Coldplay - X&Y - [CD]

To commemorate their 2007 tour of South America EMI has re-issued their 2005 album with a bonus DVD (NTSC/Region 0) that features the same content as the Australasian tour pressing but adds an Electronic Press Kit of the making of the album that is exclusive to this version. The bonus DVD also features all of their B-sides (DVD-Audio) lifted from the album, 'Things I Don't Understand', 'Proof', 'Poor Me' (Live at the Hollywood Bowl), 'The World Turned', 'Sleeping Sun' and 'Gravity' along with all of their music videos to all the singles, 'Speed of Sound', 'Fix You', 'Talk' and the final single lifted from the album, 'The Hardest Part'. Packaged in an exclusive slipcase. EMI. 2007.

Things have gone ridiculously well for Coldplay in the three years since 2002's A Rush of Blood To The Head. The group's global album sales have soared past the 10-million mark, putting it in the same stratosphere as U2 and the Dave Matthews Band. People have offered up their bank accounts, cars and even bodies for tickets to its shows. And, in a nice twist, front man Chris Martin married Gwyneth Paltrow, setting the tabloid world aflame. Funny thing, then, that the British quartet's much-anticipated third album, X&Y, is all about keeping its feet on the ground. In the powerful opener "Square One," the singer insists people are fundamentally the same no matter their stature. "You just want/ Somebody listening to what you say," he sings. On "Fix You," Martin grapples with imperfection and missed opportunity: "When you love someone but it goes to waste/ Could it be worse?" Meanwhile, the vibrant first single, "Speed of Sound," is all about reconnecting with the spirit and soul in the face of the paparazzo's flashbulbs. Musically, the band has never sounded more adventurous, referencing everyone from Kraftwerk ("Talk") to the Pogues ("Swallowed In The Sea"), all the while sweeping aside those Radiohead-lite comparisons to embrace a massive, moving sound that makes simplicity seem sublime. --Aidin Vaziri --This text refers to an alternate audioCD edition.