Release Date: 2002

Impressions: Ah, Coldplay. I find these guys very hard to get worked up about one way or the other. Listenable. Tasteful. Agreeable. Radiohead with the edges sanded off. Even the name, Coldplay, sounds like an apt description of their chilly post-U2 arena rock. Well, enough chatter, let’s listen… From the beginning, “Politik” is listenable, tasteful, and agreeable. Chris Martin either has a treasure trove of mysteries lurking at the bottom of these songs that I have yet to uncover or there’s simply not much there. “The Scientist” is has a very nice melody with piano and strings, and almost seems to contain some emotion. Ah, the familiar spooky piano riff of “Clocks”… I feel like I’m getting ready for some HBO. Now, this track still holds up okay, even after being played out in the early part of this millenium. Something about the band’s confident precision evokes a well-tuned timepiece and, in the case of this song, works for me. Everything sounds big. Even the acoustic guitar-based “Green Eyes” sounds arena-ready. “Amsterdam” is good closer. Really, there’s nothing wrong with the album. Maybe that’s the problem… most great rock and roll should have something “wrong” with it and these guys seem like they avoid doing anything untoward in their music. The whole album floats in one ear and out the other without causing much of a fuss.