Coldplay coldcock the competition

Will someone please grab that rusty, Jesus-juiced crown off of Michael Jackson's head, polish it up 'til it gleams, and crown Chris Martin the new king of pop?\nParachutes, Coldplay's modest 2000 debut, introduced the world to Martin and company via "Yellow," a track that, sadly, managed to find its way onto a Now That's What I Call Music compilation. Their follow-up, A Rush of Blood to the Head, was a veritable rock and roll hymnal full of stirring melodies and sing-along choruses. One had to assume, after marrying Gwyneth Paltrow, naming his daughter Apple and spending 18 months in the studio obsessing over his band's third album, Martin was in full put-up-or-shut-up mode. One would be correct in that assumption.\nOriginally conceived as an experimental record that would nudge Coldplay's sound over the precipice and into uncharted waters, X&Y was retooled sometime during the 11th hour, to the delight and chagrin of equal numbers, to more resemble the band's core sound. There's no doubt that the original sessions will never surface, but what we're left with, and where we should've known Coldplay was heading all along, is a solid, unyielding hour of masterful songcraft overflowing with that signature sentiment that fuelled the likes of "Warning Sign" and "The Scientist" on Rush of Blood. Anyone who damns Coldplay for sounding too much like themselves isn't likely to tune into this one anyway.\nX&Y begins, appropriately, with "Square One," on which Coldplay channel Unforgettable Fire-era U2 and The Bends-era Radiohead with equal aplomb. Immediately post-launch, it becomes clear that Martin's songwriting has improved over time. "What If" and "White Shadows" are two of the year's most well-crafted pop tracks, and then he hits us with the record's first true stunner. "Fix You" starts off rather inconspicuously as a simple, organ-driven love ditty, until the 2:35 mark when the floodgates open, spilling out layer upon layer of guitar, synth and strings, a choir shows up to the party, and Coldplay justify the hype while rendering it obliquely appropriate that the stock market is gonna spike just because of this album.\nIt's not all anthemic elegies and arm-waving middle-eights, though. With its honest feel and accessible lyrics, "A Message" will end up on every respectable lovey-dovey mix cd this summer. The preordained hits "Speed of Sound" and "Talk" are better than anything else MTV and rock radio are currently running into the ground, and "Swallowed By the Sea" as well as the album closer "'Til Kingdom Come" are old-fashioned ballads that prove even without a wall of sound backing him up, Martin can deliver a wondrous tune. He even gets vaguely political on "Twisted Logic," but never to the point of wearing out the message.\nThe question is always asked of the world's biggest bands; where do they go from here? While Martin has made overtly public statements that he's so satisfied with this record that he wouldn't mind too terribly if it were Coldplay's last, I'm forced to assume that he and the rest of the band still have their own personal OK Computer/Joshua Tree stored away in the deepest regions of their brains. It may be years before we find out, but in the meantime, X&Y is a hell of a listen.