Many would know that the band’s video Hymn for a Weekend based on the festival of Holi, was shot in India at various places from Mumbai to Varanasi and also features a guest appearance by Beyonce and our very own Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. The video earned a lot of cultural appreciation for India, as well as appropriation from certain quarters for showing India in a bad light.

That aside, we must give credit for Coldplay who have written the band’s name in Hindi on the album’s cardboard cover and the inner inlay, making it probably the only foreign band to do such a thing. The cover box of the CD shows a geometric pattern, known as the Flower of Life.

According to reports this is Coldplay’s final album, as frontman Chris Martin has stated in interviews earlier. But that is to be seem if it ever does happen. The guest artists on this album include Beyoncé, Noel Gallagher, Martin’s ex-wife Gwenyth Paltrow, and even U.S President President Obama himself via a recurring sample of his Amazing Grace (sung for a funeral) on the track Kaleidoscope.

The title track A Head Fullof Dreams is easy on the ears and you know it’s a Coldplay album by the first bars. It has a heady bass riff to it with a chorus that you might want to remember for sometime. Birds up next is pure pop that grooves easily with Chris Martin’s strong vocals. Its jumpy beat puts you in a good mood. Get into the dancehall beat of Hymn For The Weekend, an out and out R & B licks with the usual rock picks that has Beyonce in a short come and go moment. Known for giving off some great ballads, Everglow is one track you should not miss from this band. With a great piano opening, good vocals by Martin and a backup that has ex lover Gwyneth, Paltrow, the song is a pledge to enduring friendship and a love lost. Lyrics that go “I’m gonna miss ya, I know” are truly moving and give a very seductive feeling all over.

When Martin sings "I feel my heart beating" on Adventure of a Lifetime, you know its time to hit the dancefloor and party. One of the top favorites here, the album has good moments to cherish. The guitar riffs which switch from prop rock and 80s electronica are well balanced and very infectious even at the first listen. This is one replayable track for Coldplay fans. Pop singer Tove Lo fills up next on Fun a great song set in a balladic sort of way. Speaking on the end of a relationship the lyrics are point blank and stare at you for a moment. “I know its over, parting our ways / And its done / But didn’t we have fun?. So much for saving and keeping good friends with your ex. Kaleidoscope playing at just under two minutes, comprises a spoken extract from a poem by the Persian poet Rumi, over a lofty piano instrumental: "This being human is a guest house / Every morning a new arrival / A joy, a depression, a meanness…” And like we said before watch for the voice of Obama on the track. Army of One is sweet on its lyrics and speak of the wonders the world. Amazing Day is slow and not one of the highlights in the album with a focus more on an indie – rock side of the band. Colour Spectrum the shortest song on the album at one minute, is described on the album inlay as a color code, is an extract from Rumi’s peom ‘The Guest House’.

The final track Up&Up, the longest piece, opens with a short beat, but moves on to pushing itself as a stadium rock sound, upbeat with good guitar work and a great refrain, "We're gonna get it, get it together somehow" to “How can people suffer? How can people part? How can people struggle? How can people Break your heart? Break your heart?” If what Martin claims is their final album, this track is the right one to end a great career with one of Brit rock’s best band ever. On the band's seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams, Chris Martin and ­company take you on the dancefloor and let you party.

Colplday has given us some great music down the years and we are satisfied with all their albums right from their debut effort Parachutes (2000) to Ghost Stories (2014). There’s no complaining on this new album too, its only album for keeps.

Lyrics included to all songs except Kaleidoscope and the Colour Spectrum.

Rating: ****

Reviewed By Verus Ferreira