More of a continuation of Mylo Xyloto but more concise and focused, the band deliver forty minutes of mostly easy-on-the-ears pop that doesn't sound too far from modern day Take That. Oddly, the first half of the album is the least enjoyable, with a more methodical and slower pace. The title-track opener is decent, setting the fun tone of the record before Birds throws us straight back to the, dare-I-say, grown-up brand of pop that the band have experimented and failed with, this being no exception.
The Beyoncé featuring Hymn for the Weekend is another pointless and generic Coldplay duet; far more generic than Princess of China and more pointless than Lost+, Beyoncé offers nothing to the track other than a few hums and wails which could have been done by any semi-decent session vocalist. Obviously created to sell a music video featuring the two parties, it will inevitably sell millions despite being generic dross.
The album is full of these weird cameo appearances. Stand out track Fun featuring Tove Lo (who I blatantly had to wiki before writing this) is a superb centrepiece that is everything Hymn for the Weekend should have been; unashamedly fun and built on simple but satisfying guitar riffs.
Gwyneth Paltrow makes an appearance on Everglow; an otherwise fine song although her minimal vocals add nothing to the track. Barack Obama's rendition of Amazing Grace is featured on the interlude Kaleidoscope but is heavily distorted and much like Hymn for the Weekend, could have ultimately been done by anyone (whilst the cynic in me thinks he was added purely as a talking point).
As mentioned, it's the album's second half that makes A Head Full... a much better album than first indicated. Lead single An Adventure of a Lifetime is pretty much a copypasta of Paradise but not as memorable or anthem-y but does lead the charge of better songs. The double whammy of Army of One/X Marks the Spot is the most intriguing on the record, the former being a slower, darker song than anything before it, before the latter quickly catapults over it. It reminds me a lot of Yes/Chinese Sleep Chant, although I don't really know why considering the lack of guitars.
Amazing Day sounds like band trying to outdo Fix You as the go-to song for triumphant moments on The X Factor. It sounds fine but I'm counting it down before it's overplayed and ruined. The album's closer Up&Up is the longest single track in the band discography and, although it's production is a bit soft in places, it gives the album the triumphant, epic finalé it desperately needed.
I've been struggling as to whether A Head Full... is a better record than Mylo Xyloto as the two are stylistically very similar. Whereas Mylo Xyloto needed a lot of trimming and at it's worse, songs deserved to be dropped (especially after seeing Moving to Mars relegated as a b-side), A Head Full of Dreams is a much better package, even if it takes half an album to warm up before getting really good.
Even at it's weakest, it's still a decent pop album, but with a bit of tweaking, it could have been as good as the Coldplay of a decade ago.
If this is indeed the final Coldplay album, then as last hurrah's go, it could have been so much worse.
7/10
H
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