I like Coldplay.
Apologies to my fellow reviewers for shattering our indie credibility,
but I have to be honest. The atmosphere
of misguided and confused pretension surrounding Coldplay has always perplexed
me. Throughout their entire career
they’ve at least tried to innovate in some way with each release, from sparse pop-rock
of X&Y to the lavish orchestral arrangements of Viva La Vida to whatever
they were trying on Mylo Xyloto. This is
more praise than I can give most artists who’ve been around for the same length
of time *cough* Noel Gallagher *cough*, and judging by the first single “Adventure
of a Lifetime” I could expect something entirely different again in “A Head
Full of Dreams”.
The title track is an absolute party anthem, complete with
shuddering bass and sparkling guitars.
It’s about as danceable as I’ve heard Coldplay ever be, and manages to
retain the kind of grandiosity that worked so well on Viva La Vida. The pace increases on “Birds”, a song that
really doesn’t take off until the chorus, and even then remains pretty
lacklustre. To be entirely honest it has
filler track written all over it. “Hymn
for the Weekend” is the most inappropriately named song on the album, as well
as the most wasteful in terms of talent.
Any song that resigns Beyoncé to essentially backing vocals and a single
token verse isn’t worth listening to, especially if it’s as bland as this one
is. The incredibly saccharinely named “Adventure
of a Lifetime” follows, and briefly raises the quality to that of the title
track. It’s the same vibrant dance
style, and admittedly it’s the best song on the album. It’s one of the only two good ones actually…
There are in truth two spirited pop songs on this album, and
everything else is a sparse, insipid ballad.
“Fun” is perhaps the worst offender, but then again it does feature Tove
Lo so I couldn’t have expected anything else.
“Kaleidoscope” takes itself far more seriously than it deserves to as
does “Colour Spectrum” and “Army of One” features the most annoying vocal
sample I’ve heard all year.
Overall it certainly
isn’t anywhere near as bafflingly bad as Mylo Xyloto, but it really isn’t very
good. At all. To raise the bar so high on the single and
title track and to then not even match the tempo of those tracks is a strange
decision to make, and one that leaves “Head Full of Dreams” feeling slow and
mundane. I would however recommend
listening to the title track and the single.
Charlie McCartney
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