X&Y
Coldplay
Virgin/EMI; Rs 135

When you are two high scoring albums down and when it’s time for the crucial third one, you are more conscious about not playing it down rather than playing it up. Coldplay holds the same kind of fears, but set themselves apart by focusing on their strengths and their strengths alone.

X&Y is a much anticipated release not just because the band hit an abnormal high with their last recording, A Rush of Blood to the Head, but also for the fact that they have been looking good to consolidate their position as modern world’s leading rock group, second only to U2.

Another intriguing factor that sets this super group apart from the wannabes is that even though they blatantly reap some of the seeds sown by their mentors; in this case U2, they still remain a highly original force to reckon with. White shadows could easily have been a sparkling track on any U2 release; in fact, even the most ardent fan can easily be fooled into believing that the song is an unreleased mid-90s U2 tune. Such is the influence.

But X&Y is more of a throwback rather than a calculated upsurge with the absence of musical experimentations (how tempting that might have been).

A mighty opening track in Square one sounds like a delightful prologue initiated in outer space, leading to an equally alien yet earthly What if? One might complain that the X&Y playlist is a lot more monotonous than what one would expect from a rock super group like Coldplay, but they also need to be reminded that here’s monotony that doesn’t really end up burning a hole within your preferred musical canvas.

Other tracks that are bound to delight you with their typically Coldplay kind of classic deliverance are Fix you, Talk, Speed of sound (a Clocks clone; nearly half as brilliant) and Swallowed in the sea.

Songs that are likely to be spelt in the same breath as some of their earlier gems, but only a few huffs lower. Coldplay had set really high standards with their first two albums, and X&Y more or less justifies the level of success achieved by the band.

Sunny Dua