A Personal Top 5 album of the Decade

At first listen, simple beauty fades in. “Oh, we're sinking like stones, All that we fought for, All those places we’ve gone, All of us are done for. We live in a beautiful world, Yeah we do, Yeah we do”. More appreciative of the earth than the mind is your initial lyrical diagnosis. Lightly tasteful tablature stories and fables, but as this album of historical influential proportions progresses, evaluations of a human’s mind, instead of its planet are evident.

Truths of gone wrong, gone right, and all the rest of love, hate, life or death take shapely acoustic bends and turns. In the presence of an important soul was I, as the lyrics ran blaringly loud through four windows of a sporty Saturn sedan on a rare cool and calm Texas night. “From the moment I wake, Till the moment I sleep. I’ll be there by your side, Just you try and stop me”. It felt dangerously inviting as I fell prey to this album, and began my own personal luring little love story with the person who shared the speakers that night. I sunk my teeth into “Parachutes”, took the dive, as I felt musical experience slow down my bulleting body enough to enjoy the atmosphere and view on the way down.

Just like the reality of a Parachute, this album will seem to be taking its time. Truth is the combination of musical professionalism and lyrical content is truly going the speed of light. Track three, “Spies", resembles an overcast system hovering over beautiful tropic skies. From one environment to another, using every format of creative instrumental technique to blend into one 5 minute and 18 second song. “ And if we don’t buy here, They’re going to find us, And if we don’t buy now, they’re gonna catch us where we see, And if we don’t hide here, They’re going to find us". Beautifully belting out as the accompanying guitar chords bounce like a child playing hopscotch.


Floating onward is track four, “Sparks," an amazing romance between the depression of love, and the happiness of rain. “My heart is yours, It's you that I hold onto… Well I promise you this, I'll always look out for you, Yeah well that’s what I'll do.” Progressively slow acoustic chords chaufer this song through its entirety. If this song doesn’t put you and your significant other in the mood for relaxation, nothing will. Skipping over “Yellow” the widely known radio success, we move onto the second largest U.S. single and my personal favorite, track six, “Trouble”. With happiness and success in romance always comes pain. Never free of beautifully luring and almost evil piano fingering, "Trouble" smacks this romantic storybook album in the face. “Oh no …What’s this…A Spider Web and I’m caught in the middle, So I turn to run…The thought of all the stupid things I’ve done.” Attractively whiny he continues, “Oh I never meant to cause you trouble, And I never meant to do you wrong” Most framing in my mind is the video. In almost 15 years of video network viewing Memorex, this is by far the most intriguing and mind numbing video diversion created. By all means invest the time if given the chance to see this video, which is truly considered artwork.

Track seven, “Parachutes", simply an intermission, drops in with the already veteran piano intertwined with acoustic guitars, forming a midway lullaby. This intermission turns out to be more than just filler. Hindsight will show you the corridor of lyrical shifting that takes place.

Track eight "High Speed" features string picking , and a vocal treading that seems to send this musical journey down its new lyrical path. Not so much about love, as much about life. “We’ve been living life, Inside a bubble, Confidence in you, Is confidence in me, Is confidence in high speed”. And now its time to get straight up biased. These lyrics have never rung so true for any one fan. “I wanna live life, never be cruel, I wanna live life, be good to you. I wanna fly, never come down, And live my life, and have friends around”. Track nine, “Change,” materializing through the echoey shadow of the most slowed down acoustic chord imaginable, “So I wanna live, in a wooden house, I wanna live life, always be true, I wanna live life, and be good to you.” Blame, Denial and Regression become lyrically contempt in the final traditionally full length track “Everything’s Not Lost“. This track becomes the simple reminder that long journeys of beauty and circumstance must always be seen with a positive focus. “When you thought that it was over…You could feel it all around, Everybody’s out to get you, Don’t you let it drag you down. So if you ever feel neglected and you think that all is lost, Ill be counting up my demons, Hoping everything’s not lost.”

Simply simplistic to the point of easy memorization, you would imagine this type of album to get old with each listen. Exactly the opposite, as each listen will seem like your first experience. Similar to an elaborate love note you hold dearly, Parachutes brings all its qualities to a puffy, slowed down, beautiful, scenic view of the madness that is love, life and all the rest.


Written by Brian Rutherford
hstisgod2000@yahoo.com

Please excuse any typos...