God Put a Smile Upon Your Face

Full title - God Put A Smile Upon Your Face. Exclusive Australian single from their 2002 album, 'Rush of Blood to the Head', is b/w three exclusive non-LP tracks, 'Murder', 'Politik' (Live), & a cover of the Echo & the Bunnymen's 'Lips Like Sugar' (Live). Copy Controlled. Capitol. 2003.
Customer Review: Probably the best compliation
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.

It seems to me that too many bands spend way too much time playing what they want to hear, rather than what is right for the crowd at any particular moment. Whether this fact stems from rampant narcissism (Look at me!), an inability to read their crowd, or an extremely limited set list - the result is the same. Dancers tend to sit down when they don't know the tunes.

Conversely, some deejays and bands can't seem to make it through a single night without hauling out hoary old chestnuts like YMCA, New York New York, and The Macarena. While granting that there will always be a market - somewhere - for such tunes, these particular songs (along with Stairway To Heaven, Freebird, and anything from Mamma Mia!) run a very high risk of turning off a big chunk of your dancers. For that reason alone, they should be played sparingly (every February 29th, for example.) Alternate tunes - with a much lower "cheese" factor - exist which inspire many fewer cases of violence against music providers.

Even big-name performers can occasionally benefit from this same advice. I once sat through an entire Carlos Santana set without hearing a single tune I recognized (and I know a bunch). Now, you can add me to the list of former Santana fans.

But last night, the lovely Gina Tanner and I attended a concert performance by Gladys Knight. In a 90-minute set, Gladys perfectly balanced new songs and borrowed tunes (made famous by others) with all of her greatest hits. No matter how many times she has sung them, she knows that they are what makes the cash register ring.

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