Play or Nay

Coldplay - X&Y (Capitol)

You know your band is doing something right when one of the most prestigious newspapers in America labels you as "the most insufferable band of the decade" when the actual decade is only at its halfway mark. That was the honor bestowed upon Coldplay by The New York Times, and all they did was make their third album.

All that measly third album did for Colplay was claim the #1 spot on Billboard for three weeks until a good, old country singer named George Strait brought the "yeehaw" back to America. Not only was this the band's first #1 album in America but it was also the first U.K. album to hold the position since Radiohead's 2000 album Kid A. When it means more to be a global sensation in the blink of an eye than having a career, Coldplay have proven they are much more than pretenders who happened to get lucky with a song called "Yellow." Like Radiohead's "Creep," "Yellow" immediately became synonymous with Coldplay's identity as a band. People knew the band from the song. So far, Coldplay's run has in many ways mirrored Radiohead's early three album run. Coldplay's Parachutes (2000) was like a toe in the water. The follow up A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002) was the full-body plunge that brought even more success with songs like "The Scientist," "In My Place," and "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face." The creative growth and intense focus to make solid albums from start to finish was unmistakable.

Radiohead's Ok Computer (1997) didn't reinvent the wheel of music, it shed the band's former skin and almost gave them a new body. For Coldplay, X&Y does the same job. Already one of the most identifible voices in music, singer Chris Martin and his falsetto delivery soothe with some edge. On the title track "X&Y," Martin floats through movements that echo the quiet menace of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and the soulful ease of U2's Bono. Jon Buckland accentuates Martin's vocal with some fine guitar work, exploring tonal landscapes without overreaching his abilities. Bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion propel the band like a steady Krautrock freight train on a level track, but the grooves are never absent. "Square One" has the air of a police stakeout. Berryman and Champion create the sound of the hunt. "Talk" shares credits with Kraftwerk's "Computer Love" and Brian Eno, pioneer of ambient music, lends his services on "White Shadows." Looking towards the likes of Kraftwerk and Eno to give the right touch to their songs demonstrates Coldplay's outward thinking to their music, not allowing themselves to be pegged solely as one type of band.

If this is the sound of a maturing, artistically self-challenging band with ambitious ideas, then being declared "the most insufferable band of the decade" isn't so bad afterall.