My song by song review of X&Y

[kylefasho]

Square One: Very entertaining song, I like the atmosphere, especially at the beginning. It kinda rocks out a little, reminds me of 'Politik', only 'Square One' is better. It's a little catchier and more creative. Different than most of their other songs. This song grows on you as you hear it more. Nice vocal range, amazing layers in the music. 8/10

 

What If: The least forced song on the album. From the beginning to the end, this is extremely catchy. I like these kind of ballads. The soaring chorus is one of the best, most creative yet simple choruses of the last few years. It's very powerful. The lyrics make the most sense on the album too. The only draw back is that the best this will ever sound is the first time you hear it. After you listen to it a bunch it loses it's luster a little. Still, good enough for a 9/10

 

White Shadows: This song definitely gets better as you listen to it. It's actually a little bit similar to 'Square One' in structure, now that I come to think about it. This is, I suppose, the new coldplay sound. Pretty popped up, a little less authentic than their previous works. Less magical. Still, it's catchy and is a fun tune. 8/10

 

Fix You: The most overrated (already) song on the album. The melody of the verses are very forced and not catchy at all. However, the chorus is extremely catchy, though very simple. And the last half of the song, when they cut loose, is amazing. The chorus and the end are what make the song. It seems to me like Martin had a really good chorus/end and had to come up with some verses, so he strained to get some in. 8/10

 

Talk: Very catchy, though borrowed, guitar riff. Pretty rockin song. Sounds like the whole thing is outta the 80's. However, there isn't much to distinguish this song from the other rock songs on the album. The melody is nice though, and as usual good instrumentation. This is the best of it's kind on the album. This song won't grow on you however, but it doesn't seem to get any worse, or, like What If, boring. 9/10

 

X & Y: The least memorable song on the album happens to be the title tune. This seems to be a theme of Coldplay, as Parachutes is like 45 seconds long and AROBTH is pretty dull. The melody of the verses seems pretty forced, but is a little better than some of the other forced songs on the album. Weird lyrics, but whatever. "I dive into the deep and you become my best friend." lol, I think that's what he says. This has a similar atmosphere as most of the songs on this album. 7/10

 

Speed of Sound: This song is at least pretty creative in its structure. However, please don't compare it to Clocks, it's nowhere near close. Not even at all a little bit in any way close. The only thing they 'share' is a similar piano track, but even that isn't very close. SOS is way less magical. It is, however, upbeat, creative and catchy. Not your normal cliche of verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus. However, it won't grow on you. 8/10

 

A Message: Even though this has arguably the worst themed lyrics of any Coldplay album (my song is love, what the heck?), this is one of my favorites. It's pretty simple, a nice melody, and an AWESOME finale. A pretty high flying chorus too. Man, this song is awesome. This is a grower, definitely. I never really listen to Coldplay lyrics anyway, so I give this a 10/10.

 

Low: A pretty decent song, not unlike five or six others on this album. Nothing too noteworthy here. This song kinda sounds like oldschool Coldplay at times, which is nice. But more often it sounds like newschool Coldplay, with the synth providing the atmosphere. The verse melody is not unlike Square One or Talk or White Shadows. Same kinda deal here. Pretty good old fashioned flying Coldplay chorus. Will grow on you. I like this song, but will give it a 7/10, because at this point in the album these type of songs are a bit common.

 

The Hardest Part: My favorite. It gets better every time you hear it, and the verse/chorus combination is the best on the album (next to What If, at least for the first 5 times). I love the piano. However, it is true, this song amazingly gets less catchy as you go on, which is not the Coldplay norm. Very dissapointed about that. But still, for what it's worth, this song is awesome. 9/10

 

Swallowed In The Sea: Oh man, this is the most forced Coldplay has ever been. The lyrics sometime rhyme the same word with the same word, and the melody goes around way too much for its own good. It sounds like a 17 year old who thinks he's really good. Very amatuer. However, the finale of this absolutely ROCKS, I mean, it's AWESOME. Second to none on the album. Totally redeems the rest of the song. Still though, this can only get a 6/10

 

Twisted Logic: More of the same, honestly. Actually, this one sounds more like Politik than Square One does. Hard hitting piano/guitars and vocals to match. Chorus and verse are good, this is type 2 Coldplay song. Type 1 are ballads with creative and catchy verse and chorus melodies. Type 2 are rock songs with easy verses and flying choruses. I guess this song is 'progressing' Coldplay. "You go backwards again, you go forwards..." If this is going forwards, I kinda hope they take at least a couple steps back and remember what made AROBTH so great. 7/10

 

Till Kingdom Come: I honestly do not understand what is good about this song. It is the most boring song Coldplay has ever made. There is virtually no vocal range, the whole thing stays within pretty much three chords. Cliche's abound, I mean ABOUND in this song. Lame, lame, lame. I've heard this compared to Amsterdam. Not even close. Amsterdam was amazing. This is a song anybody who has played guitar for a week could write. It's not really a bad song, but there is nothing to reccomend about it. 3/10

 

Overall, I think it is a great album. Coldplay has again put out an album where every song is at least good (Till Kingdom Come is a hidden track). However, it really seems like they forced this one. I didn't expect that from them. X&Y really seems to lack the magic of their previous efforts, which is a terrible thing. It seems to lack inspiration. If I could name a movie it reminds of it's "The Man Who Wasn't There" by the Coen brothers. A good movie with great scenes, but when you leave you realize that the movie was nobody's great inspiration, but that the Coen brothers merely sat down and said 'let's make a film noir.'

 

X&Y is better than Parachutes, but not by much. It's worse than AROBTH, but that can be expected under all the pressure Coldplay was up against. X&Y isn't a progression of the Coldplay sound. I think that if you gave X&Y and AROBTH to a guy who had never heard of Coldplay, and asked him which album was made first, he would say X&Y.

 

Just for the record, I think AROBTH is in the top 5 albums ever made.

[Phoenix&y]

The grades you give to the songs dont correspond to your whi- I mean criticism ;) You have a pretty uncommon taste, it stimulates me to make my own song by song review... Weve all got entitlement to our opinion, so I respect yours. But if you slag off a track I wanna see your punish it in your grade too, or give a nuance in your opinion....! thnx.

 

I think X&Y overall has the same quality AROBTTH has, but AROBTTH has the better individual songs. In quality, Coldplay hasnt made the progression that AROBTTH made from Parachutes. I grade the albums chronologically 8.0, 8.2, and 8.2.

[Aad]

I agree with the fact that I hear no progress in the songs, allthough they're good tunes.

It's just sad that it's still precisely the same sound as on the first 2 records, allthough I do hear some more Keyboards....