Coldplay X & Y review

I didn't wanna crap on LJ's thread.

LJ - please cover your ears and click off this post now.

I obtained a high quality full version of this album the same way the entire rest of the free world did - bittorrent. In fact, it's so easy to get, if you don't already have it days before its actual release, it's only by choice.

Now, the review:

I would call this album a turd, but it lacks enough substance to qualify as even a floater. It's not steaming-pile-of-feces bad, like 90% of everything else being released these days, but it's weak in so many areas that it absolutely fails to hold my attention, let alone inspire or rock me.

First off - who the fuck produced this thing? It's so synth heavy that Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran came to mind. It sounds like his wet dream. Way overproduced with atmospheric, overbearing synth.

Second - if you're gonna ape U2, why not ripoff classic U2 and not the shlock they've made recently? Seriously. Put Bono on lead vocals, synth it up, and X&Y is the second U2 release in the last 12 months. Which isn't all bad, if only because the lead guitarist (Johnny something?) tries gamely to breathe some life into it with some Edge-like riffs. He gets washed out by the Nick Rhodes synths though. Sucks the life right out of the music. There's hope that the live shows wont be so overproduced and he can make these songs work. He's done that with some of their older songs, which surprisingly RAWKED live (and afterwards made me a fan).

Last - Chris Martin hits a new low on the lyrics. Just brutally plain and/or cliche. Impossible to want to sing along to. And what's his obsession with "fixing you"? That's not a good lyric at all. Doesn't work phonetically/sonically, or as illustration.

X&Y is good for a couple of singles that will probably get solid airtime, but as a whole, I am brutally disappointed. It aspires to be background music at best. It really is A Rush of Blood to the Head - Light.

D+

PS - Doves' Some Cities, a solid, but not spectacular album, kicks X&Y's ass all over the place. It amazes me that Doves are the opening band on a single show twin bill at that bigass Reebok stadium in the UK. Coldplay should be opening for them.

 

duh, it's Coldplay

 

I'm gonna go into all of Chipshot's Wilco threads and remind everyone that I hate Wilco.

 

ok


*edited to be nicer*

 

Heard the clips online Wednesday. Sad to say I was disappointed. A letdown following 'Rush.' But it won't stop me from going to see them in Sept.

 

It's supposed to be power pop, which is fine if that's your thing. (I think it's a corny name, but a great style when it's done right). Problem is, it's not successfully pulled off. It is pop without any power - rocking, staying, or otherwise.

 

Who else is power pop? the name of the genre is a turn off to me

 

i will reserve judgement until i buy the album. i haven't heard any songs except for live versions of speed of sound, fix you and the old talk. doves did have a good album- but it wore off real quick.

 

>>if you're gonna ape U2, why not ripoff classic U2 and not the shlock they've made recently?

Maybe because they've already hung a bit on vintage U2? I felt they did, anyway. If they really want to skank U2, I think Steve Lillywhite is the way to go anyway, beside him being a dick as a producer he really brings out the core sounds and makes people work in studio for a better creative product, not just a more polished turd.

I really hate the sound of how they've become, just on your word - it sounds like they're riding that wave of trying to be 80s.
I hate synth anyway, and most non-Hammond, Wurlitzer, or acoustic piano colors in most music. For that matter, I hate most electric keyboard and find a lot of it to be somewhat overbearing without really good attention to the PA. Nothing says 80s like shitty synth - what, is Martin going to start playing the key-tar?

that said, I think there's a lot to be said for Martin having spent more time being the jovially goofy activist boy and the hip father than being hungry. I think that Parachutes was just successful enough to get them the necessary tools to take it to another level with Rush, but then that extra wave of hits has hurt them.

Not that I've actually heard the album yet



But it's not that far off from DMB, either. Dave did some great live stuff with his "and Frends" tour, then had a great summer-fall session with the band again. 6 or 7 great new songs get heard day after day on the road, and then they come out and make an album that's allright, some of the songs have merit in parts but no complete thought. And without the 6-7 songs that It's like it was whitewashed by crappy production, and it doesn't have any of the ambient sounds that really kicked DMB's first few albums up. For that matter, it seems like they've transitioned entirely to making crappy album songs that will get played for a season, and then separately being that jam band who plays the countryside. Which is stupid. You're either that band, or you're not. I mean, go re-discover pot and make your experimental album, or just make the same old shit... don't go make the dark poppy album that emasculates your best assets.

 

I really didnt want you to read this because I didn't want to insult you. I expected better than these guys delivered, but you will probably disagree. From what I've seen, there's about a 50-50 split among their fans of disappointment versus enjoyment.

Re: Doves - when I started to get tired of Some Cities, I went back and rediscovered Lost Souls, which is so much better than I used to give it credit for. When you were listening to Some Cities, I was playing Lost Souls from start to end, nonstop, for a few weeks. What a killer album. The Cedar Room kicks J-Lo sized ass. Now I'n back to SC, and appreciating it for how its different than LS.

I guess that makes me a Doves fanboy, and you could be the resident Coldplay guy. Then we'd be aping the fanboy fights between these two bands in the UK.