Coldplay had just released an album the year before in 2014. However, that album named Ghost Stories was a failure by the band’s own standards, and this album released only a year later is a knee-jerk reaction to the broken-hearted ways of Ghost Stories, probably due to record company interference. So this album is, therefore, an antidote to the depressing lyrical ways of the previous release. Also, this album features a load of cameo stars present here, including the likes of Beyonce and Noel Gallagher, amongst countless others. This is obviously intended as a blockbuster release to take all by surprise. Receiving mixed reviews from critics, this album is going to be an interesting listening experience regardless. Let’s hear it.

A Head Full Of Dreams begins the album, with a fade in of trippy and psychedelic keyboard based textures. It does sound interesting and exciting. Some marching drums enter, followed by a cool groove at hand. Chris Martin gets singing away in a confident and promising way. This is a million miles away from the broken-hearted blues of the previous album, and it sounds a lot like U2, which also isn’t a million miles away from the sonic formula of Coldplay. In the middle is a fantastic sounding breakdown which works wonders musically, and just sounds awesome. There is some euphoric chanting with some fantastic backing vocals here, which are catchy and memorable. The song quickly launches back into the lyricism and this is fantastic, better than what critics think of Coldplay. It concludes with some excellent classical styled piano and slide guitar. A great start to the album here.

Birds begins with a weird electronic drum beat that is very Punk Rock. There is some equally suitably loud Punk Rock bass and Chris Martin sings over chiming textures here. This isn’t the greatest piece of music that Coldplay have done to date, but it still works quite well for what it is. In the chorus, Chris Martin breaks into a beautiful falsetto that sounds glorious, before returning to the Punk Rock groove. Seems ironic for a group such as Coldplay to follow such a musical influence. Still, this is anthemic music for millennials. It’s not really Rock music, but it does hit the spot nicely. A good tune, although more textural, this sounds ironically a lot like Hillsong music for those who are not Christian, which is really weird if you think about it. Enjoyable, but far from Coldplay’s best moment here. Interesting to listen to anyway. It ends very abruptly.

Hymn For The Weekend begins with some chirping birds in the background before some singing that is nicely multitracked by Beyonce is here. Soon enough, this launches into piano and handclaps, with Chris Martin singing away nicely on this song. This is the most popular song on the album, and it really does sound awesome and great. If you need a good dose of latter-day Coldplay music, this is a great place to start. It borrows heavily from RnB and Pop but sounds consistent and fantastic. Chris Martin sings about being drunk and high, which is unusual for Coldplay to have lyrics on the subject matter, and seems selfish as a result. It doesn’t sound at all like a traditional Coldplay piece, but the strings arranged are fantastic in this song. A grand, idealistic and hedonistic anthem, this is Coldplay selling out their original musical values for something far more mainstream than they originally ever intended. It’s a good song, even if the lyrical intentions aren’t as good as they could be for Coldplay’s standards. Good to hear nonetheless, it ends with a lone Beyonce vocal. Interesting.

Everglow begins with some good piano being played, and drum machines that sound good. Chris Martin gets singing away well here. The song itself regardless is quite good to listen to and is fairly reminiscent of the earlier material on 2005’s X & Y. The chorus is amazing and Chris Martin strains to hit the high notes here, which isn’t his finest singing moment here. This is a good song that is very Electronically based, and consistent as well for what it is. A gorgeous ballad and something that is fairly underrated on this album, there is a swirling guitar solo present in the outro of this song. A really fine and excellent piece of music despite its limitations, this is excellent for what it is. A simple, beautiful and wonderful piece of music about positive romance, this is a marked change from the album before it. Wonderful to hear.

Adventure Of A Lifetime has some awesome electric guitar parts and features Merry Clayton. It quickly launches into a post-Disco tune that sounds funky and excellent. Chris Martin is in full Rock mode of whimsy and musical selfishness on this tune, and he states, “I feel my heart beating, underneath my skin…” summing it all up nicely here. This tune is more for listening and dancing to, rather than being an intellectual exploration of musical concepts here. Postmodern Disco Pop, this is a wonderful and enjoyable piece of music to listen to, which has some House music styled progressions about it. A really underrated and fantastic listen from this album, this is something that still sounds very good some time after its release. This is a sell-out, surely, but a very enjoyable and pretty one. Great song to hear for what it is, although this is an album for those who desire Pop/Rock in a 21st century context. This ends with call-and-response harmonies, a very fine listen.

Fun (feat. Tove Lo) begins with some moody guitar parts which are quite touching, followed by some Pink Floydian heartbeat styled sounds in the mix. Chris Martin gets singing away well here, and he delivers some mystical and interesting lyrics on this song. This is a great anthemic tune that sounds really upbeat, and although the lyrics are positive, they are not the best penned lyrics in the history of music, and they do deal with the breakup themes of the previous album, once again and needlessly. Regardless, this is a pleasant and artistic listen, even if Coldplay does not ride high in musical consistency like they did with the first two albums. Tove Lo’s pleasant backing vocals illuminate this piece of music, and this is really magical and something that many others can appreciate. “We were always meant to be,” chants Chris Martin throughout, and it seems he has grown up and moved on from his past blues. A very good song. Worth hearing.

Kaleidoscope is a very short piece (for Coldplay) under two minutes. It has some strange Classical music styled piano being played out of an external speaker and quickly mixes it in properly to the main output. A sample of speech is here read by Coleman Banks. It is a strange listening experience and has some very much Law Of Attraction styled teachings in it. At the end, this section goes into a rather strange and messed up orgy of sounds and samples. Very weird, but a kaleidoscope of sound indeed.

Army Of One begins with some cut-up real drum beats and cut-up vocals from Chris Martin. This launches into quite an excellent sounding song that is Poppy, tasteful and loveable. Again, this is post-Ghost Stories in its intention, with Chris Martin moving on and finding some brand new love to complement his life. The production and musical elements here do sound futuristic and expensive, and this is obviously intended to be a very commercial album, perhaps in a flawed way, too commercial for its own good. Having said that, the music at hand is very good, although to be completely honest, this song could have been cut back a bit from its six minute long time length. After the midsection, the main section of the first half abruptly concludes, before Chris Martin and company launch into a completely different sounding piece of music code named X Marks The Spot, which is indebted to dark EDM here. This is a bizarre addition for such a song by a legendary group like Coldplay. Everything here is very much muted, including the guitar work as well. “I just put my hands up to the sky, feeling alright, I’ve got a rocket, eyes on the prize,” are some unusual lyrics here, and this takes some influence from some EDM artists such as The Chemical Brothers. Nonetheless, a good and epic piece of music that works. A great tune.

Amazing Day begins with some faded-in jangly guitar and piano, quickly entering into a warm, calm sounding ballad. At this point, some of the appeal of the album wears off a little, particularly in terms of song length. This still is good listening, however and Chris Martin sounds like he is in a much better place psychologically than he was on Ghost Stories. An improvement over the previous lengthy tune, he sounds so annoyingly positive that one wonders if this is the same band behind The Scientist and Clocks masterpieces from earlier on in Coldplay’s career. No matter, Chris Martin and company do make some rather pretty yet not-so-memorable postmodern ballads. The soaring harmonies in the second half are quite good for one to listen to, and make this track a slight improvement in terms of memorability of the rest of the album. Coldplay does melancholic, postmodern heart-on-one’s-sleeve ballads better than anyone else. Quite a good listen overall.

Colour Spectrum is only a minute long. It is a short instrumental pastiche with some brilliant and pretty bells, vocal sounds, chirping birds and other fairly unoriginal musical sounds. It is a strange, yet not-so-necessary addition to this album. Sounds a little different, though.

Up&Up is the longest song on this album at nearly seven minutes long, which is going to be a bit long for a Coldplay tune. It begins with choppy piano, and snare beats and launches into some okay singing by Chris Martin trying to sound like a Rap artist here. Understandably, these guys needed to grow and evolve musically, but Rap/RnB is not their forte. Still, it doesn’t divert too far from their politically correct sensitive new age guy strand of thought and musicality. Chris Martin in particular sounds a little too nice for a Pop/Rock musician to be taken seriously. Noel Gallagher plays guitar on this tune. Surely, that is a fair contradiction of Coldplay’s own self-pitying musical agenda? There are more Pink Floyd styled gospel vocals in the background here. Noel himself does do this song justice, as he was somewhat influenced by Coldplay, particularly during his own solo career. In any case, the music present is enjoyable enough, even if it is not the most memorable of all albums. The chanting in the second half is surprisingly catchy, with Chris Martin stating, “We’re gonna get it together”. An anthemic piece of music, but one that only Coldplay fans themselves will love. This is followed by some soaring vocal harmonies to wrap up this song, and album with. The tune ends with more piano and a reprise of the intro. A really cool listen, and Chris Martin tells the listener: “Don’t ever give up”. This is followed by some shifted harmonies and a piano chord finale. Good stuff.

This may not be a classic album of Coldplay’s magnitude. It’s a good listen though and the songs are a better bunch overall than what was present on Ghost Stories. The main issue with this album is that it lacks catchy melodies and hooks to really be remembered, period. It is very difficult to name a single song that one can remember after listening to this album from start to finish. Yes, this is good regardless but attempting to remember the songs means that this album isn’t as good as it could be. Should you listen to this album? Yes if you are a Coldplay fan and have heard their earlier music to death, but no otherwise. A good album but a bit too lengthy and once again, forgettable.

A good effort that sadly, isn’t a great effort.

7/10