Luxurious celebration of the anniversary

In November 2009, the celebrated rock formation Snow Patrol celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of their professional music activities with the release of a bombastic compilation called Up To Now. Meanwhile, it is hard to believe that the ensemble has been slaving on the stage and in the studio for as long as fifteen years! The reason is that the band managed to reach the wide audience only in 2003 after releasing the third studio effort, Final Straw. Since then, Snow Patrol have been considered one of the leading representatives of their genre and has been steadily supplying top quality production to the music market. Since the times of foundation, the group has released five albums; and now is the time to deliver a collection. This compilation on two CDs features not only the band’s most popular numbers, but also covers and several new songs. You will even find here some tracks by The Reindeer Section, a side project involving the Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody. That is why it would be wrong to call it just a compilation of the British quintet’s best songs, but it is rather a summary of the brightest achievements made by these musicians throughout these years.

There can’t be too much good music

Of course, the Up To Now compilation is not a conceptual album with specific mood for it gathers tracks recorded by the musicians during different periods of their career. But you will not miss it here. Any good song by Snow Patrol has an energy charge enough for a whole album by a different performer. The British band’s astonishing hits, Run, and Chasing Cars, are presented here in two versions. The listener will be able to see the difference between how they sound in the studio and how they sound on the stage. It’s worth mentioning that the live variants of both compositions were recorded during Snow Patrol’s same performance in London in the frames of a charity campaign. You will see that it was a good idea after tasting the energy released by these songs when played during a concert. Huge length of the album featuring thirty tracks allowed the musicians to experiment with their music and add to such expectable songs as Chocolate or On/Off a couple of non-traditional numbers. First and foremost, we speak about their new single Just Say Yes, a Snow Patrol’s attempt to play on the lighter side widely applying synthesizers, and a cover of Beyonce’s hit, Crazy In Love. In general, we are enabled to get a full picture of what Snow Patrol has been, are now and may be in the future.

Snow Patrol are heading in the right direction

There are musicians who can not wait to release a Best of… compilation. It could be because they want to gather money from their fans effortlessly. Or it might be due to their inability to make anything new when it is high time to deliver a fresh album. Snow Patrol had the right reasons to produce such a collection. The band has been performing and recording for quite a long while; accumulated a large number of songs to select the most appropriate tracks from; and finally, there is a great thing to celebrate. After all, fifteen years is serious. When it comes to evaluating the level of this idea realization, you have nothing to say against the labor of those who created this album. The track-listing of Up To Now includes everything that is a pleasure and a must to listen to, while the diversity of the material will keep you intrigued to the very end of this extremely long compilation. Just like the other products under the Snow Patrol label, Up To Now is an example of top quality work featuring exquisite taste, singular style and best traditions of the genre. Now we may anticipate a portion of new studio material. And we can be sure it is worth waiting.

Alex Bartholomew
11.11.2009