Parachutes is the debut studio album by Coldplay. It was released on 10 July 2000 through Parlophone in the United Kingdom. The album was produced by the band and British record producer Ken Nelson, except for one track, "High Speed", which was produced by Chris Allison, the producer from their previous extended play, The Blue Room E.P. (1999). The album spawned the singles "Shiver", "Yellow", "Trouble", and "Don't Panic", with "Yellow" launching the band on the international stage.
Parachutes was a commercial success and was met with positive reviews. Upon release, it quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom and has since been certified 9× Platinum. In the United States, the album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200 and eventually was certified Double Platinum. It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2002, the British Album of the Year award at the 2001 Brit Awards and many other accolades. Parachutes is also the 22nd best-selling album of the 21st century in the United Kingdom. As of 2020, it has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.[1]
Recording and production[]
Coldplay began production on Parachutes in mid 1999 at Orinoco Studios, London, initially with British record producer Chris Allison. Allison was asked to assist with production and Coldplay's musical direction, which was desired by both the band and Dan Keeling, head of Parlophone's A&R department. Allison's methods and the pressure of a major label debut created apprehension and internal conflicts amongst the band members; the first weeks of recording were stressful and led drummer Will Champion to be fired from the band by lead singer Chris Martin due to his difficulty keeping up with the music that was being written. Eventually, Will joined back and the band worked out their differences, formalised a new set of rules, and returned to the Parachutes sessions, although they remained not as prosperous as the band would like.[2]
Of all songs recorded during the sessions at Orinoco Studios, Coldplay were only satisfied with three for an eventual release: "See You Soon", "High Speed", and a new version of "Don't Panic". Concerned about more delays after the band embarked on their first small full UK tour, Parlophone decided to amalgamate the three new songs with the self-released Safety E.P.’s "Bigger Stronger" and "Such a Rush" for a new extended play, The Blue Room E.P..[3] "High Speed" — unaltered from the EP — would later be re-released as part of Parachutes.
The band then took a lengthy break to compose more tracks for Parachutes. A few months later, it was arranged that Allison and the band meet at a rehearsal room to finally begin production on the band's debut album. "They started up playing in the rehearsal room and they really weren't together at all. And I was very honest with them, I just sort of said, 'Look, this simply isn't good enough'". Allison adds, "The interesting, the most significant thing that did occur out of the fact that we didn't end up starting the album on that day of the rehearsal was that Chris Martin had not written "Yellow" by that time".
A couple of months later, British record producer Ken Nelson was chosen, producing all but one song on Parachutes. He was introduced to Coldplay by his manager Pete Byrne (who gave him a copy of "Brothers & Sisters", the band's Fierce Panda-distributed debut single in 1999). 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, was what he had produced at the time).
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 May 2000. The band began work on the album at Rockfield Studios in Wales, continuing with sessions at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. The band worked in three studio rooms at Parr Street, mostly in the 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 Orinoco 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 except the song "High Speed" which was mixed by Chris Allison.
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" ("Trouble", for example, had to be reworked to eliminate the cacophony included in its early versions).
The album's cover features a photograph of a yellow globe taken with a disposable Kodak camera. The globe had been purchased from WHSmith 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 Will's mother, Sara Champion, who died of cancer in May 2000, two months before the release of Parachutes.
Track listing[]
All tracks written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, and Chris Martin. All tracks produced by Ken Nelson and Coldplay, except "High Speed", produced by Chris Allison.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Don't Panic" | 2:17 |
| 2. | "Shiver" | 5:02 |
| 3. | "Spies" | 5:18 |
| 4. | "Sparks" | 3:47 |
| 5. | "Yellow" | 4:29 |
| 6. | "Trouble" | 4:31 |
| 7. | "Parachutes" | 0:46 |
| 8. | "High Speed" | 4:16 |
| 9. | "We Never Change" | 4:09 |
| 10. | "Everything's Not Lost" ("Everything's Not Lost" ends at 5:32. A hidden song called "Life Is for Living" starts at 5:39.) | 7:16 |
Parachutes – Japanese edition (bonus track)
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Careful Where You Stand" | 4:45 |
| 12. | "For You" | 5:42 |
Gallery of artwork[]
