Coldplay
A Head Full of Dreams

To understand the new work by Coldplay, there’s certainly no need to have a “Head Full of Dreams” … just a good dose of lightness mingled with cheerful disillusionment, a mobile device to play the tracks, earphones, and, if you have a singing vocation, enough space not to get caught in the act of singing one of the many “refrains” or choruses in the Album …

“A Head Full of Dreams” is undoubtedly the most pop album by the most contemporary and multifaceted band currently in circulation ... “Songs of the Masses” was the title of one of the most famous LPs by Depeche Mode, and it seems that the commercial evolution of the four former intimate guys from “Parachutes” has led them in this direction (obviously not in terms of quality), meaning an album where every song could be a single, where the catchiness of the choruses and melodies is mixed and immersed in a sound swirl between the redundant and the suggestive. A supreme attempt to balance the “Coolest” electronics in circulation with the more familiar “Cold” sound of the four British guys, a succession of Disco-Funky touches, R&B (unfortunately), Soul, Gospel, “Soft” Rock all compressed, packaged and very, very Pop.

Artistically, absolutely nothing is added and the terrible limit is all here (and it’s not insignificant), but as an idea of a record, in the end, it proves much more coherent and credible than the last two works: “Mylo Xyloto,” a record with too many pauses and without a real musical or thematic thread, and “A Sky Full of Stars,” an album as brave, given the extreme sound choices, as it is unpleasant to listen to in the end.

The main theme of “A Head Full Of Dreams” may be too banal, getting back up “Up & Up!,” returning to color and movement after a nice pause with feet on the ground staring at a star-filled but terribly dark sky… To start, one should equip oneself with a colorful luggage sprayed on the cover to give a lot of liveliness to the image, then press “Play” … and gradually the Disco – Funky groove of “A Head Full Of Dreams” approaches, categorically ruling out at the start any possibility that the listener might be threatened by reminiscences of the first two albums. The piece flows thanks also to the guitar inserts that Jonny Buckland paints with his magnificent restraint and despite the stadium chants that have been recurring punctually every time since Viva La Vida as a tax to pay... With “Birds” the journey proceeds more lightly and swiftly, perhaps the most interesting track on the album, a flight partly glided and whispered with a sparser and essential arrangement but anything but banal like its closure…. Not long after, birds announce in the background the vocalizations of Beyoncé in themost trash moment of the album “Hymn for the Weekend” which already from the title prepares for the worst, where the “Oh oh oh” of “Crazy in Love” turn into “I Ahi Ah” and “La La La”, it’s easy to guess the considerable level of “pseudo-playful-winking nonsense” of the piece of which I only save the percussive groove of the verse... Surviving the 4.19 minutes of the previous track, the road becomes decidedly easier, and Chris’s piano delivers us the first ballad of the album “Everglow,” a quite autobiographical and direct piece that in theory should not surprise given the melodic linearity and balanced sound, yet it strikes with the intensity of interpretation especially on the chorus alternated between falsetto and full voice (almost on the verge of off-pitch), this to convey emotions...

“Adventure of A Lifetime” at first listen could sound at most like a terrible actualization of “Something in Rio style” by Duran Duran, on the album in its full version it finds an optimal contextualization, so it’s possible to appreciate its light-heartedness, freshness, and some peculiar stylistic choices not so frequent within a fundamentally funky first single, with a syncopated rhythm intertwining with stops and synth basses in “Planet Funk” style introducing the refrain, repeated guitar scales that eventually become a simple and cheerful solo... “Fun” is a non-duet (Tove Lo indeed only acts as a counter-voice in the second verse and is heard just enough) based on a nice guitar arpeggio, on a suspended atmosphere, and a slightly predictable melodic opening, it picks up again the theme of “Ok it’s over! I was in pain but now enough!...Let’s have fun anyway!” Johnny B. churns out few notes but as usual sublime and the end of the piece is worth the praise... The Kaleidoscopic piano with reassuring voice of the US President leads us to “Army of One” almost a revisitation of “Paradise” but decidedly more effective and interesting, with a nice off-beat that repeats (for the series let Will Champion play it!), a fitting interpretation, and everything flows appreciably (vocoder included) … “Amazing day” is the other remarkable ballad of the album, colors are suggested by the guitar and with a crescendo of strings in the background the piece risks sounding like a “My Way” Coldplay style, but fortunately, one realizes that in reality, it was just a day, even if incredible and the final sound reflections of light testify it … Thus, we reach the final point “Up&Up” i.e. the initial message, a piece that is to this album what “In your Eyes” is to “So” by Peter Gabriel (always with the due distinctions in level and artistic quality), where everyone goes on stage and makes a chorus, plays a percussion, improvises a choreography, throws a solo (like Noel Gallagher), vocalizes as much as they can shouts and screams of all kinds (also less Chris!) but have a huge fun...

And the sense is all here: as the Rolling Stones said “It’s only Rock & Roll But I Like It!” … here “It’s only Pop” but if we don’t have singer-songwriter pretensions to save the world, to make us think or attempt a collective “Brainwashed,” then it can also be pleasant and fun to occasionally let oneself be contagiously affected by this dreamy and well-packaged flow of sound optimism.

Small final note on the bonus track “Miracles” which is definitely worth including in the album tracklist instead of the song with Beyoncé. Little but sure!