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Parachutes
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Parachutes is the debut album by English alternative rock band Coldplay, released by the record label Parlophone on 10 July 2000 in the United Kingdom. The album was produced by the band and British record producer Ken Nelson, excluding one track which was produced by Chris Allison. Parachutes has spawned the hit singles "Shiver", "Yellow", "Trouble".
The album was generally both a critical and commercial success.
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Encyclopedia
Parachutes is the debut album by English alternative rock band Coldplay, released by the record label Parlophone on 10 July 2000 in the United Kingdom. The album was produced by the band and British record producer Ken Nelson, excluding one track which was produced by Chris Allison. Parachutes has spawned the hit singles "Shiver", "Yellow", "Trouble".
The album was generally both a critical and commercial success. Upon release, the album quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom, and has since been certified seven-time platinum. In the United States, the album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified two-time platinum. It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2002, and has earned the band various accolades since its release. Parachutes is number 12 on the list of the 20 biggest-selling albums of the 21st century in the United Kingdom.
Background
British record producer Ken Nelson produced all but one song on Parachutes. He was introduced to Coldplay by his manager Pete who gave him a copy of the band's Fierce Panda released debut single. Nelson has claimed that, as soon as he heard vocalist Chris Martin's voice on the song "Bigger Stronger", he "realised that he was something special". Nelson was offered the job while Coldplay were performing in Liverpool with English indie rock band Gomez, whose debut album, Bring It On, he had produced.
The band started working on the album in 1999 and produced an EP with British record producer Chris Allison, but were not satisfied with the results. They wanted more control over proceedings and Nelson's philosophy of "assisting [bands] in realising their own ideas, rather than imposing his own views about how the project should sound" qualified him to replace Allison. Accordingly Nelson has stated that the album was a co-production between himself and Coldplay.
Recording and production
Coldplay initially planned to record Parachutes in the space of two weeks. However, tours and other live performances caused the recording to spread out between September 1999 and April-May 2000. The band began work on the album at Rockfield Studios in Wales, Matrix Studios, and Wessex Sound Studios, although the majority of Parachutes tracks were recorded at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. The band worked in three studio rooms at Parr Street, and tracked much of the album in one of these roomsthe project studio which producer Ken Nelson describes as "basically a demo room". The Chris Allison-produced track "High Speed" was also included on the album, and originates from earlier sessions at Orinico Studios in London. The album was mixed by American engineer Michael Brauer in New York. Coldplay's record label, Parlophone, had originally intended to use a mixing engineer for the tracks they picked as singles, but eventually hired Brauer to work on all songs on Parachutes.
At the Liverpool concert where he was offered the production job Nelson had noted that Coldplay's performance was "very very uptight [...] they rushed through the set and it was quite difficult to listen to". Once in the studio Nelson and the band went through each song, learning how to play the piece live and deciding what tempo to play it at in an attempt to get the group to "calm down".
The album's cover features a photograph of a globe personally taken by the band with a disposable Kodak camera. The globe had been purchased from W H Smith for £10; it was featured in the music videos for "Shiver" and "Don't Panic", and also accompanied the band on their tours. The album was dedicated to drummer Will Champion's mother, Dr. Sara Champion, who died of cancer in 2000.
Music and lyrics
Champion has explained that Nelson's production style was liberating and allowed the band to feel at ease during the recording of Parachutes. The ensuing album was "a record's worth of moody and atmospheric tunes". As a nod to the moods created by the album, Champion has compared the song lyrics to the 1972 song "Perfect Day" by American rock singer-songwriter Lou Reed, stating that the "lyrics are beautiful and they're really, really happy, but the music is really, really sad. It's that kind of thing, where you can create [differing] moods through the music and lyrics."
Parachutes was recognized to have an alternative rock sound similar to English band Radiohead in their The BendsOK Computer era. In fact, it has been suggested that the album's commercial success was due in part to a portion of Radiohead's audience being alienated by the band's experimental and more electronic-influenced Kid A album.
Release and reception
Parachutes was released on 10 July 2000 in the United Kingdom via record label Parlophone. In the United States, it was released on 7 November 2000 by record label Nettwerk. The album has been made available on various formats since its initial release; both Parlophone and Nettwerk released it as a CD in 2000, and it was also released as a cassette by newfound US label Capitol in 2001. In the following year, Parlophone issued the album as an LP.
The main version of the album contains 10 tracks; the tenth track, "Everything's Not Lost", segues to a hidden short track called "Life Is for Living", clocking in for a total of 7:15. The Japanese version of the album contains all main tracks, and the additional tracks "Careful Where You Stand" and "For You". The album's third track "Spies" drew some attention from the Chinese government, who interpreted it as an anti-Communist song. This led to the album being banned in the country, a situation which guitarist Jonny Buckland called "very strange".
Four singles were released from the album: "Shiver", "Yellow", "Trouble", and "Don't Panic". "Shiver" served as lead single in the United Kingdom while "Yellow" was used in the United States. Upon the release of "Trouble", Coldplay abandoned their initial plan of releasing "Don't Panic" as the album's fourth single, after they deemed three singles were enough for an album. Despite this, however, it was released as a single in some European regions. An underground remix of "Spies" by North London music producer Nikolai Levey, never issued commercially, was released to music industry executives in 1999 as part of Parlophone's Flavour Of The Label Series of label samplers.
Since its release, Parachutes has earned the band several awards. The album won Best Album at the 2000 Q Awards, and was nominated at the 2000 Technics Mercury Music Prize. The following year, the band earned Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammy Awards and Best British Album at the BRIT Awards.
Critical reviews
Parachutes was critically acclaimed in Europe. Michael Hubbard of MusicOMH noted that it is an album of "remarkable depth, especially when one considers the youthful ages of the band members" while The Guardian newspaper described the album as "one of the year's most uplifting albums", adding that it features "elegant songs, classic guitars and gorgeous singing".
The album also received generally positive reviews among international critics. A review in Billboard magazine claims that Parachutes "brings nothing new to the table", writing that its "musical reference points are immediately recognizable and difficult to overlook". Despite this, the reviews adds, "Coldplay seems talented enough to transcend this early identity crisis", referring to them as a newly-introduced band in the United States. Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone magazine said that the album "ultimately rises above its influences to become a work of real transcendence". MacKenzie Wilson of Allmusic commented that it introduces the band as "young musicians still honing their sweet harmonies", adding, "Parachutes deserved the accolades it received because it followed the general rule when introducing decent pop songs: keep the emotion genuine and real."
Commercial performance
Parachutes performed well in the United Kingdom. The popularity of the song in British clubs, pubs and sporting events bolstered the album to debut at number one on the UK Albums Chart. It has been certified seven-time Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, with sales of around 2,400,000 units, to date.
Parachutes has reached number 51 on the US Billboard 200, and has peaked at number one on the Billboard Heatseekers. The album's lead single, "Yellow", in the United States has helped the album's shipments reach over 1.2 million units. Over two million copies have been shipped to the United States, leading to being certified two-time Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It has also been certified three-time Platinum in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association, and two-time Platinum in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
Impact and legacy
According to the British trade paper Music Week, Parachutes was one of the most-impressive albums ever, spawning the hit singles "Shiver", "Yellow", and "Trouble". With nearly 2.4 million units sold in the United Kingdom alone, it has placed at number 12 on the country's list of 20 biggest-selling albums of the 21st century.
The album was placed at number 14 in Channel 4's 100 greatest albums of all time, and in 2006 at number 33 in NME's 100 greatest British albums. Despite the album's critical and commercial success, Chris Martin said that Coldplay looks beyond Parachutes: "We know that's terrible music and we always try to think about what we can do next."
Track listing
- "Don't Panic" 2:17
- "Shiver" 4:59
- "Spies" 5:18
- "Sparks" 3:47
- "Yellow" 4:29
- "Trouble" 4:30
- "Parachutes" 0:46
- "High Speed" 4:14
- "We Never Change" 4:09
- "Everything's Not Lost" 7:15
- "Life Is for Living" 1:36 (hidden song starting at 5:39)
Bonus tracks on Japanese release:
- "Careful Where You Stand" 4:45
- "For You" 5:42
External links
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