Don't let your cynicism guide you

On first hearing, I wasn't so sure about whether or not Coldplay were the brilliant band that the music press had led me to believe, although when I listen to the album now I am not sure why I felt this way. I think it may be that I was less than astounded by their breakthrough single, Yellow, but now I have grown even to love that track. I bought the album after Yellow's release, fuelled by the great reviews that it had recieved, but was rather too cynical about the band to enjoy it on first listening. I heard the first track, Don't Panic, which is currently recieving a lot of radio play, and loss interest immediately, my cynical mind dismissing the song as rubbish because of the rather lacklustre lyrics ("We live in a beautiful world, yeah we do, yeah we do"). This led me to give up almost immediately on the album, not concentrating on what I was listening to and only listening up to about track four before being distracted by something else and not hearing the rest.

Thank God then, for the release of the single Trouble, an absolutely fantastic song, without which I would still be ignorant to the brilliance of the band, and of course, the album. When I heard the song at first, on the radio, I was astounded, but unaware of the fact that it was Coldplay I was listening to. It was not until a few days later when I was watching Top of the Pops (sorry) and saw the band perform the song that I made the connection. The next day, after a hard day at work, I dug out the album once more, this time to give it the hearing it deserved. I was taken aback, the beautiful songs completely mellowing me out, and giving that tingly, hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck-standy-uppy moments. I loved it.

So now I can appreciate the album for what it is, a brilliantly smooth collection of bittersweet guitar rock. Or is it pop? It's certainly popular, but whenever we brand anything as "pop" people immediately decide that it is rubbish. Well this should not be the case: we should try to look past simple labels and actually listen to the music before deciding it is rubbish, especially in a case like this. Like I so blatantly didn't, and nearly missed out on one of the best new bands of the new century. I call it pop because it is, in the true sense of the word, but looking a little closer you can see that this is a lovingly crafted little album, especially when you consider that it is a the band's debut. I think it's great, my personal favourites on the album being Spies, Parachutes, Yellow (having now realised what a good song it is, with some nice lyrics) and of course, the subliminal Trouble. Every song has its own charm though, and you really do need to hear them to appreciate them. Coldplay are obviously very talented, and if this is what they start out with, imagine what we can look forward to.