June 20th, 2005
Coldplay - X and Y
Coldplay
X and Y *
Chris Martin and the other blokes from Coldplay return with, sigh, album number three. Parachutes, a complex, layered album introduced them to the world but A Rush of Blood To The Head elevated them to international status. With it, they become a bona fide rock band, talked about in the same breath as U2 and REM. Which is where the problems with X and Y start. Listening to the opening track, you find yourself checking the sleevenotes to make sure The Edge hasn’t popped in with his three chords to lend a hand. On many of the tracks, the similarity is staggering, or if you’re less charitable, blatant ripoffery. ‘The Hardest Part’ is a poor imitation of Automatic For The People-era REM and the rest of songs from X to, well Y really, sound like Coldplay having an out-of-body experience hovering above a U2 gig.
When they’re not regurgitating their contemporaries’ sound, they’re rehashing ‘Clocks’ or ‘The Scientist’. Over and over and over again. I was hopeful when I read two things on the sleevenotes. That Brian Eno plays keyboards on ‘Low’ and that ‘Talk’ contains elements of Kraftwerk’s ‘Computer Love’. The excitement was short-lived. Not even Eno could save ‘Low’ while the original ‘Computer Love’; despite all its robotic beats has more heart than this offering. The sample is played on guitar and sounds scarily like that hybrid of guitars and bagpipes favoured by Scottish 80’s band Big Country. Chris Martin said recently that there won’t be another Coldplay album. If they don’t dig themselves out of their derivative hole, it would be for the best. Definitely more ABC than X and Y.
Info: www.coldplay.com