Coldplay album review mega-thread!

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OnFire said:


It's an October review. I didn't realize this until I caught part of the Coldplay Storytellers show on VH1 last night, but They are now in their late 20's. So by the time U2 were in their late 20's they had already recorded JT. So all I can say about my original post now is, uh,...never mind.

:eek:

Heh, no worries man. It's the one thing that most people forget to take into account when they compare Coldplay and U2. Coldplay is at just about the same age as U2 were when they recorded their first masterpiece. And if you don't even want to go by age, U2's third album was MILES ahead of Coldplay's in terms of progression. It was very different to October. The only difference between X&Y and AROBTTH is a couple extra synths here and there and significantly worse writing from Chris Martin. So I don't see how some people (not necessarily at this forum, but at others) can get off saying that Coldplay are twice the band U2 ever were, because they're not. Even now, when U2 aren't making their most mind-boggling work, I still think they're musically superior to Coldplay. Though the progression from ATYCLB to HTDAAB wasn't huge, it was much greater than the progression between AROBTTH and X&Y, in my opinion.

And no, I'm not one of those mindless dolts who listened to X&Y once and came up with an opinion. I have genuinely listened to it a number of times, and I don't think it's living up to the hype. I liked Parachutes and most of AROBTTH, so I'm not just your average Coldplay basher either. On X&Y the drum patterns never seem to change, Chris Martin writes like a bloody middle-school student, and Jon Buckland is still obsessed with The Edge. I think they should seriously think of giving Buckland a good bash over the head - it might knock some originality into him. I'm not saying that The Edge was exactly a pioneer with his use of delay and atmospherics, but at least he took his influences and came up with a signature sound of his own, instead of regurgitating that of his idols. Jon Buckland is just emulating Edge to the nth degree. Remember that song, Moses? It's a good song, but the first time I heard it, I thought that someone must have fucked up the ID key on the MP3 - I thought it was a U2 song because of the guitar! The only thing I really like about X&Y is Guy Berryman's basslines. I've always liked his playing, even though it isn't exactly complicated.

Anyway, I've waffled on long enough. I'll just say this - when the COBL video comes out, the first Coldplay fan I see claiming that U2 ripped off Coldplay's video for Speed Of Sound will receive my foot so far up his/her arse, he/she won't be able to have proper bowel movement for weeks.
 
AVG INTERFERENCER: Coldplay sucks! How dare they mimic MY band?!

MYSELF: Coldplay have released a great album! Thank goodness I can actually focus on them and not U2, thereby enjoying this era of the band. My life is perfect.




Have fun flaming on me, but I mean everything! EVERYTHING!:drool:
 
Lancemc said:
You know, I really do like X & Y, but Martin really is a bad lyricist. This has to be said. The lyrics to "Fix You" are truely cringeworthy.

"When you try your best but you dont succeed.
When you get what you want but not what you need.
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep.
Stuck in reverse...
And the tears coming streaming down your face.
When you leave something you cant replace.
When you love someone but it goes to waste.
Could it be worse. Lights will guide you home.
And ingnite your bones. And I will try to fix you."


Hmmm. Ick.:huh:

Sounds like something Bono would write or sing...
 
the lyrics to "Fix You" are like something from Celine Dion.

Sure, Bono has written some quetionable lyrics at times, but he is ten times the songwriter that Chris Martin is......

Martin's lyrics are just laughable.
 
xaviMF22 said:
Miami
My mammy
Miami

this was not even funny the first time. you take lyrics completely out of context, in order to deflect attention from the utter shit that Martin writes. IMO, Miami is a cool song lyrically. at least it has some interesting imagery and is a little abstract, which i like.

i'll play the same game as you. here is another example of Martin's sophistication as a songwriter:

A Message

My song is love
Love to the loveless shown
And it goes on
You don't have to be alone

Your heavy heart
Is made of stone
And it's so hard to see you clearly
You don't have to be on your own
You don't have to be on your own

And I'm not gonna take it back
And I'm not gonna say I don't MEAN that
You're the target that I'm aiming at
Got to get that message home

My song is love
Love to the love UNKNOWN
But I'm on fire for you, clearly
You don't have to be on your own
You don't have to be on your own

And I'm not gonna take it back
Oh, I'm not gonna say I don't MEAN that
You're the target that I'm aiming at
And I'm nothing on my own
Got to get that message home

And I'm not gonna stand and wait
I'm not gonna leave it until it's much too late
On a platform, I'm gonna stand and say
That I'm nothing on my own
And I love you, please come home

My song is love, is love unknown
And I've got to get that message home.
 
I didn't quote out of context. I could go ahead cut and paste Mercy and IMO that would be enough to counter or give an example of less then stellar lyrics by the Bono. Let's go way back and reference the Unforgettable Fire album (although a sonic classic) which had some goofy lyrics (taken as a whole) or bad verses.

As for Martin's lyrics... IMO he can be hit and miss just as Bono, Yorke, Gallagher, McCartney, etc. are when writing lyrics. No lyricists bat 1.000. Add to that the fact that lyrics are not poems. Lyrics within the context of the music played or the way they are sung can actually sound better then what is written on paper. IMO case in point is a song like Electrical Storm.

Bono has mentioned it with Where the Streets have No Name.


I agree with you about Miami though.
 
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great cd. 4 out of 5 stars from me...i especially am hooked on A Message...also have tix to see themin philly cant wait.


i dont get why interference people dont like them. its awesome music. and if its b/c they "want to be like U2"...who wouldnt? hell i if were in a band i would love to make it that big, wouldnt you model yourself after U2?
 
I find X&Y to be just about as universal as a collection of songs can be. So universal in fact, that Chris has surpassed Bono's ability to write universally, and is instead in the realm of writing about absolutley nothing.

Listen to the songs, they're about nothing, and they blend together to form an album that equals 0% ambition and 0% improvement from their previous 2 efforts.

So this is basically Coldplay's ATYCLB I suppose, except it's their third album. I'd give em 5 albums total tops before the band retreats or breaks up.




And one of those 5 is definetly going to be an all-acoustic collection of Chris Martin covering country music classics :wink:
 
Can't decide whether it is better than Rush of Blood, definately better than Parachutes.

Rush of Blood was a 5 star album
Parachutes was 3 and a half
At the moment I'm think X&Y is 4.5

Haven't written a massive review yet but here's a few thoughts

Best Tracks: White Shadows, Talk, X&Y, Swallowed in the Sea, What If, Square 1, Hardest Part

Weakest: Fix You, Til Kingdom Come

Lyrics: Great on some (Talk, X&Y, Square One, Message)

These songs are gonna translate brilliantly live.

The band is willing to change their sound, but if you don;t like Coldplay's MUSIC before, you probably won't lilke this.

To Affirm their greatness Coldplay need to make their 4th album an adventurous one.

Talk might be one of the best songs I've ever heard.
It encapsualtes everything I want to hear from a song
 
Flying FuManchu said:
As for Martin's lyrics... IMO he can be hit and miss just as Bono, Yorke, Gallagher, McCartney, etc. are when writing lyrics.

I can't say I remember any "hits" from Chris Martin; his lyrics, for me, range from serviceable to horrible. The artists you mention have come up with some duds, sure, but unlike Martin they wrote some truly stellar stuff as well.

Anyway, bad lyrics on a Coldplay album, or any album really, don't matter to me so much if the album is musically strong. But when an album is as uninspired as X&Y, its other flaws stick out even more.
 
Either way, I love the new Coldplay album and so does the casual listener (ask my girlfriend, who isn't necessarily a fan of the band, who likes the new album). The only flaws, to me, are the lyrics being weak and the fact that I have a broader vocal range than Martin (but that's something he can't change without some sort of operation -- but if he had some sort of operation, Apple would never have a younger sibling:wink: )
 
allmusic's review is up. Four stars, but not an entirely glowing review. Many interesting comments, though.



Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

After Radiohead stubbornly refused to accept the mantle of world's biggest and most important rock band by releasing the willfully strange rocktronica fusion Kid A in 2000, Coldplay stepped up to the plate with their debut, Parachutes. Tasteful, earnest, introspective, anthemic, and grounded in guitars, the British quartet was everything Radiohead weren't but what the public wanted them to be, and benefited from the Oxford quintet's decision to abandon rock stardom for arcane art rock. Parachutes became was a transatlantic hit and 2002's sequel, A Rush of Blood to the Head, consolidated their success by being bigger and better than Parachutes, positioning Coldplay to not be just the new Radiohead, but the new U2: a band that belongs to the world but whose fans believe that the music is for them alone. To that end, Coldplay's third album, X&Y — slightly delayed so it follows Rush of Blood by nearly three years, but that's no longer than the time separating OK Computer and Kid A, or The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree — is designed to be the record that elevates Coldplay to the major leagues, where they are at once the biggest and most important band in the world. It's deliberate and sleek, cinematic and pristine, hip enough to sample Kraftwerk and blend in fashionable retro-'80s post-punk allusions without altering the band's core. Indeed, X&Y is hardly a bold step forward but rather a consolidation of Coldplay's strengths, particularly their skill at crafting surging, widescreen epics. But if X&Y highlights their attributes it also brings Coldplay's weaknesses into sharp relief. Forget the fact that they, by any stretch of the imagination, do not rock — rocking is simply against their nature. They are a meditative band, reflecting on their emotions instead of letting them go in a cathartic blast of noise and rhythm. This isn't a problem — after all, there have been plenty of great bands that do not rock & roll — but their terminal politeness does cripple their music, preventing it from being as majestic as its aspirations. Coldplay is well scrubbed and well behaved, possessing a textbook education in classic rock and the good sense to never stretch any farther than needed. They are the perfect middlebrow rock band — clean, pristine, and rational, seemingly smart since they never succumb to pounding, primal riffs, but also not weird enough to be genuine art rock. It's ambitious, yet its ambitions are modest, not risky, so their ambitions can be fulfilled without breaking a sweat. And since their sweeping yet subdued theatricality does recall the more majestic moments of Radiohead and U2, they have won millions of fans, but another crucial reason that Coldplay have a broad appeal is that lead singer/songwriter Chris Martin never tackles any large issues, preferring to endlessly examine his feelings. Like on Parachutes and Rush of Blood, all the songs on X&Y are ruminations on Martin's doubts, fears, hopes, and loves. His words are earnest and vague, so listeners can identify with the underlying themes in the songs, and his plain, everyman voice, sighing as sweet as a schoolboy, is unthreatening and unassuming, so it's all the easier for listeners to project their own emotions into the song. But for as impeccable as X&Y is — and, make no mistake, it's a good record, crisp, professional, and assured, a sonically satisfying sequel to A Rush of Blood to the Head — it does reveal that Martin's solipsism is a dead-end, diminishing the stature of the band. Where U2 is big in sound, scope, ambition, and intent, Coldplay is ultimately big music about small things, and even if X&Y is a strong, accomplished album, its limited, narcissistic point of view is what prevents the quartet from inheriting the title of the biggest and most important band in the world.
 
purpleblackeye said:


And I'm not gonna take it back


I thought he sang in the Message -

"And I'm not gonna take a bath"

ahhh damn I like the bath version better, you had to go and ruin it for me.:wink:
 
the tourist said:
Either way, I love the new Coldplay album and so does the casual listener

Me too, all this fuc#ing talk about crap lyrics and blah blah woof woof, the music still sounds good to me. It beats the hell out of a lot of crap thats released these days and the supposedly up and coming bands such as Franz crappy Ferdinand, Kasabian, Razorlight, Snow Patrol and so on are crap compared to the latest Coldplay album.
 
rjhbonovox said:


I thought he sang in the Message -

"And I'm not gonna take a bath"

ahhh damn I like the bath version better, you had to go and ruin it for me.:wink:

:laugh:

yeah, it would have been a much better song if he were saying "bath"
 
phanan said:
U2: a band that belongs to the world but whose fans believe that the music is for them alone

Heh very well put. It's exactly how I feel. U2 are huge, but somehow I don't know anyone who likes them enough to have any album other than JT.
 
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I'll do song-by-song because I like these types of reviews best.

Square One: A great opening song, with the way it builds up like that. I like the distorted guitar and the driving, crashing ahead sound. The only thing I really dislike about this song is the soaring, rising falsetto...a little bit much, IMO.

What If: I like it. It's not overly memorable, but it's a fun little track that has some cool lyrics. This song seems to me like an "I'm in love with my wife and daughter and would never want to lose that" kind of song.

White Shadows: The most U2-ish Coldplay song ever written. This seems like it could have been an outtake from The Unforgettable Fire! I love this song. The guitar is awesome, chimey, and chugging along. The chorus slams you in the face with a memorable hook and a memorable line (check my location!). One of the best songs on the album.

Fix You: I love the slow way this song builds up, and the sweet lyrics. I could do without the lyrics in the middle eight but that is really the only major fault with this song. It's not exactly something that is overly memorable but it is a nice, sweet song in the vein of What If.

Talk: Ahhhhhh :drool: This is easily my favorite song on this album. The riff is an awesome hook (even if it's not original) and I could see Chris Martin jumping all over the stage for this one. If they don't release this song as a single, then they are idiots, because this song is a guaranteed number one.

X&Y: I think this is really a forgettable song, and one of the least good ones (although still a pretty good song) on the album. The airy slide riff in the middle eight is cool though.

Speed of Sound: This song gets ripped rather unfairly, IMO. I think it's awesome, I love the way the song picks you up, sends you into space on the chorus, and doesn't let you crash back down to earth. This is the sound of flying under your own power.

A Message: The Y half's throwaway love song. It's another non-memorable song, but the buildup near the end sounds incredibly like a local band called In-Flight Safety that I love, so this definitely is a keeper.

Low: Another U2-sounding song that could have come straight off of War with an Achtung b-side thrown in. I love the guitar in this song so much that I immediately went and learned it. The line "living in perfect symmetry" for some reason really is cool to me.

The Hardest Part: This is the "driving" song of X&Y. The kind of song you like to listen to on a long drive as the sun is setting and it's clear and bright outside and you haven't got a care in the world. Songs like this are "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin and "Night Moves" by Bob Seger. Just a feel-good song that is easy to listen to and catchy.

Swallowed in the Sea: I've essentially adopted this song as mine and Amy's unofficial song. Every time I hear it I think of her. It's a fantastic love song with great lyrics that I think are a lot more poignant than the lyrics in What If or Fix You. "That's where I belong, and you belong with me." :)

Twisted Logic: Everyone says this song is pulled straight from Radiohead. And I really don't see it except for the guitar in the first verse and the effects on the guitar for the remainder of the song. I've tried to picture Thom Yorke singing this song. I can't do it. It's a Coldplay song. I love this song too...and the chord progression in the chorus!! I can imagine this song being a "shit your pants" moment live, if they do it right.

Til Kingdom Come: Chris Martin channeling the Man in Black. Johnny Cash would love to cover this song if he were still around. I can just picture Johnny dedicating this to June. And that's more than enough to make this a fantastic song.

Final verdict: 9.5/10
 
Apparently Talk is based on a Kraftwerk riff, so the band have said. Its a great song on an album full of great songs....what if, white shadows, fix you, x and y, message, low etc....I have probably listened to this album more times than I have anything else for years as far as new releases go, its an album that deserves repeated listening!:wink:
 
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