Coldplays Moon Music is hardly an improvement over their classic albums but still brings heart: review

Let’s face it — Coldplay is not as hot as they once were.Certainly not like when “Yellow,” “Clocks” and “Viva La Viva” — their Grammy-winning single that topped the charts in 2008 — were some of the defining alt-rock hits of the aughts.But then again, the same can be said for any middle-aged act that ruled the 2000s.With the exception of Beyoncé, of course.So it was kinda sad to hear that Chris Martin and crew — who released their 10th studio album, “Moon Music,” on Friday — were only going to make two more LPs after this.That’s right — the biggest band of the 21st century will be retiring from recording.“We are only going to do 12 proper albums, and that’s real,” Martin, 47, told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe earlier this week.

“It’s really important that we have that limit.“Having that limit means that the quality control is so high right now,” he continued, “and for a song to make it, it’s almost impossible, which is great.And so where we could be kind of coasting, we’re trying to improve.”“Moon Music,” though, will hardly be seen as an improvement over classic Coldplay albums such as 2000’s “Parachutes,” 2002’s “A Rush of a Blood to the Head” and 2008’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.”It’s a tale of two — or possibly even three — Coldplays.There’s the Coldplay that is still committed to the album format — as much as that has gone the way of the dinosaur in the streaming era — and the artful atmospherics that marked their earlier work.You can hear that Coldplay on the title track that opens the album with a sweeping orchestral grandeur that gives way to moody piano balladry.

It feels like it’s meant to tell you that you are going on some type of journey — maybe to the moon? — with prog-rock goals that nod to Pink Floyd: “Maybe I’m just crazy/I should just be a brick in the wall,” sings Martin at his most melancholy.But on the very next track — the albu...