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Snow Patrol - Up To Now (Best Of)

Snow Patrol, Up To Now (Best Of)

Review by Jack Foley

IndieLondon Rating: 4.5 out of 5

SNOW Patrol’s Up To Now, or Best Of…, is as classy as you’d expect from this brilliant band. Not merely a retread through the obvious, it’s billed as a warts and all compilation that draws from the not-so obvious as well.

Hence while tracks like Chasing Cars and Chocolate are obvious [and essential], they’re nestled alongside songs that delve back to their humble beginnings, as well as B-sides, live tracks, cover versions and the odd record from Gary Lightbody’s side project, The Reindeer Section. There’s even three all-new songs, including the synth charge that is Just Say Yes.

Spread across two CDs, it’s a treasure trove of classics and undiscovered gems that arrives like a genuinely appropriate pre-Christmas present to fans.

Snow Patrol’s success, of course, lies in their ability to create emotionally-charged songs that truly resonate. Often adopting a slow build approach, their material frequently hits some thrilling crescendos of sound, which also boast a cinematic quality long since exploited by cinema and TV.

The crowd-pleasing highlights pick themselves… and include, for me, the brooding Run (captured in studio and live at the Union Chapel format), Open Your Eyes (a track that was once used to brilliant effect for a cliffhanger ER moment), Chocolate (which demonstrates their breezier side), and the timeless anthem, Chasing Cars.

But new single Just Say Yes shows they’re willing to diversify and embrace new sounds (the synths are a bonus and a nice touch), while the two Reindeer Section tracks You Are My Joy and Cartwheels ought to do well in encouraging listeners to check out this equally noteable side project.

And a fun cover version of Beyonce’s Crazy In Love also shows that they’re not above throwing off the shackles and cutting loose every now and again.

The band’s progression is also highlighted by the career-spanning breadth of the material, which teaches ‘newcomers’ that there was plenty of life pre-Run… and that their ‘sudden’ rise was, in fact, hard earned.

Snow Patrol continue to be one of Britain’s greatest bands. Up To Now provides compelling proof of why. It’s a truly great listen and a proper gift of a compilation.

Download picks: Run, Open Your Eyes, Chasing Cars, Just Say Yes, Chocolate, You Are My Joy, Crazy In Love, Give Me Strength, Crack The Shutters

Track listing:
Disc 1

  1. Chocolate
  2. Chasing Cars
  3. Crack The Shutters
  4. Set The Fire To The Third Bar – Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright
  5. Crazy In Love
  6. Just Say Yes
  7. Batten Down The Hatch
  8. You’re All I Have
  9. Hands Open
  10. Cartwheels – Reindeer Section (The)
  11. Planets Bend Between Us, The
  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. Olive Grove Facing The Sea, An [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 – Reindeer Section (The)
  12. Golden Floor, The
  13. Starfighter Pilot
  14. PPP
  15. Chasing Cars [live at The Union Chapel]