When people say X&Y was "overproduced".

[IneedYou23]

So since X&Y came out in 2005 critics and fans often say that the album was overproduced.I love X&Y,and I dont really understand what people mean when they say it was overproduced.Is it the synths or the way Chris voice sounds?To me it sounds perfect.But I guess if you are nit picky about that stuff then you can hear the difference.But I dont really get all caught up in that stuff.I just want to enjoy the music!But if you guys could kind of give some examples as to why people state this that would be helpful!Thanks!!

[fauo_1995]

Uh...
Well, of course I love the album...but it's like the album I less like
I think songs like X&Y, What If, White Shadows, Low...and even Speed of souns are too much electronic sounds...and I personally think that's overproduced.
Maybe is that?
Just my opinion...

[Pseudonym]

Overproduced as in too much after recording mixing. Not enough actual band sound, too much filler. It's like the fat on a really good cut of steak. Yeah the steak's great but the extra fat is just in the way.

[IneedYou23]

Yea I think thats what I kind of always thought what people meant about it being overproduced.But I actually like all those electronic sounds.I actually dont even think that its too electronic of an album.Im sure they could have gone even further with the crazy sounds if they wanted too.

[noonsun]

Actually when most people call it overproduced they're just trying to avoid calling it shit.

[Juanma]

I LOVE X&Y i dont think is overproduced,etc...

Almost all songs are awesome songs


Dont understand why got so much critics...

but besides critics it sold more than 10 million copies

[nam42]

Just a lot of synths and stuff you can hear on multiple songs. I remember Chris saying that they built the Beehive and/or Bakery so they could all face each other when playing, to make it more personal and "organic". And that during the production of X&Y, they were usually in separate booths, detracting from the experience.

[Pseudonym]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IneedYou23;4027488
Yea I think thats what I kind of always thought what people meant about it being overproduced.But I actually like all those electronic sounds.I actually dont even think that its too electronic of an album.Im sure they could have gone even further with the crazy sounds if they wanted too.

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It's not just the electronic sounds, it's the overall way things were layered so much on top of the actual 4 member's sound. First 2 album were very raw and rarely added on a bunch of outside sounds, X&Y changed that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by noonsun;4027491
Actually when most people call it overproduced they're just trying to avoid calling it shit.

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THIS

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nam42;4027496
Just a lot of synths and stuff you can hear on multiple songs. I remember Chris saying that they built the Beehive and/or Bakery so they could all face each other when playing, to make it more personal and "organic". And that during the production of X&Y, they were usually in separate booths, detracting from the experience.

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and THIS

[kittybitty]

I do love X&Y--AROBTTH is my all time favorite, however; I am not a music professional or schooled in music in any way, but I always felt that X&Y did not seem "organic." Chris' singing and lyrics seem like they are trying to be big, "superband" singing and lyrics. The album succeeds most when the songs are quieter and simpler, like on A Message and Swallowed by the Sea.

[Maru22]

Personally, I like many songs in X&Y but I do think that out of the four albums, it's maybe the "worst" one. I think the problem with it is that it doesn't feel like a very solid, thought out album. I think mostly they tried to make an album that would follow along the same lines as the previous ones, and so that ended up not working. Cause as they said in many interviews, it's better when they start from the beginning, as if they were new. With each album start from a blank page, because if not it happens like in X&Y that they tried to "copy" themselves, but at the same time make a somewhat different record, and so that's when the album became overproduced.

I think what people mean when they say it's overproduced is that they maybe put more thought into making the songs sound like what they thought would sell, with louder sounds, more electronic instead of just focusing on what they wanted to play. In turn what happened is that there's a lot of mixing, outside sounds, and more electronic which took away from the melodic sound that they usually do very well, the kind of ballady-rock that was so popular in the first albums. In fact my favorite songs from X&Y (Fix You, A Message, The Hardest Part) are the most "melodic" of the whole album... Also I think it wasn't very well thoughtout out as an album, like it feels like the sons were just "thrown" there, other than put in a well-thought out order. Like in Viva la Vida I feel like it's an album with a beginning and an end, the songs are where they are because they follow a certain theme. Like it wouldn't be the same if VLV was the first track there and not LIT1... Instead in X&Y it feels like maybe if they were put in a different order it would be the same because it doesn't have a bigger meaning other than "this is one song we recorded"... "this is another song we recorded".

This is just what I think though, I'm no expert in music. And I completely love some songs in X&Y, I just think the album as a whole was maybe just a product of all the fame and popularity they were gaining, and comercial success. Whereas you can see the difference with a record like VLV where they decided to get their own recording studio, do their own thing, really get into playing together again for fun, and play what they wanted to play.

[WeddingDom]

I love X&Y, just that!

[Juanma]

^

[flickahidalgo]

I personally think X&Y is a brilliant album. The songs on their are all brilliant, except What If.

[jc90]

^ meh, the beginning of What If starts off good enough...but just not the rest..

anyways, im in the boat of ppl who say its the worse album they made, but only because i love the other 3 a lot

[footyfan10]

I agree with pretty much all the reasons about why X & Y is over produced.

It's not fun too listen to for me. Honestly, I have to sort of make myself listen to X & Y. Usually, I get something out of it. And I have loved Fix You, A Message, The Hardest Part and Swallowed in the Sea since the album first came out. But all the other songs have sort of faded into the abyss for me.

The album just seemed generally unnatural to me. That's why Chris said stuff about organic. It's lots of electronic whirly sounds.

You can even see it in their b-sides. All of them seem like regurgitated Coldplay to me. Like Proof and Gravity (which aren't half bad songs - I listen to them every now and then) are just Chris trying to do certain songs on AROBTTH. Things I Don't Understand, which I loved when I first heard it, seems like a pretty pathetic song to me now. The lyrics are sort of dumb and the music is plainly annoying after having listened to it a few times.

That's it! For me, the thing about X & Y is that, while I liked it at first, after repeated listens it just got stale. REALLY stale. That is even the case for some of the songs I like on the album.

VLV seems like the opposite album for me. It's been what? 2 plus years since I first heard all these songs, and sure I don't rip them to shreds with 10 listens a day like I did when it first came out, but I still listen to them pretty much every day. That's a pretty amazing thing to me.