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Coldplay

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Coldplay

Coldplay
At first- Coldplay was burdened- along with a lot of other British bands of the post O.K. Computer-era (Travis, Doves, Muse, etc.) of being "the new Radiohead." You can understand why: The widescreen melancholy of their first two albums wears the influence of Thom Yorke and company like a comfortable ole overcoat, without the shame or apology. But the influence of U2 would become just as evident with later releases. Singer Christ Martin's empathetic, often falsetto vocals are truly his own. Say what you will- but the man can sing his arse off. After recording two E.P.'s, 1998's Safety and 1999's The Blue Room, the band hit the big time after signing with Parlophone and releasing their debut album, Parachutes, which was as realized as they come. The great bits are magical, whether it's the ambient guitar textures of "Don't Panic," or the swooning chorus of "Shiver," or the sing-a-long special "Yellow." A Rush of the Blood to the Head delivered on the promise the band set out with on their debut. Tracks like "Politk," "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face," and "Warning Sign" are exhilarating epics that ache with beauty. Their third album, 2005's criminally underrated X&Y added more textures and gave us arguably the band's best song, "Fix You." 2008 gave us their high-water-mark, the Brian Eno produced Viva La Vida. 2011 gave us Mylo Xyloto, which is somehow their highest rated album on Pitchfork... go figure. 2014 gave us their "break-up album" (after Martin's divorce from Gwyneth Paltrow) with Ghost Stories, which saw the the band collaborating in new ways, with bassist Guy Berryman receiving songwriting credit for "Magic," a solid effort. 2015 gave us the pop-max A Head Full of Dreams. At this point, Coldplay was getting to the Weezer standard of "one good song per album" rule. 2019 gave us the obligatory double-album Everyday Life, a solid effort with some dark themes. The band may never catch the consistency they had with those first three or four albums, but it doesn't matter. They have earned their tag as "The Last Stadium Rock Band." Say what you wanna' say... I fuckin' love...

Coldplay

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