X&Y

X&Y is the third studio album by the British rock band Coldplay. It was released on 6 June 2005 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom, and a day later by Capitol Records in the U.S. Sixty songs were written during these sessions, fifty-two of which were ditched. The band spent all of 2004 producing the album, and some have even considered it as their fifth album due to constant changes in track lists and re-recordings.

About X&Y in brief

Summary X&Y X&Y is the third studio album by the British rock band Coldplay. It was released on 6 June 2005 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom, and a day later by Capitol Records in the U.S. The album was produced by Coldplay and producer Danton Supple. It is noted for its troubled and urgent development, with producer Ken Nelson having originally been tasked with producing much of the album. Many songs written during his sessions were discarded owing to the band’s dissatisfaction with them. X&Y was released after a considerable amount of global anticipation. Overall reaction to the album was generally positive, though some critics cited it as being inferior to its predecessors. It reached the top spot of many charts worldwide, including the United States, being Coldplay’s first album to top the US chart. With accumulated sales of 8.3 million units in 2005 alone, X&y was the best-selling music album released in 2005. It has sold over 13 million copies worldwide. It spawned the singles \”Speed of Sound\”, \”Fix You\”, \”The Hardest Part\”, and \”White Shadows\”. It was originally planned for American country star Johnny Cash to record it with lead singer Chris Martin, but Cash died before he was able to do so. The song \”Talk\” appeared in the track listing, although after it leaked online in early 2005 it was thought to have been downgraded to a B-side for the album’s subsequent single releases. Sixty songs were written during these sessions, fifty-two of which were ditched.

The band spent all of 2004 producing the album, and some have even considered it as their fifth album due to constant changes in track lists and re-recordings. The initial set release date was late 2004, but was later pushed back to January 2005. When January went, the band had to finish the album; they were conscious of the pressure as expectations for the record grew larger. During the final weeks of production the band felt like they could do their own songs and not have anyone else’s demands. Once finished the band was settled with the song ‘Square One’, which Martin has described as ‘a call to arms and arms and not to be intimidated by anything of them or anyone else’ The album contains twelve tracks and an additional hidden track, ‘Til Kingdom Come’, which is omitted from the track list on the album sleeve, but listed as ‘+’ on the disc label and inside the album booklet. The band chose to oversee the production of the record, and they were larger than the bulk of the A Rush of Blood to the Head production, so they had to work hard at it to get it right. They felt it sounded like they were going backwards compared to their earlier works. They were trying to make the best thing that anyone has ever heard. This plan was not carried out, because of the pressures their second album had induced; but they were trying to make a better album.