Coldplay Stick With The Tried And Tested
The much anticipated follow-up to the 10 million selling, multiple Brit and Grammy winning album 'A Rush Of Blood', 'X & Y' will not disappoint Coldplay fans. It may not seem a musically challenging album to the rest of us, as it doesn't break any musical boundaries or explore new musical territory for the band. In other words this is a musical cop out – it is an album of musical safety with no challenges, stick with the tried and tested.
Well we know how well hyped this album was, with Chris Martin and the band declaring that they didn't care if EMI made any money from the album, after paying for them to be in the studio for eighteen months and coming up with sixty songs. Come on lads out of sixty songs there must have been some decent tracks you could have put on the album! I know my sixth-form colleagues at the NME love this album, but when they grow up they will see it as a musically light album.
To give the band some due they do try and break some new ground, with lyrics that cover the big things in life such as life and death, love and loss, and a fascination for the world about us. At least they accept that some things can never be understood, a bit like the musical direction of the band!
There are some stand out tracks on the album, such as the beautiful piano playing on 'What If', or 'Talk' which seems to have borrowed the riff from Kraftwerk's 'Computer Love', but with some fantastic guitar playing builds into a brilliantly played track.
'Speed of Sound' is every inch a Coldplay song, if we hadn't heard it on radio so much of the preceding month to the albums release, we would still be able to tell it is from Coldplay, as it is their classic sound. It is just what their fans would expect to hear.
What makes me smile are the fans that try to say you can see the influence of U2 and Oasis throughout the album! Really? Where? Talk about grasping at straws! I mean U2's third album was 'War', different to their second album 'October', which in turn was completely different to their fourth album 'The Unforgettable Fire' they experimented and changed direction. This album is sticking to the tried and tested. It is not a bad album, just very boring and dull, something you could fall asleep too.
If anything you would be better off buying the new Oasis album which is far superior, and got more balls to it than this!