The case against Coldplay (brutal review of anti-Bush band)

Houston Chronicle (via NYT service) ^ | 6-2-5 | JON PARELES

[Petronski]

There's nothing wrong with self-pity. As a spur to songwriting, it's right up there with lust, anger and greed, and probably better than the remaining deadly sins. There's nothing wrong, either, with striving for musical grandeur, using every bit of skill and studio illusion to create a sound large enough to get lost in. Male sensitivity, a quality that's under siege in a pop culture full of unrepentant bullying and machismo, shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, no matter how risible it can be in practice. And building a sound on the lessons of past bands is virtually unavoidable.

But put them all together and they add up to Coldplay, the most insufferable band of the decade.

This week Coldplay releases its painstakingly recorded third album, X&Y (Capitol), a virtually surefire blockbuster that has corporate fortunes riding on it. (The stock price plunged for EMI Group, Capitol's parent company, when Coldplay announced that the album's release date would be moved from February to June, as it continued to rework the songs.)

X&Y is the work of a band that's acutely conscious of the worldwide popularity it cemented with its 2002 album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, which has sold 3 million copies in the United States alone. Along with its 2000 debut album, Parachutes, Coldplay claims sales of 20 million albums worldwide. X&Y makes no secret of grand ambition.

[fortunecookie]

And apologies to 'signers', too! I sheephishly admit to liking one or 2 songs, but the whole skanky, downtrodden millionaire thing, while bashing the country that permitted them to attain such wealth, not to mention the mascara-eyeliner thing, eyeroll. But people love to say how Green Day 'saved' rock. I find it humorous.

[ncson]

Here here!

[Prodigal Son]

I got X and Y Monday evening (I think it was released earlier here in Europe than in the US). It's all right. Kind of grows on me the more I listen to it.

Going to see 'em live on July 1. I see REM this coming Tuesday. U2 the following Tues and then Coldplay with T in the Park the following weekend (line-up includes Killers, Keane, Kasabian, Foo Fighters, Green Day, James Brown and more). It will be interesting to see and compare U2 against Coldplay because Coldplay have expressed a desire to suplant U2 as the world's biggest pop rock band.

At any rate... The album is ok. Not the greatest thing I ever heard but solid enough. The lyrics are kind of lame in places though.