X&Y
From WikiColdplay
X&Y is the third album by Coldplay, released in England on June 6, 2005 and in North America on June 7. Preceded by the successful single "Speed of Sound", which peaked at #2 in the UK and #8 in the U.S., the album debuted at the top of the UK album chart, moving 464,471 units in its first week, a success which put X&Y second in overall first week sales. The album became Coldplay's first U.S. chart-topper, selling 737,000 units in its first week of release. X&Y was the best-selling album worldwide in 2005, according to the IFPI; it shifted 8.3 million units during the year.
X&Y is influenced by European electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, as well as 1970s electronica from the likes of David Bowie and Brian Eno. Coldplay received permission from Kraftwerk to use the main riff from "Computer Love" for the track "Talk", while Eno played backing synthesizer on the track "Low". The album's final track, "'Til Kingdom Come", was originally written by the band to be recorded by Johnny Cash, but Cash passed away before he could record the song.
This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.
Contents |
Album details
According to lead singer Chris Martin, the title X&Y is based on the ups and downs of his everyday life. Martin says "My whole day is a mixture of optimism and pessimism in its most extreme forms. And that’s what X&Y is to me. It’s two sides. I like the fact they’re very strong letters, very clear." He has also stated that he chose the name X&Y because in mathematics X and Y represent the unknown, and that most of the tracks on the album are about the unknown and life's unanswerable questions.
Prior to the release, Zero Theory was one of the many widely rumoured titles to the album.
The album's cryptic cover art was designed by Tappin Gofton (aka Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton), who created the cover for The Chemical Brothers' latest release, Push the Button. The blocks are the Baudot code-encoding (ITA2, a 5-bit alphanumeric encoding used by telegraphs) of the title of the album, X&Y (although due to an error in the coding process, the cover code actually translates as "X96"); the colours are just for aesthetics and have no specific meaning (though Chris Martin sometimes wears coloured tape on his hands while on stage, as a reference to the album). The CD booklet contains the ITA2-encoded alphabet, presented with the X&Y colour motif. The final page of the booklet contains the slogan "Make Trade Fair", using the same encoded alphabet.
Critical reaction
The album's reviews were fairly warm upon release, but certain critics, specifically from Rolling Stone, Mojo, The New York Times and Pitchfork Media, consider it below par, given the high standard set by A Rush of Blood to the Head, X&Y's 2002 predecessor. Coldplay has also received some criticism for the similarities between the lead single "Speed Of Sound" and the Grammy-winning "Clocks". Others have noted the striking U2 similarities heard throughout the album.
Track listing
All songs written by Berryman/Buckland/Champion/Martin, except where noted.
- "Square One" – 4:47
- "What If" – 4:57
- "White Shadows" – 5:28
- "Fix You" – 4:55
- "Talk" (Berryman/Buckland/Champion/Martin/Hütter/Bartos/Schult) – 5:11
- "X&Y" – 4:34
- "Speed of Sound" – 4:48
- "A Message" – 4:45
- "Low" – 5:32
- "The Hardest Part" – 4:25
- "Swallowed in the Sea" – 3:59
- "Twisted Logic" – 5:01, actual song ends at 4:26, followed by silence
- "'Til Kingdom Come" – 4:10
Singles
| Cover | |
|---|---|
| "Speed of Sound"
|
| "Fix You"
|
| "Talk"
|
| "The Hardest Part"
|
| "What If"
|
Trivia
- The album's lead single, "Speed of Sound", was beaten to the top spot on the UK Singles Chart by the novelty song "Axel F" by the Crazy Frog.
- The album is dedicated to "BWP", which stands for Bruce W. Paltrow, the late father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, the wife of singer Chris Martin.
- X&Y's success in its first week put it second behind only Oasis' Be Here Now, which moved 695,761 units in its 1997 release.
- The final track is a hidden track, however its existence was hinted at. The song listing on the back cover omits the song, however both the booklet and the CD label refer to an item called "+" after track 12's name. The track's name is 'Til Kingdom Come. It was originally planned for Johnny Cash to sing it with Chris Martin. Martin recorded his part, but Cash died before he was able to record his.[1]
- All 3 of the track listing locations refer to the names of the tracks, but instead of the conventional numbering system, the first six tracks are named X1 to X6, and the second set Y1 to Y6 - a reference to the name of the album.
- A special version of the album was released in Holland, it featured a different album cover and a bonus disc with six unreleased songs; Things I Don't Understand, Proof, The World Turned Upside Down, Pour Me (Live At The Hollywood Bowl), Sleeping Sun and Gravity.
Release details
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
| Japan | June 1, 2005 | Toshiba-EMI | CD | TOCP 66370 |
| Taiwan | June 3, 2005 | Toshiba-EMI | CD | 094631128028 |
| United Kingdom | June 6, 2005 | Parlophone | 2LP | 4747861 |
| CD | 4747862 | |||
| United States | June 7, 2005 | Capitol | CD | CDP 7243 4 74786 2 8 |
Awards
| Year | Award | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Q Awards | Album of the Year |
| 2006 | Brit Awards | Best British Album |
| 2006 | Juno Awards | International Album of the Year * |
* tied with Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business
Charts
Peak position
| Chart (2004/2005/2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentina Album Chart | 1 |
| Australia Album Chart | 1 |
| Austria Albums Chart | 1 |
| Belgium Albums Chart | 1 |
| Canada Album Chart | 1 |
| Chile Album Chart | 1 |
| Denmark Album Chart | 1 |
| Finland Album Chart | 1 |
| France Album Chart | 1 |
| Germany Album Chart | 1 |
| Iceland Album Chart | 1 |
| Ireland Album Chart | 1 |
| Israel Album Chart | 1 |
| Italy Album Chart | 1 |
| Lebanon Album Chart | 1 |
| Malaysia Album Chart | 1 |
| Mexico Album Chart | 1 |
| New Zealand Album Chart | 1 |
| Norway Album Chart | 1 |
| Sweden Album Chart | 1 |
| Switzeland Album Chart | 1 |
| Taiwan Album Chart | 1 |
| Thailand Album Chart | 1 |
| UAE Album Chart | 1 |
| U.K. Albums Chart | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 1 |
| World Album Chart | 1 |
| Japan Album Chart | 6 |
Certifications
| Chart | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| World | 5x Platinum | 10,000,000 |
| United States | 3x Platinum | 3,000,000 |
| United Kingdom | 8x Platinum | 2,345,126 |
| Canada | 4x Platinum | 400,000 |
| Germany | 2x Platinum | 400,000 |
| France | Platinum | 335,400 |
| Australia | 4x Platinum | 280,000 |
| Japan | Gold | 150,000 |
| Belgium | 2x Platinum | 100,000 |
| Ireland | 8x Platinum | 120,000 |
| Argentina | 2x Platinum | 80,000 |
| Mexico | Platinum | 100,000 |
| Netherlands | Platinum | 80,000 |
| Switzerland | 2x Platinum | 80,000 |
| New Zealand | 4x Platinum | 60,000 |
| Sweden | Platinum | 60,000 |
| Brazil | Gold | 50,000 |
| Austria | Platinum | 40,000 |
| Finland | Platinum | 30,000 |
Note: for all the certification definations see: Certifications
