Wow you seem to be slaughtering X&Y even from the songs you find the best :P

Yup, I honestly do like White Shadows, but every single other song gives me mixed feelings. I tried to love this album, as a fan of the others, but I can't. They are a different band now for better or worse... and I would say much worse.

 

When I rate something 5/10 I mean it's AVERAGE, not average by Coldplay standards but average by the standards of all that's out there, halfway between the best and the worst. Still, you have to understand I'm not saying those are among the worst songs out there-- they are very bad by previous Coldplay standards, where even the worst songs were pretty good, but they aren't BAD. "Low" is a bit below average (closer to the worst song ever than to the best), but the 1/10s and below are the only ones I think are actually BAD songs. That makes 4 truly bad songs on an album, which is only a third of it, and not unheard of. What hurts X&Y for me more is that the good songs are hovering in average range. I could ignore the bad ones easily enough and not let them ruin the album, if not for the fact that one of them is the title track (and closer for side X), one of them is the album closer, and one of them takes the tune of one of my favorite songs of the '80s (and I don't even like most Kraftwerk besides that song!), uses it in the cheapest way possible, and almost ruins my appreciation for the original "Computer Love."

Also, "Til Kingdom Come": 5/10. For some reason "Green Eyes" gets a bad rap but I liked that song, it was simple and direct and it provided a nice break between the more epic songs on Rush of Blood. "Til Kingdom Come" may have been written for Johnny Cash, but it's in a similar country folk style to "Green Eyes," and it's not anywhere near as good. It feels like they were imitating Cash's own style a little too well here. It doesn't feel like THEIR work (kinda like "Talk"). It's definitely cooler in this case though, since it's just a bonus track and was never supposed to be performed by them. Even if Cash had performed it, it's hard to imagine it more than okay, but I wouldn't hold this one against X&Y, it's less overproduced than the rest, for sure.

Bit odd you first call X&Y a 'great song' and then you give it a -10 and call it 'the worst thing this band has ever, and hopefully will ever, do' :/

I certainly never called X&Y a great song. I think you must have misread. If there's one song I never said anything positive about, it would be that one.

^ lol. :lol: X&Y and Twisted Logic are the only two songs on the album I'm not crazy about. I'll listen to them and whatnot - but they just aren't as strong as the rest IMHO. :confused:

1.X&Y

2.Twisted Logic

3.Low

4.Tll Kingdom Come

5.Square One

6.What If

7.Fix You

8.White Shadows

9.Speed of Sound

10.Talk

11.A Message

12.Swallowed in the Sea

13.The Hardest Part

 

But I really loov all the songs so its kinda hard making a list like that

1. Swallowed in the Sea : Pure genius,

2. White Shadows: Love the Bass guitar on this, and the ending organ chord progression (Coldplay without a doubt have some of the best chord progressions in the business (e.g. Politik, Scientist)

3. Talk (loved the old one, but love this one even more, they better play this at the u.s. concerts)

4. Fix You - truly their "with or without you", great organ and ending chorus riff by Jonny

5. Speed of Sound : I know most people are tired of it, but it's a great song with a catchy chorus and lyrics that I could relate to

6. Square One - great synths, another great ending

7. A Message - the nice chordy simple song they needed and got

8. X & Y - great homage to the Beatles

9. What If - Standard Coldplay (which is great) with a sprinkle of A day in the life at the end

10. Low - Didn't like it at first (heard it live), but the spoons brought me back

11. Til Kingdom Come -actually should be higher, great acoustic song, with nice octaves by the drummer extraordinaire

12. Hardest Part - didn't like at first, but extremely catchy and another day for the "guitar hero"

13. Twisted Logic - I'm glad they put it on the record, Chris gets his commentary in, and takes a plot device from Spielberg.

 

Overall, the top 5 are ones I play immediately as of right now, but the whole album rocks and continues to amaze

.

 

12. X&Y -10/10. The worst thing this band has ever, and hopefully will ever, do. You know why? Because it seems created for no other reason than to move product. And as much as I dislike some of the other songs on this album, they still feel like they have some integrity.

 

I really want to believe they are still people with integrity, still trying to be a meaningful band, and not just a mega-selling one. But the lyrics of this song make me think it's a big sham. They are a joke. They are completely meaningless.

 

To have it be the title track, and define what the title itself means, single-handedly makes me like the album less. An embarassment.

 

 

well X&Y is definitely not the best track on the album but thats not to say it isn't good because it is. i think you're going waaaaaaay over the top with your criticism of it ..

 

i think the start to the song is good and the lyrics are also good, i can definitely relate to 'trying to fix' and 'repair things' that i haven't been able to

 

its like in the chorus hes trying to imagine himself in his relationship that hes trying to fix .. then after the first chorus that guitar that comes in creates a real atmosphere ... maybe after this the track falls down with the oooohhhhhhh's but the violin/synth thing ending is good so id give this track 7/10 :)

Yup, I honestly do like White Shadows, but every single other song gives me mixed feelings. I tried to love this album, as a fan of the others, but I can't. They are a different band now for better or worse... and I would say much worse.

 

What hurts X&Y for me more is that the good songs are hovering in average range.

 

i have to ask you this what did you think of the other two Coldplay albums? if you do actually like Coldplay then i cannot believe you'd call this album average compared to every other album ... your very large criticism has made me unhappy tonight :(

 

many people wouldn't call this Coldplay's best album or a great album but most people agree that it is at least good and not average so i've just got to disagree with 90% of what you said in page 2 of this thread

1.A Message

2. Fix You

3. Square One

4. What If

5. X&Y

6. Twisted Logic

7. Hardest Part

8. Speed of Sound

9. Til Kingdom Come

10. White Shadows

11. Talk

12. Low

13. Swallowed in the Sea

Mine's changed since the last time.

 

1 white shadows

2 low

3 x&y

4 twisted logic

5 square one

6 the hardest part

7 talk

8 sos

9 fix you

10 what if

11 swallowed in the sea

12 a message

13 till kingdom come

01. White Shadows (Awesome song!)

02. Talk (Just as awesome, still like WS more tho!)

03. Fix You (Amazing)

04. Low (Dark and lovely)

05. The Hardest Part (Loving the piano and the general happy feel)

06. Square One (Some great lyrics and guitar work, love the ending)

07. A Message (Apart from some cheesy lyrics, it's great)

08. Speed Of Sound (Tired of it now, still a great song)

09. X&Y (Very good, but not one of my favs)

10. Twisted Logic (Still hasn't grown that much on me, gotta listen to it more)

11. What If (Bit boring)

12. Swallowed In The Sea (Cheesy lyrics. Good music tho)

13. Till Kingdom Come (Doesn't do much for me, sorry)

 

I like all the songs tho! Hehe...

the whole album is pure genious! stop ranking coldplay! they are all very good!

I certainly never called X&Y a great song. I think you must have misread. If there's one song I never said anything positive about' date=' it would be that one.[/quote']

X&Y' date=' even this great song, is simply electronic and processed in the usual boring way we hear on the radio these days.[/quote']

You probably meant 'White Shadows' or 'On X&Y' :)

1 A Msg

2. Talk

3. SpeedOfSound

4. X&Y

5.Fix U

6.Low

 

-- twisted Logic--

 

-- Till Kingdom come--

 

7.White Shadow

8.Square One

9.What If

10. The Hardest Part

11. Swallowed In The Sea

I can't rank them, you can't rank them. THEY ARE UNRANKABLE. It's like comparing apples to oranges. They both good, but differently.

 

1. All Coldplay tracks

2. "

3. "

4. etc etc

 

^ See, rank them like that. ;) :cool:

the whole album is pure genious! stop ranking coldplay! they are all very good!

 

It's important to be critical, as the band need to be kept on their toes! You wouldn't want substandard material to be released, would you?

well my list has changed since....wel loo kat that yesterday!

 

1.What If

2.X&Y

3.Twisted Logic

4.Fix You

5.Square One

6.Speed of Suond

7.Till Kingdom Come

8.White Shadows

9.A Message

10.Talk

11.Swallowed in the Sea

12.The Hardest Part

1. fix you

2. x&y

3. square one

4. twisted logic

5. low

6. white shadows

7. til' kingdom come

 

the rest

most of us prefer the firts three songs listed bellow :P

 

01 x&y

02 fix you

03 what if

04 twisted logic

05 speed of sound

06 talk

07 a message

08 low

09 till kingdom come

10 sqaure one

11 white shadows

12 swallowed in the sea

13 the hardest part

I was talking about "White Shadows" as the song I love even though it still has the type of production I dont think Coldplay needs. When I said "X&Y, even this great song...," I was talking about faults of the entire album, which even apply on my favorite song "White Shadows." I was not talking about the title song, "X&Y." Sorry if that wasnt obvious.

 

I'm not saying White Shadows doesnt work great with the huge, mock-U2 epic sound. I'm just saying it's a problem when every song on the album needs to be drowned in synths like that. The better ones sound okay with big production though they still come off as less distinctive than past Coldplay (just compare "Square One" to "Politik"-- "Politik" was heavily produced and epic, but not THAT much). But especially the weaker songs would benefit in a more stripped down style, a la older Coldplay. I think that's subconsciously the reason everyone likes "Fix You" so much. It's not that it's one of Chris' better melodies or lyrics ever, but it's great because it's the only one on the album with the organic Rush of Blood/Parachutes sound, reminding us how Coldplay used to be able to be poppy and accessible to anyone without sounding intentionally slick and just COMMERCIAL.

 

When you use an ultra-commercial style of production and write a "weak" song, it's never interesting, just bad. When you use Parachutes (or "Fix You") style intimate production and write a "weak" song, it can rise above being weak and still be moving and interesting because it sounds like it's speaking to you. Production has made a huge difference for Coldplay in the past. If Chris Allison had produced all of Parachutes, it wouldnt have been half the album it was-- Coldplay might not even have been noticed much. Interesting production elevated Coldplay way above Travis for instance. Travis are amazing pop songwriters but an album like The Man Who did not sound as personal as Parachutes, it sounded just a bit forced due to the slick production.

 

You know how they put up the signs in the studio, "Soul!" "Passion!" The original performance is only a part of getting that across. Every decision they make in the studio is as important. Ken Nelson and the band did such a brilliant job getting the intimate yet anthemic sound on the first one, and on the second one, which was a real challenge because it had to sound stadium friendly and it still managed to sound just as intimate. X&Y simply sounds stadium friendly.

 

Is this album better than average... I dont personally think so, though you can disagree. Because what does that mean? I'll give you an example. I never particularly paid attention to Shakira but I was in a store today and listened to Fijacion Oral, her new Spanish language album. You know what, it's amazingly good, all the way through. Great vocals, a lot of variety between ballads and upbeat tracks, I can't understand the lyrics but I suspect they are no more bland than X&Y, in one case I can sort of understand them and I think they're quite exciting, and it's actually a far better produced album than Coldplay's, with a lot of acoustic guitars but loud beats when it needs them.

 

Now, this is "just" a pop album from the top 10 of the Billboard charts. I love it, I'm just saying, this is the kind of album Coldplay fans love to criticize as a way of defending their band-- "oh yeah, X&Y may not be as good as Rush of Blood, but come on it's way better than all that girl/boy crap." I dont think Chris Martin would agree with these fans cause we know he loves mainstream pop music-- Nelly, Limp Bizkit, probably Shakira. But a lot of Coldplay fans feel their band is ROCK and therefore something special, that no matter how bad its music gets, it is still somehow on a level above anything else that sells as much, I dunno, maybe cause they are white people and they play guitars.

 

Maybe I'm not a Coldplay fan. I'm a fan of the first two albums, but I try to be objective. When Coldplay make a new album filled with songs I would have laughed at if the Backstreet Boys had made them, I can't tell myself not to laugh at it them because they're Coldplay. Yes, it is surely better than whatever the Backstreet Boys are doing now. They arent even capable of writing a decent fake-U2 song, and Coldplay is capable of writing ones so ingeniously manipulative most people dont even notice how derivative they are. But arent they still capable of writing COLDPLAY songs, with that mix of naivitee and self confidence, indie and pop, gooeyness and good taste, that made us all big fans? Not anymore. Because they've lost the naivitee, the indie, and the good taste. X&Y is music that doesnt just get played on Clear Channel but sounds designed for it. Many things in the charts suck worse than X&Y. But many things in the charts, and definitely outside them, are far better.

 

Enjoy it if you enjoy it, you dont have to agree with me, but at least understand there are millions out there who probably agree. Millions of albums sold does not mean millions of albums enjoyed.

 

(If I had to grade them, I would give Parachutes an 8 or 9/10, Rush of Blood a 9 or maybe even 10/10 if I'm in the right mood for it, and the new one, I dunno, it might be as low as a 3 or a 4. But numbers are stupid. Let's just say it doesn't compare.)

well X&Y is definitely not the best track on the album but thats not to say it isn't good because it is. i think you're going waaaaaaay over the top with your criticism of it ..

 

i think the start to the song is good and the lyrics are also good, i can definitely relate to 'trying to fix' and 'repair things' that i haven't been able to

 

its like in the chorus hes trying to imagine himself in his relationship that hes trying to fix .. then after the first chorus that guitar that comes in creates a real atmosphere ... maybe after this the track falls down with the oooohhhhhhh's but the violin/synth thing ending is good so id give this track 7/10 :)

 

Thanks for the explanation. It helps to see where you are coming from... yeah, I mean, I cant say Chris is being dishonest. But what matters with a song is not the intent, but whether that comes across. For all I know, Chris completely invented the scenario of "Warning Sign" and never went through a relationship problem like that, but the song is so totally hard hitting and believable it wouldnt matter to me if he was taking creative license. With "X&Y" (title track, title track :P ) I do have a feeling it's about his personal life, and not written simply to sell more records. I mean in that case, it would have been the first single, and it would also have had a better melody.

 

But I don't BELIEVE in it. It sounds fake, even if it is not. And this is sort of true of "A Message" too, a bit less. Maybe Chris and Gwyneth (or Chris and Apple, or whatever) really imagine themselves floating on tidal waves and in space when they're together, but it's impossible to imagine real people doing such a thing. Those phrases are such complete cliches, they have no emotional resonance anymore, unless combined with music that's as impressive as space and tidal waves. See: shoegazer bands, which often had equally crap lyrics but it didnt matter. If "X&Y" sounded amazing I wouldnt be giving a second thought to the lyrics.

oh lord this is so hard. but here's my attempt at ranking them. from most favorite to favorite. :confused:

 

1. white shadows

2. x&y

3. twisted logic

4. fix you

5. a message

6. low

7. the hardest part

8. talk

9. till kingdom come

10. speed of sound

11. square one

12. swallowed in the sea

13. what if

1.a message

2. twisted logic

3. low

4. x&y

5.white shadows

6. square one

7. what if

8.fix you

9.talk

10.speed of sound

11.the hardest part

12.swallowed in the sea

13.till kingdom come