If memory serves me well Alan McGee famously declared COLDPLAY “music for bedwetters” on the back of the commercial success of their debut ‘Parachutes’. Up to a point he had a point but his declaration lost some of its punch with the quantum leap in style and aspiration of the 10 million selling, multi Brit and Grammy Award winning ‘A Rush of Blood To The Head’. As famously Chris Martin has now suffered his own charge of crimson arterial liquid to the cranium by declaring his band’s intention to unseat U2 from their throne in rock’s pantheon. Easy to guffaw at such ambition but more telling than the statement itself is the acknowledgement that there is no one else around to challenge their challenge. The last band with the capabilities, if not perhaps the will, was The Verve. (Oasis blew it with that enormous chip on their shoulder) And before that? The self-implosive cynical Stone Roses?
Whereas U2 picked up the gauntlet twenty years ago at a time when British rock and alt-rock was a bustling market-place - and Ireland’s finest was still in many critics’ minds the band least likely – Coldplay find themselves competing only with their own abilities and the resoluteness of their self-determination; that and the small matter of being able to write the kind of songs that retain the character of Coldplay but warrant exposition on the lucrative global stadium circuit. My God we must all realise that The Rolling Stones will stop touring someday: won’t they?
Martin has gone on record to inform us all of the doubts and anxieties surrounding the writing and recording of ‘X&Y’ (a crashingly dull album title that signifies zilch). It’s symptomatic of the earnest phase in which the band’s career now lingers, still not confident (nor big) enough to break the shackles of seriousness (most famously expounded with their Fair Trade affiliations and the recent Live8 shenanigans) and embrace the world of irony and self-mockery like their Irish elders. I’m sure Coldplay have a funny-bone but there is nothing on ‘X&Y’ to suggest that it’s been recently tickled.
It is however, an album that bristles with bursts of creativity, beguiling melodies and an undercurrent of self-belief. None of which is enough for me not to judge the whole package as somewhat of an underwhelming disappointment. Coldplay are just too soft and too acoustic in temperament to really grasp the mettle and shake the f**k out of Rock ‘n’ Roll in a way that U2 can. But then again the members of U2 were born in the age of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the band were forged in the fires of Punk. What fires burned when Coldplay came into being? What galvanised the youth of their fledgling days other than the urge to get wasted on a Friday and Saturday and dance like a bastard until dawn? And despite the thousands marching North this week and having their “awareness raised” is it really any different now?
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So I’m rejecting the notion of Coldplay: The Stadium Band because it’s not the band I like nor do I believe it’s the ideal creative space for them to fulfil their abundant potential. Coldplay work best when they play with grace and subtlety and there are plenty of moments on ‘X&Y’ that suggest this Midas touch is still firmly in place. However, the power mongering production quickly stamps out the tender side but does nothing to replace it with a credible rock monster to snarl and snap at U2’s heels. The track ‘Low’ is the most obvious failure in this bruising arena, the artless thrashing amounting to little more than the sound of a band unable to punch its weight.
You want positives? ‘Square One’ is a pleasing album opener which includes an (ironic?) updated reworking of U2’s ‘New Year’s Day’ (I promise that’s the last time I’ll mention the Irish contingent) that segues into Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’. ‘What If’ is the mother of all ballads, sounding like the one McCartney would probably have written after hearing Elton John’s ‘Sorry Seems To be The Hardest Word’. However, the single ‘Speed of Sound’ still sounds like the best of the bunch, employing a wonderful rolling sound that sits perfectly behind Martin’s bursts of falsetto and convinces that the band’s heart is soaring.
Too many tracks though lose their way and dirty their gems by insisting on striding out like some kind of pioneering pied piper who has decided to plug his instrument into an oversized PA, preferring to stun his hordes of listeners into submission with deafening blows of sound rather than to beguile them intimately with his natural acoustic gifts.
Irrespective of your opinion of their music Coldplay are an important band because like it or not they are Britain’s biggest band in many years and one that sits in the rare position of enjoying favour Stateside. Such a vantage point creates opportunities for other British (and perhaps in your opinion, better) bands to make headway. As for Coldplay themselves ‘X & Y’ is unlikely to halt their rise and may be the ‘access all areas’ pass they crave. For now they’re still an army of one knocking on the portal of superstardom but for this reviewer future attempts at entry would be better served by offering a light rap on the door rather than a hollow pounding thump.
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