Coldplay

X&Y - 2005

Coldplay’s eagerly awaited third album, X & Y, delivers a powerful message to their audience. They took nearly 18 months

to finish it. The boys from Britain recorded this one on various locations: in eight studios in five cities in two countries.

They reportedly even threw away nearly 60 songs before narrowing down to the final tunes for the album. Such is the pressure

of following up te succes of 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head, which sold 10 million copies, not to mention having a lead

singer who's one half of a tabloid-titillating entertainment-industry power couple.

The finished product sounds, well, a lot like Coldplay's first two albums which was a bit to be expected. There are no

major surprises, and inspiration still comes from old U2 and Radiohead records of whch they still suffer many comparisons.

But it is full of earnest, emotional and affecting piano ballads like "Fix You" and "A Message" that only get better with

time. Some may call it repetitious as it pretty much sounds like their other two albums, but with songs so beautifully

crafted, everyone should agree that X&Y is a brilliant creative effort.

Critics of Coldplay often label them as boring, one-trick-ponies only capable of producing slow ballads. After listening

to this album, one would evidently realise they couldn't have been more wrong. Al in all Coldplays's 2005 "X&Y" is a work of

genius.