All that Noise, All that Sound

One of the best bands of the new millennium is Coldplay. With their first two albums, they were posed to battle U2 for the “Greatest Band in the World” title, a title that U2 has held for most of the last 25 years. Parachutes was a good introduction with mellow grooves, just something to sit back and relax too. It also set up what has become the signature Coldplay sound. Then with A Rush of Blood to the Head, they perfected there sound of crushing guitars and piano strings. X&Y could be the make or break album.

We got a taste of what the new album will sound like with Speed of Sound, the first single that has been out for a while (one critic said it sounds like Clocks but without the passion). Sadly, that is about the best we will get to hear on the album. X&Y is, in essence, a step backwards from A Rush of Blood to the Head almost as it was the missing link between Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head.

It is pretty simple what is to blame in Coldplay’s slide, the recent marriage of lead singer, Chris Martin to Gwyneth Paltrow. It’s been clinically proven that one’s skills get deteriorated by dating or marrying stars. Case in point, Andre Agassi, he was ranked number one in the world, then marries Brooke Shields and starts losing in the first round. And how many rock star careers has Winona Rider destroyed?

So what we get on X&Y are songs about new love. One song sappier that the first. The best of these songs is Fix You. A song about trying to fix any problem your girlfriend has no matter how hard the problem is. Had they stopped there, it would have been good for the album but then we have to sit through others relationship issues like What If?, Talk, A Message, The Hardest Part, and Swallowed in the Sea.

The standout track is the hidden closer, Til Kingdom Comes. A song the band originally wrote for Johnny Cash’s American Recordings V, but unfortunately Cash died before recording it. On a side note, I cannot recommend American Recordings I-IV enough. Coldplay ended up recording it for themselves, so what you get is an old-school county song with Martin bringing out a rare baritone voice.

In the end, if you liked their first two albums, most likely you will like this. Hopefully on the next album, they experiment a little more maybe even try a couple more songs like Til Kingdom Comes.

As an after word to this review, I caught a MTV special with Coldplay performing the songs off the album. I caught it about halfway through, but what I heard was more passionate than what was on the album. Maybe instead of comparing them to U2, Dave Matthews Band might be a better comparison as their studio albums never sound as good as their live shows.

Song to Download - Til Kingdom Comes (Hidden Track)

X&Y gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.