Snow Patrol – Up to Now

Releasedate: 20-11-2009; Label: Universal
By: Nina Mende

Snow Patrol is a Northern Irish alternative rock band, with members from Northern Ireland and Scotland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994, the band is now based in Glasgow. The band’s first three records, the EP Starfighter Pilot, and the studio albums Songs for Polarbears and When It’s All Over We Still Have to Clear Up, were commercially unsuccessful and were released by independent labels Electric Honey and Jeepster, respectively. When the band moved to a major record label Polydor Records, they released their 2003 album Final Straw which surpassed 4x platinum sales in the UK. This was the first time the band achieved significant commercial sales, following it up with international success in 2006 when Eyes Open sold 4.7 million copies worldwide. The songs “Run”, “Chasing Cars” and “Signal Fire” are among the band’s biggest hits. Snow Patrol have been nominated for three BRIT Awards and have won five Meteor Ireland Music Awards. In 2008, the band released their fifth studio album A Hundred Million Suns, and now released their first compilation album, “Up to Now”.

The album contains all hits of Snow Patrol and is a nice summary of their career. Including live versions, covers and tracks from The Reindeer Section, a side-project/supergroup involving musicians from all over Scotland. On this album you can clearly hear the development of Snow Patrol’s sound. You can hear different styles of rock and Snow Patrols sound on this album. “Up To Now” is a very interesting album, a journey not only through Snow Patrol’s fifteen years of band history but also through music itself. You probably know most songs on these two CDs, and the ones that you might not know yet, will get stuck in your head and be memorized very fast. Snow Patrol is music than joins you on your daily roads and follows through live without trying to affect you. Nice and soft it is somewhere between background music and music that is right in your face. Snow Patrol somehow manage it that the music is always there but you don’t always realize it. An interesting fact that I realized as I listened to the album in the car and didn’t even realize how many songs I actually knew nor for how long the CD actually had been in the car player.

Disc 1: 1. CHOCOLATE 2. CHASING CARS 3. CRACK THE SHUTTERS 4. SET THE FIRE TO THE THIRD BAR 5. CRAZY IN LOVE 6. JUST SAY YES 7. BATTEN DOWN THE HATCH 8. YOU’RE ALL I HAVE 9. HANDS OPEN 10. CARTWHEELS 11. THE PLANETS BEND BETWEEN US (2009 VERSION) 12. ASK ME HOW I AM 13. ON-OFF 14. MAKING ENEMIES 15. RUN (LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL)

Disc 2: 1. TAKE BACK THE CITY 2. SHUT YOUR EYES 3. AN OLIVE GROVE FACING THE SEA (2009 VERSION) 4. RUN 5. GIVE ME STRENGTH 6. SIGNAL FIRE 7. SPITTING GAMES 8. OPEN YOUR EYES 9. DARK ROMAN WINE 10. FIFTEEN MINUTES OLD 11. YOU ARE MY JOY 12. GOLDEN FLOOR 13. STARFIGHTER PILOT 14. PPP 15. CHASING CARS (LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL)

Links:
Snow Patrol MySpace
Snow Patrol Official