What I don't understand, is why because Miggy D spent time with the album and likes it, his/her (I'M SORRY, SO SORRY!) opinion is more valid?
Not a dig at Miggy, your opinion is yours. But I believe I have also given this album a real chance (I've listened closely, listened as I've gone to bed, had it in the car... etc). And I really think this is a mediocre effort and an album without potential.
Now does that make me a diehard U2 reactionary? Because I don't like the album, does that mean I haven't given it enough of a chance?
Coldplay have tried much much too hard here. A Rush of Blood to the Head was a display in using synths properly to pad out a song. They compliment the sound and create soundscapes unmatched in 2002. Even on Everything's Not Lost on Parachutes, the use of a soft, underlying synth grounded one of the best songs on the album. On X & Y if feels like they are tring to fill sounds that don't need filling by using synths. It creates a complicated sound that has no real direction or purpose, it gives the illusion of being good, but when you listen to it, it really isn't.
The sound is muddy and cold. The problem here is that I honestly don't believe the aim was to create a cold, detatched sound.
'X & Y sees the completion of this musical arc
I don't think so. I believe it is taking an idea too far. Chris Martin is trying oh so hard to sound intellectual, provocative and interesting, when in all seriousness he sounds like a wanker now.
His lines in the first two albums were precise and beautiful, but in this album he is rambling for the sake of rambling. And very cliched.
I believe in X & Y that Coldplay are trying to create an evolved, intelligent sound. However in doing this they have sacrificed their heart and covered up their sound. Leaving the record bare and lifeless.
This was not the time to put out this album, and even if the time was right, this isn't the album they should have put out.