After
Radiohead
stubbornly refused to accept the mantle of "world's biggest and most important
rock
band" by releasing the willfully strange rocktronica fusion
Kid A
in 2000,
Coldplay
stepped up to the plate with their debut,
Parachutes
. Tasteful, earnest, introspective, anthemic, and grounded in guitars, the British quartet was everything
weren't but what the public wanted them to be, and benefited from the Oxford quintet's decision to abandon
stardom for arcane
art rock
.
became a transatlantic hit and 2002's sequel,
A Rush of Blood to the Head
, consolidated their success by being bigger and better than
, positioning
to not be just the new
, but the new
U2
: a band that belongs to the world but fans believe that the music is for them alone. To that end,
's third album,
X&Y
-- slightly delayed so it follows
Rush of Blood
by nearly three years, but that's no longer than the time separating
OK Computer
and
, or
The Unforgettable Fire
The Joshua Tree
-- is designed to be the record that elevates
to the major leagues, where they are at once the biggest and most important band in the world. It's deliberate and sleek, cinematic and pristine, hip enough to sample
Kraftwerk
and blend in fashionable retro-'80s
post-punk
allusions without altering the band's core. Indeed,
is hardly a bold step forward, but rather a consolidation of
's strengths, particularly their skill at crafting surging, widescreen epics. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine