Album Reviews
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View "Yellow" was a smash, but what came next was even smashier. In 2002, Coldplay released A Rush of Blood to the Head, which perfectly captured the heady feeling of a small band acting big. The band's sad-sack frontman, Chris Martin, transformed himself with so much swagger and so many hooks that even 50 Cent had to pay tribute, turning Martin's ambivalent lyric into a greasy boast: "God gave me style, God gave me grace." The rest of the band supplied Martin with propulsive rhythms, giving their newly pushy leader something to pull against, and the songs were even better; the band had mastered the art of writing graceful ballads that were both deceptively simple and fiendishly hard to dislodge from the human brain.
Since then, Martin has become a worldwide rock star, for better and for worse. He has a wife named Gwyneth and a baby named Apple, who just turned one, and who probably already knows what "paparazzi" means. On the other hand, Martin's newfound notoriety has meant more exposure for his favorite causes, such as fair trade. Compared to all the hubbub about Chris Martin the celebrity, his band's return to the American pop charts was a bit of a letdown. Coldplay began the campaign for X&Y with "Speed of Sound," an appealing but not thrilling song (it sounds a bit like Rush of Blood's "Clocks" but without the swagger). Whereas Rush of Blood was a nervy bid for bigness, X&Y is something less exciting. It's the serious sound of Martin trying to sing songs that match his stature. It's the sound of a blown-up band trying not to deflate.
Like the previous one, this album starts in outer space. Last time, there were those roiling piano chords of "Politik" and an audacious opening: "Look at Earth from outer space/Everyone must find a place." This time there's an atmospheric hum, and Martin murmurs, "The future's for discoverin'/The space in which we're travelin'." Drummer Will Champion enters with a tense rhythm, Guy Berryman adds one of those hurtling- forward bass lines, and Jonny Buckland doubles it with a skinny guitar line -- there's plenty to listen to, but not a lot to love. Luckily, this album contains its share of lovely ballads that sound, well, Coldplay-ish: Thanks to Keane and other imitators, Coldplay's name has become an adjective. One of the best is "Fix You," an unabashedly sentimental song where Martin delivers words of encouragement in a gentle falsetto. "Lights will guide you home/And ignite your bones/And I will try to fix you," he sings, proving once more that no band can deliver a stately rock ballad like this one. And although "Twisted Logic" may be an obvious Radiohead rip-off (with a title that sounds alarmingly Fred Durst-ish), the members find ways to build suspense while progressing toward that inevitable crashing climax.
Still, a surprising number of songs here just never take flight, from "The Hardest Part" (which actually gets less catchy as it goes along) to "A Message," which might actually be too Coldplay-ish: "My song is love," Martin announces, and you might find yourself wishing it weren't. Martin has talked about how hard he worked on this album, and it shows: Nothing on it sounds easy -- maybe 50 Cent made off with a little bit of his style and grace. X&Y does find ways to reward persistent listeners, especially those who make it all the way past the end to the bonus track, "Till Kingdom Come," which is the most casual thing on the album (it starts with Martin counting) and maybe the best. "I don't know which way I'm going/I don't know which way I've come," he sings, accompanied by little more than an acoustic guitar, and after what's come before, it's an unexpected delight to hear him sound so small again.
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- Square One
- What If
- White Shadows
- Fix You
- Talk
- X&Y
- Speed Of Sound
- A Message
- Low
- The Hardest Part
- Swallowed In The Sea
- Twisted Logic
- 'Til Kingdom Come
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Your Turn
Review 1 of 5
juanmiguel4459 writes:
This review is soooooooo wrong. X&Y is an amazing album. Square One is a great song, Speed of Sound is a great song, Hardest Part is a great song, The Message is a great song, and so is every single track on this CD
Jun 18, 2008 10:37:11
Review 2 of 5
IMightBeWrong04 writes:
Not a 3 star album by any means. Rolling Stone is lame.
Jun 16, 2008 09:07:10
Review 3 of 5
Kinsky writes:
Coldplay return in 2005 with x and y. An album that leaves you thinking. Since their first album, Parachutes (2000), Coldplay have evolved somewhat to another musical level. In x and y, coldplay savour their talent for capturing emotions so simply, but being able to relate to nearly all of their followers while delivering bit of a different album, with more of a progressive sound. Don’t worry, there are still a couple of slow gems in this one. Songs like “white shadows” demonstrate how coldplay can keep their mostly unique sound while swirling it into something that sounds like a finely tuned semi-slow rock song. This is thanks to producer, Danton Supple. It really is quite amazing how coldplay can make three albums that superficially sound similar and yet conjure up the same kind of emotions every time. X and Y is split into two musical levels. The first is an energetic flurry of ups and lows with Will Champion’s flawless drumming keeping the rhythm high and vibrant like “Talk”. Songs like “x and y” start slow, but the chorus is soothing and still makes you want to sing it out loud. The first single, Speed of Sound falls into this first group. Probably the best in the group. Guitar riffs are placed perfectly, Chris Martin’s vocals float above the musical flashing clouds that is speed of sound. The second group is reserved for the tracks that could possibly make the weak hearted weep just a little. Swallowed in the sea has possibly the nicest lyrics in the album, the structure of the song is so simple, but that is the beauty of some of coldplay songs, simplicity ultimately transforms into pure musical and emotional satisfaction. With the release of this album however, some may wonder if coldplay can muster anything else that what they have been doing for the past five years. Ballads and sonnets. It seems this is the extent of their musical landscape. But then again, they do it very well.
Jan 27, 2006 23:52:12
Review 4 of 5
marnr67 writes:
In the beginning, that quartet chemistry to Coldplay was outstanding. The Beatlesque dueting chordal guitars, bass, drums, perhaps a piano thrown in was so refreshing to the year Radiohead put out perhaps it's most bewildering and abandoning work work, Kid A, in 2000. Just as low key and down tempo, compared to their colleagues Coldplay knew how to be personal and maybe even optimistic. Not to mention, romantic- this is why Chris Martin is the "sexiest vegetarian alive".
Yet the wonder of Kid A, however trecherous and inconsistent, was that it sounded like nothing the band had ever done before. Coldplay have followed suit on a similar discography: it's no stretch of the imagination to see the stripped down Parachutes as their lively version of The Bends, and Rush of Blood to the Head the wholesome little brother of OK Computer. This is where X&Y triumphs, it is by no means a sonic, digital, Kid A wanna-be. However, it's exactly what you expected in a follow up.
That, in and of itself, is a dissapointment. X&Y is, to an expansionist, an easily forgetable fire. Orchestrations and synths lead to something darker than we've seen out of this band, but that darkness is only lukewarm. "Truth" and the "Speed of Sound" have a true catch but "Clocks Part II" is not what the dedicated Coldplay fan, dreading the radio, is looking for.
They magnify their influences (Kate Bush, U2, and other weirdo 80s new wavers) hesitating to sound fresh or even dangerous. In short, Coldplay trying to avoid any Part II, have failed to realize such a devotion requires a length of adventure. Stealing bases or sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night never seemed in their resume in the first place for these good old boys, but this variety of playing-it-safe is neither exciting or impressive. Such is the life of this record.
Dec 7, 2005 12:34:48
Review 5 of 5
Bluemask writes:
Depending on who you ask, Coldplay is either the next U2 or the next Radiohead. On this album they prove to be the next Colplay. Here they expand their influences to include both these bands (Fix You and Twisted Logic) but they also incorparate some Echo & The Bunnymen (Speed of Sound. The real treat though is the stripped down acoustic ballad 'Til Kingdom comes, written for Johnny Cash.
Dec 5, 2005 20:56:16
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