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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

X&Y
by Coldplay


7.5

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 405 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

Plagued by numerous delays, the Chris Martin-led band's third album finally surfaced 3 years after the hugely successful 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head.' The band co-produced with Danton Supple (Elbow) and Ken Nelson (Kings Of Convenience, Badly Drawn Boy).

LABEL:	Capitol
RELEASE DATE:	07 June 2005
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock

NOTES: Shortlisted for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Blender

[Coldplay] have made their masterpiece. [Jun 2005, p.112]

100

E! Online

Some may call it repetitious, but with songs so beautifully crafted, everyone should agree that X&Y equals A.

100

Paste Magazine

This is not easy listening; on the contrary, it requires a real commitment from the listener. But it’s a commitment that’ll be amply rewarded.

100

Q Magazine

A substantially more visceral and emotionally rewarding experience than both its predecessors. [Jul 2005, p.106]

Uncut

Make no mistake, X&Y is an exceptional pop record. [Jul 2005, p.98]

New Musical Express

Confident, bold, ambitious, bunged with singles and impossible to contain, ‘X&Y’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it does reinforce Coldplay as the band of their time.

Spin

By ratcheting up their guitars and still singing about everyday themes, Coldplay are recasting their nerdy-student Britpop as Important Rock Music without sacrificing the homespun vibe that allowed Martin's fans to believe that he wrote a song for each one of them and called it "Yellow." [Jun 2005, p.99]

Village Voice

Unusually accomplished, fresh, and emotional.

All Music Guide

But for as impeccable as X&Y is -- and, make no mistake, it's a good record, crisp, professional, and assured, a sonically satisfying sequel to A Rush of Blood to the Head -- it does reveal that Martin's solipsism is a dead-end, diminishing the stature of the band.

Entertainment Weekly

They're clearly trying very hard to grow, but sometimes all they have to show for it are tracks that require road maps. [17 June 2005, p.77]

Village Voice (Consumer Guide)

Precise, bland, and banal, their sensitivity emotionless and their musicality never surprising, they're the definition of a pleasant bore--easy to tune out, impossible to care for.

Dot Music

"X & Y" is easily Coldplay's most consistent album, albeit one that operates within restrictive boundaries of creativity.

Drawer B

It’s an expansive and stupendously produced record with a handful of remarkable songs.

PopMatters

For every moment of adventurousness, however, there's a dose of the Same Old Stuff.

Prefix Magazine

People will fall in love to this music, and Coldplay knows it.

Austin Chronicle

It's a definite step backward from the passionate and substantial Rush of Blood toward the less mature Parachutes, somehow lacking something bigger.

Stylus Magazine

The basic songwriting on show here is essentially the same as ever; mid-paced, desperately sincere and earnestly simple, decorated with piano and passionless falsetto, only now with more detours into maximalist, synth-soaked modern rock epics cut from the same cloth as “Clocks.”

ShakingThrough.net

For the most part, the album's money shots -- the singsong guitar of "The Hardest Part," the eerie U2 evocations in the assured chorus of "White Shadows" -- are fleeting, strung together by unremarkable verses and remarkably generic lyrical sentiments.

Billboard

Too much here sounds like Coldplay-by-numbers, and the lyrics lack the deeper meaning the album seems desperate to provide.

musicOMH.com

X&Y is far from experimental, but it nonetheless showcases a band demonstrating distinctive signs of evolution.

New York Magazine

Your level of interest in their music probably correlates with your willingness to be bored.

Rolling Stone

A surprising number of songs here just never take flight.

The Guardian

They have chosen to opt for the standard formula: it's elegiac, mid-tempo, stadium-friendly ballads all the way.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Only three songs really, truly deliver.

Trouser Press

X&Y is well crafted and enjoyable, but it’s bloodless and distant. It feels manufactured, a piece of product in the march to become the Biggest Band in the World.

Mojo

X&Y is awash with cliches, non-sequiturs, and cheap existentialism; at times it all becomes nigh on unbearable. [Jul 2005, p.97]

cokemachineglow

At least 45 of X&Y’s 63 minutes finds Coldplay overdosing on pointless synthesizers in the name of “expanding their sound” while forgetting to write anything reflecting a decent hook.

Playlouder

There is no doubt [Martin] has talent, but there are just too many retreads, too many regurgitated ideas, and no fire, no raw anger, no big hairy bollocks.

Pitchfork

Like Coldplay's two previous albums, only more so, X&Y is bland but never offensive, listenable but not memorable.

Tiny Mix Tapes

Not great, a few catchy moments, certainly not god-awful, but just bland enough that after three listens, all life is drained from it.

Lost At Sea

X & Y is uninspired adult pop that drops jaws only in its capacity to elicit yawns.

Under The Radar

Monochromatic and underwhelming. [#10, p.109]

The New York Times

When he moans his verses, Mr. Martin can sound so sorry for himself that there's hardly room to sympathize for him, and when he's not mixing metaphors, he fearlessly slings clichés.

The average user rating for this album is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 405 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joao alien gave it a10:
best album ever made

Alex S. gave it a10:
One of the best music albums of all time to my taste. Coldplay is the most sophisticated group there is. The lyrics, the music... they're on another planet!

Sophie M gave it a4:
I think 'Parachutes' was a very good album (8/10) and fantastic for a debut album, and 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' is a wonderful album (9/10 and maybe even 10), but I'm afraid that to me personally every track feels like it has done better before on one of the older Coldplay albums. There is no doubt that Chris and co are talented musicians who can create great songs: but they have not taken any big risks with this one and it's disappointing for me. I played it and it just felt emotionless to me. None of the singles did anything for me either. Not awful by any standard, but mediocre. 2/5.

mark gave it a4:
Woefully mediocre. How records this flawed can get perfect hundreds is beyond me. It's too long, has terrible sequencing, and there's not enough boldness. It has some nice guitars, but the excellent Square One and Talk barely redeem it.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Really nice album. One of my favourites. The mixing is excellent, and there are some songs like "The Hardest Part" that you will sing forever.

Music Lover gave it a4:
The reason I've given such a low rating to this album is that I feel it lacked consistency. Like they say, the highs were high, but the lows were low. On one hand, you have truly deep songs like "A Message" & "Fix You", but then you have other songs that don't even come close to that level. After listening to the whole album, I felt like only a few songs really showed how much talent Coldplay has. I still love Coldplay, though.

Jacek A. gave it an8:
This is first really alternative music coldplay's album , its an superb ambitious experiment ,first real contact of romantic lyricks and cold, calculated rock-electronic music which rings In Your ears for a long long time after You listen to this for the first time.Moving stuff!

X&Y by Coldplay

X&Y
by Coldplay