X & Y

Spin (pp.99-100) - "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..." - Grade: B+ Uncut (p.98) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Coldplay's third album finds this remarkable band cruising into their prime...X&Y is an exceptional pop record." Mojo (Publisher) (p.63) - Ranked #37 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[N]o contemporary group builds a crescendo more masterfully..." Paste (magazine) - "With its clarion electric riff rising from what sounds like a wind chamber and Martin's aching voice musing about basic questions of existence, 'Talk' stands out as an anthem in an album full of them..."

After Radiohead stubbornly refused to accept the mantle of "world's biggest and most important rock band" by releasing the willfully strange rocktronica fusion Kid A in 2000, Coldplay stepped up to the plate with their debut, Parachutes. Tasteful, earnest, introspective, anthemic, and grounded in guitars, the British quartet was everything Radiohead weren't but what the public wanted them to be, and benefited from the Oxford quintet's decision to abandon rock stardom for arcane art rock. Parachutes became a transatlantic hit and 2002's sequel, A Rush of Blood to the Head, consolidated their success by being bigger and better than Parachutes, positioning Coldplay to not be just the new Radiohead, but the new U2: a band that belongs to the world but fans believe that the music is for them alone. To that end, Coldplay's third album, X&Y -- slightly delayed so it follows Rush of Blood by nearly three years, but that's no longer than the time separating OK Computer and Kid A, or The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree -- is designed to be the record that elevates Coldplay to the major leagues, where they are at once the biggest and most important band in the world. It's deliberate and sleek, cinematic and pristine, hip enough to sample Kraftwerk and blend in fashionable retro-'80s post-punk allusions without altering the band's core. Indeed, X&Y is hardly a bold step forward, but rather a consolidation of Coldplay's strengths, particularly their skill at crafting surging, widescreen epics. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

冒頭の神秘的なSEからジワリジワリとさざ波のように訪れて、ゆっくりと全身が海水に浸かっていくような幸福感……、こんな質感の作品には出会ったことがなかった。やっぱりコールドプレイは特別なんだ。巨大な成功と世に言う〈叙情派〉の盟主的立場なんぞはそこらに打ち捨てて、じっくり時間をかけて練成された楽曲は、雲上の高みへと昇り詰めた。コールドプレイが提示する新たな極上のマテリアル、その答えがここにある。
bounce (C)冨田 明宏