An overextended leave

I had always wondered what was taking Coldplay so damn long to write a new album...

In the three years since the band's triple-platinum "A Rush of Blood to the Head," [Chris] Martin said songs were written and discarded, tracks recorded and ditched, while tensions among himself, guitarist Jon Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion raged and calmed.

"Suddenly something you thought was brilliant, two days later you can't believe you felt like that," Martin told the Detroit Free Press. "And vice versa. I don't understand how that happens, but sometimes you get clarity on something when you're least expecting it."

The Beatles could put out 2 albums a year, guys...no excuses.