to the moron who says kid a is grey compared to viva la vida...get your head out of your ass.

 

kid a may just be the greatest record recorded so far this century (granted it has only been 8 years)

 

second of all has anyone in here thought of thinking for themselves before? everyone is entitled to their opinions and certainly a forum like this would seem like the proper place where those opinions can be expressed in hopes of creating a quality debate. but...oops sorry i forgot you cant bash anything coldplay does without being a moron. this whole place is just a big lovefest for coldplay, which is partly understandable because after all this is a coldplay place. what isn't understandable is that coldplay could make an album of farts and you guys would love it. my point is that no one has anything to say to the criticism, no great points have arisen to build a solid argument against the critics, unless you're counting this "i hate reviewers they're dumb..."i'm not reading reviews anymore". please.

 

 

Edited.

to the moron who says kid a is grey compared to viva la vida...get your head out of your ass.

 

kid a may just be the greatest record recorded so far this century (granted it has only been 8 years)

 

second of all has anyone in here thought of thinking for themselves before? everyone is entitled to their opinions and certainly a forum like this would seem like the proper place where those opinions can be expressed in hopes of creating a quality debate. but...oops sorry i forgot you cant bash anything coldplay does without being a moron. this whole place is just a big lovefest for coldplay, which is partly understandable because after all this is a coldplay place. what isn't understandable is that coldplay could make an album of farts and you guys would love it. my point is that no one has anything to say to the criticism, no great points have arisen to build a solid argument against the critics, unless you're counting this "i hate reviewers they're dumb..."i'm not reading reviews anymore". please.

 

Here you go dude, now calm down a bit.

 

Coldplay: Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends

3 out of 5

 

Reviewed by Andy Gill

My argument here would be that this is, after all, a Coldplay record, not a Brian Eno one. While the songs might contain many elements previously employed by the band , sonically this album is quite different from anything they’ve done before. Will’s drumming in particular is quite a departure from his previous work. The criticism of Viva La Vida as a “simple, memorable melody line and ramming it home through endless repetition" is a particularly lame critique. Countless other pop songs have been crafted the same way. Chris Martin’s melodies are what make Coldplay great. One of the reasons this album shines over X & Y is the simple fact that the melodies are much stronger on Viva. Chris writes a damn good pop song, did we expect him to stop?

 

And The Guardian review...

 

Coldplay, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

*** (Parlophone)

 

Alexis Petridis

 

 

When a reviewer waits two paragraphs to actually discuss the point of the piece, you have to wonder if there’s a bit of an axe to grind. It’s almost as if he’s got his arms folded in disgust waiting to here an album that he’s already decided he won’t like no matter what.

The words continue to deal only in the most general of generalities - "Just be patient and don't worry", "You've got to soldier on".

And here’s where he loses all credibility. Take the world’s finest pop/rock songwriters, Lennon/McCartney, Dylan, Bono/Edge, and you can find the same generalities in their work. I hate it when reviewers nit pick a lyricist. One could just as easily find good/great lyrics in probably the same songs. For example, Radiohead’s “House of Cards” contains the line “I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover.” Even by Prince’s lyrically low standards, that’s fairly lame. Still, it’s a great freaking song. My biggest complaint regarding these reviews is that it seems they have a premeditated agenda. They don’t like Chris, they don’t like Gwyneth, they don’t like their mothers. Who knows for sure.

Here you go dude, now calm down a bit.

 

Coldplay: Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends

3 out of 5

 

Reviewed by Andy Gill

 

My argument here would be that this is, after all, a Coldplay record, not a Brian Eno one. While the songs might contain many elements previously employed by the band , sonically this album is quite different from anything they’ve done before. Will’s drumming in particular is quite a departure from his previous work. The criticism of Viva La Vida as a “simple, memorable melody line and ramming it home through endless repetition" is a particularly lame critique. Countless other pop songs have been crafted the same way. Chris Martin’s melodies are what make Coldplay great. One of the reasons this album shines over X & Y is the simple fact that the melodies are much stronger on Viva. Chris writes a damn good pop song, did we expect him to stop?

 

 

And The Guardian review...

 

Coldplay, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

*** (Parlophone)

 

Alexis Petridis

 

 

When a reviewer waits two paragraphs to actually discuss the point of the piece, you have to wonder if there’s a bit of an axe to grind. It’s almost as if he’s got his arms folded in disgust waiting to here an album that he’s already decided he won’t like no matter what.

 

The words continue to deal only in the most general of generalities - "Just be patient and don't worry", "You've got to soldier on".

 

And here’s where he loses all credibility. Take the world’s finest pop/rock songwriters, Lennon/McCartney, Dylan, Bono/Edge, and you can find the same generalities in their work. I hate it when reviewers nit pick a lyricist. One could just as easily find good/great lyrics in probably the same songs. For example, Radiohead’s “House of Cards” contains the line “I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover.” Even by Prince’s lyrically low standards, that’s fairly lame. Still, it’s a great freaking song. My biggest complaint regarding these reviews is that it seems they have a premeditated agenda. They don’t like Chris, they don’t like Gwyneth, they don’t like their mothers. Who knows for sure.

yep there is a lot of assholes in this world youre not the only one.

yes this type of criticism, “simple, memorable melody line and ramming it home through endless repetition" may seem old to you coldplay fans, it certainly is not lame because it gets to the heart of coldplay's inability to write good songs. they've basically stuck to the same pattern through all 4 albums while changing the sonics after parachutes and x&y. if coldplay was good at writing and arranging songs they wouldn't receive such mundane repetitive criticism. no ones trying to be an asshole either they're just simply stating their opinion, after all isnt that the point of this forum. good one

I don't like radiohead but I like coldplay. Many say they are alike. I really don't like radohead, for me they lack the richness in sound that coldplay has. Coldplay's richness has grown through the years. This new album is much stronger that the 3 they have done before and it has more instruments and excellent arrangement. I don't like radiohead, their music is the same, they need to change a little specially the singer, it's fine to sing sometimes slowly and with the falsetto but Yorke always does so, therefore it becomes boring and annoying. We were not saying anything about kid a or whatever. We were just saying how stupid are the reviewers because they don't talk specifically about the album. They are not being cold in their opinions and since they hate coldplay they will never say something nice about them. And now I've gotten into comparisons. Now I am as idiot and agressive as you. Why don't we just speak about the new tracks instead of speculations and comparisons? Go to the releases board to the "Pros & Cons on Viva la vida" thread to see how you make a good review. You will see there we are open to opinions as long as they are not lame and reckless. We were arguing friendly and then you come and insult us because we have different likings than you.

Rant over.

How does X&Y keep beating VLV? What's going on?

 

I agree with whoever said the listening parties are not helping, I also think a lot of it is to do with reviewers just not liking them. It's sad when they've brought out their best work in a long time :\

 

 

I don't understand why now, it's fashion to say & claim that X & Y was not really good.. When it's been released critics & and a lot of fans were pretty happy. The band was saying their pride of this album in interviews and newspapers etc...

 

Now, They say everywhere that their not really happy with it.. I hate when bands do that (see Oasis with Be Here Now) few months/years after the album's got released

 

What's next? Martin bashing VIVA LA VIDA in two years from now??

 

X & Y is a brillant album... IN MY OPINION..their best one

I loved X&Y too. I just love that there are assorted tastes even in the fans of the same band. I really don't care too much about the critics as long as I like the album 'cause in the end what really matters is my opinion

Why I don't hate Coldplay

 

Friday, June 20, 2008

 

By Tim Walker

 

I like Coldplay. I do. I know, I know - very unfashionable, but there it is. I like their music. Always have. In fact, I like them so much that I'm convinced at least half the people who claim not to are lying in order to be cool.

 

And I don't mind Chris Martin either. I mean, I've never met the man, but he's never done anything in public that could explain the rage he seems to inspire in my friends, my colleagues and, it seems, a good portion of the media.

 

So it was with a kind of resigned weariness that I learned that esteemed rock critic Andy Gill would be joining the ranks of Coldplay-haters with this article . This will be another 2,000 words of undeserved bile tossed in the faces of poor Chris and his pals, I thought. And I was right. The commenters have been raging all morning, both for and against the band. I'll gladly be a witness for the defence.

 

First, Coldplay's music. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I own pretty much all of it - and I paid for it with my hard-earned pennies, not by nicking it from the internet or being sent it by eager PRs with the misguided impression that journalists hold any sway over the Coldplay-loving public.

 

However, I also have a large collection of perfectly respectable records that Mr Gill and others would, I'm sure, happily spend a few days with. There's plenty of genres in there, and plenty of interesting, envelope-stretching artists (no, not just Radiohead). I like music, honest.

 

But too often I'll take home a record by a so-called avant-garde act who's been handed five stars by various members of the music press, only to find that, in among all the clattery percussion or the dance crossover pretensions, there's only a couple of tunes fit to grace my iPod.

 

Sometimes, when I buy a new record, I want to do so safe in the knowledge that I'll get my money's worth in muscular melodies and crashing chord changes - even if it turns out to be just G, C, D. Coldplay have invariably fulfilled that requirement, and I rely on them to do so. They're the best at it, and their continued existence means I needn't trouble myself with lesser bands of a similar persuasion.

 

Another distinguished rock critic, the late Ian MacDonald, once wrote something along these lines: listeners' tastes are shaped by a heirarchy of three distinct elements - a band's music, a band's lyrics, and a band's image. Even if you're infuriated by his vague lyrics or his sensible attire, only the hardest heart could honestly claim they'd never been moved, even an inch, by one of Mr Martin's melodies.

 

The lyrics, then. OK, they're hazy. Some of them are downright predictable, and they espouse the sort of simplistic sentiments that evidently make " serious" rock fans cringe. But I'm afraid that's their strength as well as their weakness. You can use Coldplay's songs as a painkiller when you're feeling low, or as a complement to euphoria. I hardly need to present evidence for the breadth of the band's appeal. What did X&Y sell again? Nine million, was it? Ten?

 

I also want to address the issue of Chris Martin. How can such an inoffensive man make so many people so angry? So he does some charity work. That's, er... a good thing, isn't it? He's a darn sight more bearable than Bono, yet without the pair of them the man in the street might never have heard of Greenpeace or making trade fair.

 

So he's not Johnny Rotten. I'd prefer, for once, a singer who's honest about being as middle-class as his fans, rather than another of the countless young stars who spend Saturday nights in Camden pretending they've always been into sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, before heading to their parents' place in Hampstead for a Sunday roast.

 

As to the Gwyneth thing, we all know how easy it can be for a famous couple to fill the limelight by appearing on the red carpet or in Hello! magazine together at every given opportunity. Such couples face a tough job evincing sympathy whenever they feel their privacy has been invaded a little too much.

 

Chris and Gwyneth, by contrast, go out of their way never to let anyone legitimately call them a "celebrity couple". Chris does all the necessary press for his new album, Gwyneth shows up in a short skirt for the premiere of her new film. They separate their work from their private lives, and instead of respecting them for it, we pour scorn on their choice of baby names. Yes, I know, "Apple" is a bit silly, but she'll probably end up pretty enough to get away with it.

 

Finally, may I point out that, in spite of his professed "hatred" for Coldplay, Gill managed to find it within himself to reward their new album Viva La Vida a reasonably respectable three stars . If you're already a fan, or open-minded enough to be converted, you can translate that into (at least) a healthy four.

 

From: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music-gigs/features/article3819407.ece