Sorry I took so long to spot that post.
X&Y is my least favorite Coldplay album. That said, I should point out that A Rush of Blood To The Head and Parachutes are my #1 and #2 albums of all-time respectively, and X&Y willl undoubtedly be one of my favourite albums released this year.
It's not a huge step forward from A Rush of Blood, and too many tracks (What If, X&Y, Square One) sound like they could have been on AROBTTH but just weren't good enough. Also too many songs are needlesly over-long which really drags the whole album out. Almost every track has a good 30 seconds of outro after the main part of the song ends.
X&Y does have its highlights. Fix You still gives me goosebumps, Speed of Sound is the best Coldplay single since Yellow, Twisted Logic sounds like Coldplay + Muse (= win), and The Message will soon be playing during the credit sequence at a movie cinema near you. X&Y is a very dense and layered album, there's a lot to take in.
I also think just about anything on X&Y will sound fantastic with a huge crowd singing along at a concert. It seems like that's what the majority of the album was written for, live performances for the masses. It's a sound that certainly works for the band, but then again I think it's almost a shame when you look back at the wonderful simplicity of Parachutes. Hopefully their next album will be a more healthy mix of the two.
Oh, and
Coldplay - Fix You
The Massassi-
Map
There is no spoon.
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