Most Popular
-
The Hard Lie
How former Ticket host Greg Williams destroyed the most dynamic duo in Dallas talk radio through drugs, deceit and disaffection
-
American Girls
Crossing between American and Egyptian cultures, he Said girls made one deadly misstep: They fell in love
-
The Dirt Doctor
How radio show host Howard Garrett pushed Dallas to the center of the organic gardening movement through passion, principle and molasses
-
The Caretaker
One mother's crusade to better the life of her mentally retarded son and the system that failed him
-
Our 20th Music Awards
1988-2008: Two Decades of DOMA
-
Park City
Wanna go see a show around town? Fine, but you'll get a ticket in Deep Ellum. Maybe towed on Lower Greenville...
-
Stand and Deliver
WIth No Deliverance, The Toadies revert to the bare bones of their past
-
Big Willie Style
Willie Nelson doesn't have to continue performing—which makes his insistence to keep doing so all the more remarkable
-
Morning Wood
My Morning Jacket is the best live band in the world
-
They Shall Be Comforted
Friends and faith buoy the family of a slain Christian music producer
Blogs
Fri Sep 5, 4:55 PM
Fri Sep 5, 4:03 PM
Fri Sep 5, 5:30 PM
Fri Sep 5, 4:25 PM
Fri Sep 5, 2:30 PM
Fri Sep 5, 12:00 PM
Recent Articles
Recent Articles by Zac Crain
Two former music editors weigh in on the future of Trees
Discover a Lovelier You (Ashmont)
Or, why sax player is no longer a viable occupation in rock and roll
Pottery-selling Satan worshipers and chino salesmen meet for fun and pain in the world of Denton's extreme wrestling
Monday, April 25, at Gypsy Tea Room
No related articles found
National Features >
SF Weekly
A blogger steals someone else's life story and calls it her own.
By Ashley Harrell
Westword
How William Orr's quest for better, cheaper gas became a crime.
By Alan Prendergast
Miami New Times
The family of a dead judge blames a creeping fungus in the federal courthouse.
By Tim Elfrink
The Pitch
I worked at Kmart with John McCain's director of strategy.
By Alan Scherstuhl
Snow Patrol, Embrace
Monday, April 25, at Gypsy Tea Room
Published on April 21, 2005
Back in the day, people (read: music critics) used to compare every U.K. band trying to make a go of it in the United States to Radiohead, usually to diminish the efforts of the band in question. As in: "Radiohead-lite." Travis might as well have changed its name to that. Coldplay, too, back in the beginning. Embrace got it a little bit, but the group was usually measured up against Oasis (thanks to its brawling brothers, Danny and Richard McNamara) or The Verve (thanks to its sprawling, anthemic songs). Now Coldplay has become the new yardstick, and it's brought along with it positive connotations. As in: "the next Coldplay." That seems to fit Embrace better, even though, you know, the McNamara brothers were already a success in England--based on singles like 1997's "All You Good Good People"--while Chris Martin and company were still at university. But that's quibbling. Besides, Embrace better get used to the comparison, since the best song ("Gravity") on the group's forthcoming album, Out of Nothing, was written by, um, Coldplay. Snow Patrol has also been tarred by the "next Coldplay" brush, but the optimistic songs on its latest, Final Straw, seem to refute that, even though they were the initial cause. Martin can do many things, but I doubt he can write a song that would sound as good on a summer day with a sweaty bottle of beer as "Spitting Games." Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody did, down to the "oooh-oooh" chorus. So there.