Coldplay released their long awaited fifth album 'Mylo Xyloto' in the UK today (October 24th 2011) and were celebrating only a couple of hours after stores opened, having been crowned The Best Act In The World Today by monthly music publication Q Magazine at their awards ceremony in London.
The four-piece have been well decorated at the annual Q Awards in the past, dating right back to 2000 when they won the 'Best Album' award for their breakthrough debut album 'Parachutes'. They followed that up in 2002 with second album 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head', in fact, the band have even won the 'Best Act' award twice before, taking the title in both 2005 and 2008. It's perhaps no surprise then that the group won it for a third time, fending off stiff competition from Muse, U2 and The Arcade Fire among others. U2 wouldn't have been too disconsolate however, as they were chosen by the magazine's readers as Top Artist of The Past 25 Years.
Reception for 'Mylo Xyloto' has been mixed ahead of release, which is perhaps understandable given that Coldplay front man Chris Martin told MTV that it was "a schizophrenic album". The singer went on to anticipate the reaction by saying "we felt like so many people have already made up their minds about us, both good and bad, that we can sort of start again from scratch and try and reflect all the music we listen to and we love."