Rating: NNN
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Although salivating five-star reviews in the UK music press might suggest otherwise, X & Y is not Coldplay’s groundbreaking junior-year masterpiece. It might, however, be a bid for the world’s most pleasant album. Chris Martin and co. know what works (basically, Clocks), constructing 12 variations on that theme and taking pains not to shock fans with any disconcerting experimentation. So lead single Speed Of Sound pares down the Clocks piano riff and kicks in U2-style anthemic drums and a stadium-sized chorus, while lighter-hoisting ballad Fix You one-ups The Scientist, with the boys invoking a gospel choir. Sadly, Martin has yet to pen lyrics that match his band’s sonic grandeur, but the occasional surprises here – breezy alt-country on the hidden track Til Kingdom Come, Coldplay channelling New Order with piercing guitars on White Shadows – almost make up for that fact.
