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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
X&Y
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 407 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Capitol
Release Date: 07 June 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
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).
Also By This Artist: A Rush Of Blood To The Head Parachutes Prospekt's March [EP] Viva La Vida
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
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...
Blender
[Coldplay] have made their masterpiece. [Jun 2005, p.112]
E! Online
Some may call it repetitious, but with songs so beautifully crafted, everyone should agree that X&Y equals A.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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]
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
"X & Y" is easily Coldplay's most consistent album, albeit one that operates within restrictive boundaries of creativity.
Read Full Review >Drawer B
It’s an expansive and stupendously produced record with a handful of remarkable songs.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
For every moment of adventurousness, however, there's a dose of the Same Old Stuff.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.”
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Too much here sounds like Coldplay-by-numbers, and the lyrics lack the deeper meaning the album seems desperate to provide.
Read Full Review >musicOMH.com
X&Y is far from experimental, but it nonetheless showcases a band demonstrating distinctive signs of evolution.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine
Your level of interest in their music probably correlates with your willingness to be bored.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
They have chosen to opt for the standard formula: it's elegiac, mid-tempo, stadium-friendly ballads all the way.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Like Coldplay's two previous albums, only more so, X&Y is bland but never offensive, listenable but not memorable.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
X & Y is uninspired adult pop that drops jaws only in its capacity to elicit yawns.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 407 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!
