Monday, June 06, 2005
X & Y
Soundtrack: "X & Y" by Coldplay
Well, I'm on my second listen right now, which means I've only listened to the whole thing once. I have a ritual for every time I listen to a new CD or record. I put the CD/record into the player and put on the music with the balance neutral - no bass turned up, the left and right speakers equal. I make sure nobody's going to disturb me. [This time I ensured it by listening on my discman. Plus, the sound has a better quality through the earphones. For example, I didn't even notice the synth part to "Matinee" by FF until I listened to it for the first time through earphones. I digress.] I read the sleevenotes as I listen, and I hold the case up to the light to check there aren't any secret oddities hidden behind the CD. That's why I'm not really into downloading music - I like something tangible as evidence, and I love sleevenotes.
Onto the album itself, then. Overall, it's a lot airier than the previous two albums, and there's a lot more space. A lot like "Heaven Up Here" by the Bunnymen, in fact, and a lot of the rhythm parts are inspired by that album. This is most evident in the bass and drum parts, but also in some of the guitar parts. Lots of the guitar parts are reminiscent of "The Bends" album by Radiohead. The record is a lot more synth driven, with lots of Pink Floyd soundscapes, but they don't get out of control, which is a relief. There is more use of vocal harmony, which sounds wonderful on the hymnal songs. And I think that the band have moved on a fair bit - they've got rid of all the overly twee and cutesy stuff that used to plague them, basically because they've practically phased out those acoustic ballads like "Sparks" and "Green Eyes."
Track-by-track breakdown:
Well, I'm on my second listen right now, which means I've only listened to the whole thing once. I have a ritual for every time I listen to a new CD or record. I put the CD/record into the player and put on the music with the balance neutral - no bass turned up, the left and right speakers equal. I make sure nobody's going to disturb me. [This time I ensured it by listening on my discman. Plus, the sound has a better quality through the earphones. For example, I didn't even notice the synth part to "Matinee" by FF until I listened to it for the first time through earphones. I digress.] I read the sleevenotes as I listen, and I hold the case up to the light to check there aren't any secret oddities hidden behind the CD. That's why I'm not really into downloading music - I like something tangible as evidence, and I love sleevenotes.
Onto the album itself, then. Overall, it's a lot airier than the previous two albums, and there's a lot more space. A lot like "Heaven Up Here" by the Bunnymen, in fact, and a lot of the rhythm parts are inspired by that album. This is most evident in the bass and drum parts, but also in some of the guitar parts. Lots of the guitar parts are reminiscent of "The Bends" album by Radiohead. The record is a lot more synth driven, with lots of Pink Floyd soundscapes, but they don't get out of control, which is a relief. There is more use of vocal harmony, which sounds wonderful on the hymnal songs. And I think that the band have moved on a fair bit - they've got rid of all the overly twee and cutesy stuff that used to plague them, basically because they've practically phased out those acoustic ballads like "Sparks" and "Green Eyes."
Track-by-track breakdown:
- "Square One" begins with a worrying aforementioned Pink Floyd soundscape, but things pick up quickly and the song actually gets good.
- "What If" starts like "Imagine," which got me worried, because most of the time these existential musing songs fall flat. However, after the first two lines, Chris Martin starts wondering what life would be like if his wife left him, and we're back to classic Coldplay material. Martin's at his best when he's doing self-doubt.
- "White Shadows" has a powerful, driving Will Champion drum beat. With the echoing guitar part, the combined effect is similar to that of "Show Of Strength" by the Bunnymen.
- "Fix You" is gorgeous. This album's "Everything's Not Lost." It opens with a hymnal organ figure, which works really well. Oh dear. Of course I'm going to say it's gorgeous - this is the girl who's been going to 11am Mass at the Cathedral just because she wants to listen to the choir.
- "Talk" samples "Computer Love" by Kraftwerk, and it sounds great. But even though it contains a sample of electronic dance music, the overall vibe is "Bends"-era Radiohead, interestingly.
- The title track is heavily Beatles-influenced. This is especially apparent in the string figure right at the end of the song. Talking about the string parts in this song, they are much like Shankar's arrangements from the Bunnymen's "Porcupine" album.
- I really love "Speed Of Sound." Listening to it on the car radio just doesn't do it justice. However, when I first heard it, I just thought that it was an okay song. It's only after multiple listens that I've developed affection for it, which pretty much sums up how I feel about Coldplay. It took me ages to fall in love with "Parachutes," and when I first heard "Rush Of Blood," the only song that I liked was "The Scientist."
- "A Message" is my favourite song on the album right now. The first line is stolen from the hymn "My Song Is Love Unknown." Say no more. Primiarily acoustic-guitar driven, it also has some wonderful soaring electric guitar parts by Jonny Buckland. Trademark Coldplay, huh?
- "Low" is a song that probably works really well live, because it's the rockiest song on the album. I know that this is my stock argument as to why I like Coldplay live, but they have a much rockier sound when they perform live, with heavier guitars and bass and angrier drums. This song is a mixture of "Spitting Games" by Snow Patrol, "Ocean Spray" by Manic Street Preachers and "The Bends" by Radiohead, with added synths, strings and milk bottle percussion. Converse to its title, it's actually a highlight of the album.
- "The Hardest Part" is the Coldplay version of a Country song, which bodes well for me, a fan of Bob Harris Country on Radio 2. A good driving song. If I could drive. It has a typical Buckland clean-tone lead guitar part to counterpoint the melody and piano part, which then leads into a simple-yet-effective dirty-tone guitar break.
- Some of the rhyming schemes on "Swallowed In The Sea" are a bit contrived, but Martin gets away with it because the tune's lovely. Innit always that way? Once the drums kick in, it turns into quite a folksy track, but the lead guitar part lends it a widescreen atmosphere.
- "Twisted Logic" is heavily influenced by Radiohead - Buckland's lead guitar part could be lifted straight from a track from "The Bends." And the chord sequence in the verse is tonic, subdominant minor, repeated over and over - the chord sequence from the intro of "No Surprises." That compound time-signature isn't fooling me. Probably has the best lyrics out of any song on the record.
- The extra track, "Till Kingdom Come," is a low-key acoustic Country number, originally written for Johnny Cash, but he died before he could record it. It works well because it's so simple, and the words are deeply, beautifully resonant. Sadly devoid of slidy steel-guitar, though.
Final verdict: Unknown. I really really like this album, but I need a few more listens to figure out whether it's actually any good or not. Some of the lyrics are a bit dodgy, but aren't they always with Chris Martin? I'm a big fan of the instrumentation, though, and though there aren't any stonking great choruses on this album, and there aren't any "Yellow"s or "The Scientist"s, melodically it's very much up to scratch.
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I sat on Euston station on Saturday evening, gazing up at the News 24 screen to see if I could find out what was going on in the cricket. I was advertised X & Y for ten minutes. I left for the Midlands unimpressed.
TCH
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