- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Blender[Coldplay] have made their masterpiece. [Jun 2005, p.112]
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Some may call it repetitious, but with songs so beautifully crafted, everyone should agree that X&Y equals A.
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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.
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Q MagazineA substantially more visceral and emotionally rewarding experience than both its predecessors. [Jul 2005, p.106]
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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.
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UncutMake no mistake, X&Y is an exceptional pop record. [Jul 2005, p.98]
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SpinBy 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]
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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.
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Unusually accomplished, fresh, and emotional.
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Entertainment WeeklyThey'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]
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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.
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For every moment of adventurousness, however, there's a dose of the Same Old Stuff.
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People will fall in love to this music, and Coldplay knows it.
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"X & Y" is easily Coldplay's most consistent album, albeit one that operates within restrictive boundaries of creativity.
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It’s an expansive and stupendously produced record with a handful of remarkable songs.
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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.”
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It's a definite step backward from the passionate and substantial Rush of Blood toward the less mature Parachutes, somehow lacking something bigger.
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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.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 574 out of 711
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Mixed: 75 out of 711
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Negative: 62 out of 711
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Aug 4, 2014
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Dec 15, 2012
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Dec 9, 2015