Customer Reviews

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, I haven't really felt the need to review any of Coldplay's stuff, despite a certain affinity for the band. I had to remedy that for this single, as it quite literally brought a dream to life.

But I'll get to that in a moment. "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" isn't their best song. Of course, I can't think of a "bad" Coldplay song, you can really only compare their songs to one another. This song is very melancholy and wonderful, it's just no "Yellow" or "Green Eyes".

"Murder" is a good song. I didn't really catch anything that stood out, but I'll definitely give it another listen. "Politik" live is lovely, with a minute and a half intro before they get to the infamous opening guitar.

And the gem of the album, the final track. I saw the cover of the single and went "Hm, new import. Bonus." Then I saw the sticker claiming "Contains all new Live versions of "Politik" and "Lips Like Sugar". I dropped what I was holding, stunned.

For those of you who don't know, "Lips Like Sugar" is a song by Echo and the Bunnymen, one of Chris's favorite bands. Before I'd heard of Coldplay, I was an Echo and the Bunnymen buff. "Lips Like Sugar", bar none, is my favorite song. And apparantly, Coldplay agrees, since Chris introduces it by saying, "Here we go, this is one of the greatest songs in the world." And he's quite correct. Chris does an excellent job covering the vocals, never trying to imitate Ian's work on the original. the rest of the band plays the song spectacularly, a slightly faster version that the Bunnymen themselves do live.

As I stated previously, this was a dream come true. Ever since I heard "Parachutes", I knew Coldplay and the Bunnymen had to do an album together. And while this isn't quite the same, it's still wonderful to hear. And a note to Ian, Will, and the gang: I think hearing you guys cover "Spies" would be awesome.

This disk is basically the Japanese Clocks EP with a different title track and half the price. Mine was made in Malaysia and has a little hologram sticker on the front, apparently to prove it's not a bootleg (common in that part of the world).

As for content, "Crests of Waves" and "Animals" may be forgettable, but it will take a few more listens to decide. "Murder", however, is fantastic. It sounds like typical Coldplay, but I kept thinking of older Morrissey, maybe "Jack the Ripper" or "Asian Rut". A must-hear song. The live "In My Place" is, well, live. Nothing too special. The live version "Yellow" was recorded for KCRW radio in California. If you haven't heard it before, it's just Chris and a piano, but in addition to being acoustic, it's a much *slower* rendition. I'm not sure if it works, but it's definitely worth a listen. Round this out with Quicktime versions of the "Clocks" and "In My Place" videos, and you have a CD that really puts those 3-track disks to shame. If you buy Coldplay singles for the music and not the paper and plastic, there's no reason to go elsewhere.

Don't let the price of this cd turn you away because you'll regret it. I'm a huge fan of Coldplay's earlier music, and this cd is mostly like music off of Parachutes. I had heard that this version of "Yellow" was excellent and I completely agree. "Crest of Waves", "Murder", and "Animals" isn't their best music, but definitely worth having.
The videos of "Clocks" and "In My Place" are the music videos that you would normally see on tv. Unfortunately it's an 'enhanced cd' so you have to watch the videos on your computer. The video quality is on the poor side when you enlarge it also.

This is an especially good import with plenty of bang for the buck. It starts out with a great song from A Rush Of Blood To The Head, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face. It goes through the catchy Crests of Waves, through the somewhat similar Animals, through the FANTASTIC song Murder, and ends with live versions of In My Place and Yellow. If you play this on a computer, you get 2 music videos-one of Clocks, and one of In My Place. They aren't that creative, pretty much just the band playing, except on Clocks, it varies in a cool way.

GOD PUT A SMILE UPON YOUR FACE: 9/10 A wonderful song, but I've heard it and own it, so I overlook this.

CRESTS OF WAVES: 7.8/10 Very catchy, and is a good song...but it isn't that special and just doesn't stand out.

ANIMALS: 7.5/10 Same here. It's pretty much a song they just recorded and didn't release. It has really good lyrics, though, comparing humans to animals.

MURDER: 10/10 I LOVE this song. It is FANTASTIC. They should've released this on Parachutes. This is SO AMAZING. It has a darker, more eerie, and more haunting feel to it than most of Coldplay's songs. This is simply breathtaking.

IN MY PLACE (LIVE) 7.5/10 This is nothing special. It's In My Place, live. No big variations, except for the annoying aspect of the audience singing along with the whole song.

YELLOW (LIVE) 10/10 This is a slower rendition of the headbanging guitar song Yellow. It's just Chris Martin and a piano, and it sounds great!!

CLOCKS (VIDEO) 8.9/10 The quality isn't that great, but it is very cool watching Coldplay perform.

IN MY PLACE (VIDEO) 8.5/10 The quality is a little better, but it's a little less interesting to watch.

So, there you have it. If you get one Coldplay import ever, get this. That's all.

Important Note: THIS IS NOT A DVD. It's an Enhanced CD. Put it in your DVD player and it will A) just play the regular songs on the CD, or B) not work at all.

I am a big Coldplay fan, and this CD has been a nice addition to my collection. If you are just getting into Coldplay, I recommend you listen to one of their albums first (Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head). This CD in my opinion is wonderful. Of course I had already heard "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face". I bought this CD for the B-sides, which are utterly wonderful, and the two music videos. Here are my ratings of the music tracks-

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face- 5/5
A wonderful song, although I already knew it.

Crests of Waves- 4/5
I love this song too. The lyrics are wonderful and it is a catchy classic Coldplay song.

Animals- 4/5
Another wonderful Coldplay song that is great in all aspects, except it is just not as good as other songs by this group.

Murder- 5/5
This is the main reason I bought this CD. This song is WONDERFUL. It has a beautiful instrumental part, and nice lyrics. Great chorus also. This does not seem all-so-typical of a Coldplay song. It seems a little darker. It is FANTASTIC.

In My Place (Live)- 3/5
This song is wonderful, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of live versions. It is well done, but I am one who does not like when the audience sings along with the entire song.

Yellow (Live)- 4/5
A great version of Yellow! This surprised me when I first listened to it. It has a great piano part and it is smoother and less upbeat than the studio-recorded version.

Do not be fooled by the "videos" on this CD. This is not a CD/DVD, it is an "Enhanced CD". They can not be played in a conventional DVD player. You must play them through your computer. The videos are fair, although I find Coldplay videos boring. When you enlarge the videos, they become fuzzy, and if you try to return to the menu, it gets screwed up and you lose the volume. I would say that you should not be buying this single just for the videos.

I hope this helped! Overall I love this CD... It contains the best songs that were not included on Coldplay's main albums.
Overall rating: 4/5

Purchased it for the 3 B-side numbers. Pretty nice numbers - good not fantastic - recommend it for Coldplay fans.

This is exactly as most posters have stated, a typical Coldplay release with a few extras thrown in to add another dollar to the corporate bulldozer. It is worth getting, and I do not take issue with Coldplay, I strongly believe and adhere to capitalism, I just think they ought to allow muscians to release 14-24 song albums if they have the material. Oh well, we live in this world and so be it. Worth the buy. If comtemplating, just purchase the darn thing and enjoy.

Alright...this is a really great CD.
The a-list track, "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face," is really a gem and should be on every CD in the world.
The first b-list track, "Crest of Waves," is pretty good, it has a kind of beachy feel to it.
The second b-list track, "Animals," is by far my favorite Coldplay song EVER...you MUST HAVE IT.
The third b-list track, "Murder," is very good, but a bit spooky.
The live tracks on the disk, however, are nothing to write home about.
Although, the enhanced portion of the CD is EXCELLENT, with the videos for "Clocks" and "In My Place." Then enhanced portion alone is worth the cost of the CD, and is a must have for any true Coldplay fan.
Thanks!

I bought the "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" EP about a week and a half ago and received it in the mail today. Coldplay has been my favorite band for several years now, but I've only started going out of my way to obtain their singles and EPs for the rare songs and B-sides they offer. If you think A Rush Of Blood To The Head or Parachutes was good, you need to listen to these singles and EPs that feature songs you can usually only hear at concerts.

The "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" EP has wonderful mix of rare/B-side songs as well as live tracks and videos from A Rush Of Blood and Parachutes and the obligatory title track from A Rush Of Blood, "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face."

The highlights of this CD include "Crest Of Waves" and "Animals," two tracks of the more upbeat Coldplay variety that both appear, also, on the "Clocks" single. The videos for "Clocks" and "In My Place" are a nice bonus, although if you resize the videos to full-screen, it's difficult to return to the Enhanced CD menu. The "Clocks" video isn't quite as good as the video that appeared on the In My Place section of Coldplay.com a while ago. It's also a concert video, but the slow-motion filming clearly doesn't keep time with the music. The "In My Place" video is the same video that was shown on TV and on Coldplay.com, showing the band playing inside a big gray room. (I would have, however, easily taken the "God Put A Smile" video instead of both of these videos.) The gem of this EP, in my opinion, is the live, piano acoustic version of "Yellow." The slow, intimate sound of the piano is drastically different from the jubilant guitars heard on the studio version. Vocalist Chris Martin's voice is especially beautiful, and combined with the empathic, almost hymnal piano and the romantic lyrics, results in one of the most exquisite renditions of an already phenomenal song.

If you are at all interested in widening your knowledge of Coldplay's music, this EP would be a very good place to start. Although their style hasn't changed much over the years, the tracks on this EP are easy to warm up to, not to mention the added bonus of two videos.