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Coldplay — “Speed of Sound,” first single off X&Y

At some point a few years ago, it became extremely cool and trendy to dig the mellow musings of Coldplay. I bought into it — my CD collection contains copies of both A Rush of Blood to the Head and Parachutes.

That having been said, I’m not a huge Coldplay fan. I dig some of their songs, (”In My Place,” “Clocks,” and “Yellow” are great tunes) but as an overall body of work, my Coldplay attention span tends to wane.

The release of “Speed of Sound,” the first single off their upcoming album X&Y, had me intrigued. Was it going to be more of the usual Coldplay, or was it going to be a re-engineered Coldplay sound?

The answer is a resounding “more of the usual,” but that’s not entirely bad. “Speed of Sound” is catchy, pleasant to listen to, and harmless. It’ll probably be popular, and Coldplay fans will certainly groove to it. In fact, I rather enjoy it — but it’s far from groundbreaking.

“Speed of Sound” is most remarkable in its similarity to another Coldplay hit single, “Clocks,” off of A Rush of Blood to the Head. The main descending-note piano riff is more than reminiscent of the main descending-note piano riff of “Clocks.” I’d go as far as to call it a rip-off, but I don’t think you can rip-off your own work — just repeat it.

My initial reaction to the lyrics is that there’s some pseduo-intellectual whining going on. “How long do I have to climb / up on the side of this mountain of mine,” Chris Martin asks at the end of the first verse. He seems awfully bummed out for a guy that’s rich, famous, and goes home to Gwenyth Paltrow every night.

Surprisingly, though, I feel that the lyrics really pick up after a non-descript first verse. The second verse begins with “Look up, I look up at night / Planets are moving at the speed of light / Climb up, up in the trees / Every chance you get / Is a chance you seize.” — a well-put statement of time flying by and needing to seize every opportunity.

I particularly enjoy the choruses — especially the overlayed chiming guitar riff from Jonny Buckland that increases with volume each chorus until it almost drowns out Martin by end. The riff reminds of U2’s the Edge, with “Beautiful Day” coming to mind first. Martin’s lyrics in the chorus are interesting, if not easily decipherable:

“All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
If you could see it then you’d understand,
Ah when you see it then you’ll understand…”

The message isn’t clear, but the imagery is interesting. A definite improvement, in my view, from the first verse’s more understable but less inspiring moaning.

All in all, “Speed of Sound” is nothing particularly earth-moving or ground-breaking. If it’s a reflection of the rest of the album, X&Y will be an enjoyable experience, even if it is Rush of Blood part II. Casual Coldplay fans will likely get about what they’re expecting, and that’s certainly not all bad.

Rating:

Fri April 22nd, 2005 12:01 am

Filed under Music, Reviews