Face’. I really despise that song, and it prevents the album from being a couple of place higher on the list. Bad Coldplay. (And bad Coldplay for releasing subsequent albums that have failed to enchant me.)
Memories it evokes
Smallville. Back in days of yore when people used to actually watch television shows on television, A Rush of Blood to the Head was my personal soundtrack to Smallville on Friday nights at 7 on Network 2. Whenever there was an ad break in my then favourite show, I’d stick on a song from the album to pass the time and dream about eloping with Kristin Kreuk to a far away island where we would spend our time converting the indigenous population to our Western ways.
Favourite tracks
Amsterdam, Warning Sign, Clocks
Fact about the album
When Rosie Thomas talks during this album -- something she does quite a bit -- she sounds like what a pixie might sound like.
Why it makes the list
I’d be lying if I said I think this album is better than most, or indeed any, of the ones that are lower down the list. Its presence at the tail end of my top 10 is more as a representative album for all the ladies in the house - that is, all of the female-led groups that I’ve come to enjoy in the latter part of this decade. Ida, Hem, Trespassers William, Over the Rhine to name a few.
But Rosie Thomas was the original, and this album broke what might be considered my musical sexism. There is a distinct formula to her songs, but instead of making things monotonous, it gives the album a sense of familiarity. As renowned music critic Johnny Giles says, simplicity is beautiful. These Friends of Mine is simple, and for that reason it is beautiful.
Memories it evokes
Playing in the snow.
Favourite tracks
Much Farther To Go, Say Hello, Kite Song
#9. A Rush of Blood To the Head - Coldplay (2002)
Fact about the album
Coldplay stole the riff for ‘Clocks’ from Kelly Roland.
Why it makes the list
As I said already, Parachutes isn’t my favourite Coldplay album. In A Rush of Blood… Chris Martin lays down his guitar for many of the songs and sits behind a piano instead, with a great degree of success. Everyone knows the singles, but it’s the other tracks on this album that propel it to a top 10 place on my list. ‘Green Eyes’ is a pleasant acoustic ballad, ‘Warning Sign’ is yearning ode to love which finishes with the line “And I fall back into your open arms” repeated in falsetto, and ‘Amsterdam’ is one of my favourite tracks of the decade, and as fitting an end to an album as there ever was. (By the way, if you want to tell if an album is good, listen to the last song. A bad last song doesn’t exactly tell you much, but if the last song is good then you can be almost certain that the rest of the album is good too.)
There is one caveat though, and it comes in the form of ‘God Put a Smile Upon Your Face’. I really despise that song, and it prevents the album from being a couple of place higher on the list. Bad Coldplay. (And bad Coldplay for releasing subsequent albums that have failed to enchant me.)
Memories it evokes
Smallville. Back in days of yore when people used to actually watch television shows on television, A Rush of Blood to the Head was my personal soundtrack to Smallville on Friday nights at 7 on Network 2. Whenever there was an ad break in my then favourite show, I’d stick on a song from the album to pass the time and dream about eloping with Kristin Kreuk to a far away island where we would spend our time converting the indigenous population to our Western ways.
Favourite tracks
Amsterdam, Warning Sign, Clocks
I think may be wrong about who copied who?? Didnt Kelly Roland release that at a later date to Coldplays Clocks?
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