is it just me or do you HATE, nay, LOATHE it when reviewers call Chris, Mr. Paltrow (not in this one, but in all most all of the other reviews)? It instantly takes all the credibility out of the reviewer. They're SUPPOSE to be reviewing the music and instead they focus on his private life. The guys have been making AMAZING music for some years now and all they wanna talk about is "uncool" the guys are. Yeah he married Gwyneth Paltrow. 5 FRIGGIN YEARS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!! MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!

 

 

And now breath........... :smug:

^ :lol:, yeah, but that is what happens when a (sort of), unknown marries a big celebrity, but he's big and famous too now! :smug:

^ :lol:, yeah, but that is what happens when a (sort of), unknown marries a big celebrity, but he's big and famous too now! :smug:

 

she ain't that big a celebrity (in my books)... he is far more successful and making a better imprint on the world than she is (again in my books)...

 

 

 

 

 

BRING ON PROSPEKT'S MARCH DAMNIT!!!!!

From NME.com

 

The modern world, eh? Time was when you’d get an album, preceded and followed by a couple of singles, and that’d be that. Now, with labels desperately trying to figure out how to keep their clients’ wares afloat, you get ‘leaks’ (some deliberate, some not), streams, downloads, covermounted singles, bonus discs, download-only singles, singles, albums, special edition albums, albums and singles. ‘Prospekts March’ — billed as “an EP of eight previously unreleased tracks” — comes hot on the heels of a single release of ‘Lost!’ and will simultaneously be teamed with the album and released as ‘Viva La Vida Prospekts March Edition’. Cripes!

 

In truth, of the eight previously unreleased tracks, one is a not-massively-adventurous reshuffle (the Osaka Sun mix of ‘Lovers In Japan’), another a 48-second long incidental piano piece, another the version of ‘Lost!’ that features Jay-Z on autopilot (ie, still quite amazing) but is on the flip of the single. So they don’t count. The opener is ‘Life In Technicolor (ii)’, which takes ‘Viva…’’s opening almost-instrumental and adds a typically bombastic melody, plus a chorus whose words (“Now my feet won’t touch the ground!”) are reprised as the title of the stripped-down, acoustic guitar-led closing song. And in-between? Well, there’s a positively garagantuan, only slightly Eno-ified stadium filler entitled ‘Glass Of Water’, featuring such deep and meaningful musings as “Dream that you could see your future/Inside a glass of water/The ripples and the lines”; a vaguely dance-y, ever-so-vaguely funky “experimental” effort called ‘Rainy Day’; and the title track, which tries oh-so hard to be a bit, y’know, strange, before the inevitable arrival of synth strings (buoying a ‘Wish You Were Here’-aping line in the guise of, “We’re just two little figures in a soup bowl”) and the even more inevitable arrival of – you guessed it — a life-affirming™ chorus.

 

All of which is far more complicated than it needs to be, a hefty bout of smoke and mirrors ultimately intended to add some mystery to the Coldplay campaign and re-ignite interest in ‘Viva La Vida…’ which, at the time of going to press, is residing in the lower regions of the Top 40. Will it work? Is ‘Prospekts March’ a stroke of marketing/brand reigniting/whatever genius? Lord knows. But can someone do me a fucking favour and please figure out the best way to do all this shit, so we can get back to reviewing actual music rather than all these crazy little projects?!

 

Hamish MacBain

NME make me want to kill ever faux-indie kid in this god-damn world.

 

They will never, ever swallow their pride and admit a Coldplay album is good.

NME.....they always bash them... it's not even a surprise they don't like PM....:dozey:

 

They will never, ever swallow their pride and admit a Coldplay album is good.

+10000

Music: Coldplay * *

 

Is this an EP or a mini-album? With eight tracks, five of which are previously unreleased, it probably falls into the latter category and comes just months after their Viva La Vida album, which is the biggest seller of 2008 to date.

 

It's easy to see why none of the new songs made that album: easy on the ear they may be, but inspiration seems to have been rather thin on the ground. That said, Rainy Day boasts the sort of singalong qualities to work well in the enormodromes Chris Martin and friends now call home.

 

Life In Technicolor ii takes the lovely Eno-produced instrumental that opens Viva La Vida and adds Martin's vocals to it. This does nothing to enhance the composition.

 

Lost+ is also identical to the track from Viva La Vida, save for the rather pointless rap contributed by Jay Z.

 

As well as a stand-alone purchase, Prospekt's March is available on a deluxe editon of Viva La Vida from today. Call me cynical, but is this a ploy to get the people to bought the original album to pony up for the ‘deluxe’ one too?

 

Burn it: Rainy Day

 

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/day-and-night/music/music-coldplay-1548450.html

Okay, my opinion so far:

 

I'm in love with "Life in Technicolor 2", it's a perfect song. I just love the melody, and when Chris goes "It goes ooooooooooooonnnn" God :singer: :lol: I love it.

"Glass of Water", the same. I loooove it. Will's drum part is fantastic, you just have to freak out there.

 

I just listened to "Rainy Day" for the first time... Uhm, I have to listen to it again... let's continue with "Postcards from far away" in the meantime. Veeery nice. Can't wait to play that song one day myself.

Okay, "Rainy Day". The beginning is awesome. OMG, what the heck are they doing with their instruments, it sounds so great :shocked2:

Can't say anything about the meanings/lyrics yet... it would be too much for the moment. But I love rainy days *lol* Can't wait to analyze "Glass of water"...

 

Now "Prospekts March"!! I'm excited!

Oh, it begins slow, I like it. Chris voice is the best in this song so far. Okay now a bit screwy, but I like that, hehe. Ah finished... have to listen to it later again...

Cause now "My feet won't touch the ground"! Great guitar part. Is this a trumpet at the end?? Sounds great too.

 

Have to listen/sing/and freak out now a bit more :helmet: :daisy:

:thinking: Methinks these negative reviewers must be listening to a different EP than the one I've got playing on repeat on my iPod... Because what I'm listening to is a fucking brilliant collection of songs (minus the rap in Lost+, no pun intended)!

 

I just don't understand these Coldplay-hater reviews...

Coldplay: Prospekts March - the Sunday Times review

 

 

What you don’t want to do, if you’re as big as Coldplay, is to suddenly start writing new material just when you’ve agreed the release date for your album and the world tour has been slotted into everyone’s diary.

 

The wheels of big business are rolling and they won’t wait for your new songs. Coldplay’s way of dealing with this is Prospekts March, an EP that rounds up the material that wasn’t finished in time to get onto Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. There are eight tracks here, most of them genuinely new, and while there have been a few hints that this is material too edgy to get onto a Coldplay album, the truth is that these songs are pretty much interchangeable with those on Viva.

 

So, if you like that album, this will be a welcome bonus.

 

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article5199220.ece

Coldplay: Prospekt's March Review

 

Review of Bonus Follow-up EP to Viva La Vida, Featuring Jay-Z

 

Coldplay's record breaking album of 2008 is followed up this month with a superb 8-track EP, the culmination of a hectic year's work for the British supergroup.

 

It’s been a busy year for Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Will Champion and Jonny Buckland. They’ve finished a world class album, embarked on a spectacular and highly acclaimed worldwide tour which has, without doubt, produced some of their most exhilarating live performances to date, and won awards including the Q Awards’ Best Act in the World Today. Now, just to round things off with a flourish, they are releasing an 8-track EP to accompany and extend the impressive effort that was Viva La Vida.

 

And the timing is perfect. Just as Britain welcomes its favourite ‘hard soft-rockers’ home for Christmas to finish off their world tour, fans can look forward to re-worked versions of ‘Lovers in Japan’ and ‘Lost!’ (yes, the new one featuring Jay-Z) as well as 6 entirely new songs. But why an EP? And why now? Not your average supergroup behaviour, surely?

 

The Viva La Vida Journey

 

Martin claims the tracks weren’t quite polished enough in time for inclusion in Viva La Vida, but insists they had always been intended as part of that collection. It seems a little nervousness may have played a part too. Martin explains the band’s thought process: "Let's put the album out and then if it does OK we'll put out those songs that we were maybe a little shy about putting out" (coldplay.com).

 

Whether the band were also trying to avoid the same criticism that plagued previous album, X & Y, remains to be seen. Despite that record’s big tracks, 'Fix You', 'Talk', and 'Speed of Sound', many critics and fans found that the album dragged, lacking the polished and tightly cut feel that abounds in Viva La Vida.

 

Prospekt’s March

 

The EP has already been previewed on the band’s equally acclaimed official site, coldplay.com and through its ‘Glass of Water’ Facebook application.

 

‘Life in Technicolor II’ is hugely satisfying and develops Viva La Vida’s addictive intro track with a belting and uplifting melody. The delicate, upbeat, racing sound and innovative string sections of the ‘Rainy Day’ are exquisitely playful and cement the rhythmic change of direction, building on the foundations of what was started in the track ‘Viva La Vida’. Meanwhile ‘Glass of Water’ is another fast-paced tune that packs a deeper punch with some darker, heavyweight guitars kicking in for the chorus. With this EP the Viva La Vida journey sprints home to completion and is near perfect. Or, should that be ‘perfekt’?

 

A New Direction for Coldplay

 

These tracks belong together, a standalone companion to the Viva La Vida journey, distinct and yet joined. More noticeably, they mark an upbeat and joyful new direction for Coldplay: breathless, excited and full of promise and optimism, this is a side to the band that we haven’t seen before. Perhaps that’s why Coldplay continue to enjoy such a privileged position on the world stage – they evolve and progress, always.

 

What’s really refreshing is the new emotional range they can now convey – gone is the endless woeful introspection of pre-2005 Coldplay, replaced with something newer, fuller and significantly more positive but without losing an ounce of that intensity. Martin’s vocals have developed too, he’s found new pace and energy, and he’s now embracing that powerfully resonant lower register whilst also employing his trademark smooth yet feathery falsetto.

 

Coldplay’s detractors will probably find something to whinge about, perhaps the new upbeat momentum will be seen as too mainstream, too popular. But in truth will anybody really care? Coldplay certainly don’t need critical approval anymore; they will, as they should, care more about whether they deliver the goods to their many fans.

 

And there is no doubt that this 8-track bonus album addition delivers. What’s more the band’s new confidence, their comfort with themselves, their creative direction and range, and their prowess live on stage, has finally presented itself in this collection. As for the band’s shyness? May they long keep it, it is that sort of humility which drives their development, and keeps them in touch with the fans.

 

What Can We Expect Next?

 

This is a band at the top of their game. 2008 has been a landmark year for Coldplay, and yet there remains the sneaking sensation that there is much more to come. A heavily hinted-at stadium sized concert at a large UK venue is on the cards for 2009, as well as a fifth studio album.

 

With live performances really pushing the boat out in terms of technical experimentation and ever more accomplished and entertaining sets being attended by legions of fans worldwide, Coldplay just seem to be getting it right, time and time again. That glass of water, Chris? Definitely half full.

 

Prospekt’s March is released in the UK and the US on November 24th. It is available as a standalone EP or in a re-packaged version of Viva La Vida.

 

http://www.suite101.com

:thumbsup: It's always so nice to read a positive review!

You know it. ^

=p

 

I just am not for 'Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground.'

That is pretty much it. I love everything else. :P

The San Francisco Chronicle is short & sweet :\

 

Coldplay, "Prospekt's March (EP)": The lukewarm leftovers from "Viva La Vida," with a wholly unnecessary Jay-Z cameo.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/21/PKIA14409I.DTL

Can we talk for a sec. about: Coldplay?

 

The band is rereleasing its latest album, "Viva la Vida," just five months after it came out, this time packaged with an EP of songs that weren't ready in time for the release of "Viva" (in addition to three updates of existing tracks). Chris Martin even says on the group's website that the EP tunes are "a little more catchy" than the ones that clocked in on time. So I get to pay twice because they couldn't push the release date back? Or finish on time? Poo.

 

(Tuesday)

(Alessandro Della Bella / Associated Press)

 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/lat-smart_4_k8j8w6nc20081122130453,0,5039249.photo

Viva La Vida is, as I write this review, the biggest-selling album of 2008. Granted, that doesn't mean as much as X&Y's 13 million copies in 2005, but the point still stands - the panic at EMI has settled considerably since June. So with their first UK number 1 under their belts - the epic title-track - numerous prestige awards, and even a brief spell of critical semi-acclaim, we have just one question. Why on EARTH are Coldplay giving us more?

 

Wrapped pretentiously in another Eugene Delacroix painting and billed as an extension of the band's 4th LP, the curiously named Prospekt's March comes just 5 months after Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends hit the shelves. It is an 8-track release from arguably the world's biggest band, it features a collaboration from Jay-Z and three of its tracks are actually remakes of tracks from Viva. Surely, this is commercial rubbish to be avoided at all costs.

 

The first thing to note is that this is not an album in the traditional sense. The inclusion of Lost+ (that's the Jay-Z effort) and Lovers In Japan [Osaka Sun Mix] (basically a radio edit) renders the EP's flow somewhat fractured in nature. What is strange is that the band clearly acknowledged this - the two aforementioned tracks are 6 and 7 respectively - but still chose to place a new song AFTER them on the tracklisting. So who knows; maybe it was meant to flow after all.

 

Life in Technicolor ii, the re-working of Viva's opening instrumental, sounds as much as anything like a cop-out - a way of squeezing the last ounces of life out of a very credible song. In actual fact, the LP track did originally have the vocals anyway, but they were stripped off because it sounded like an 'obvious single'. It's very hard to argue with that point of view, but when you ignore its role as a marketing tool and just play the damn song, it stuns you into silence. Coupled with some of Martin's best lyrical work ever (granted, that doesn't say TOO much) - 'gravity, release me/don't you ever hold me down/now my feet won't touch the ground' - the uplifting twang of Buckland's guitar, amongst the rest, provides for an inspiring and infectuous chorus. The decision to remove the sample of Jon Hopkins' ambient 'Light Through The Veins' from the beginning of the song is also a good move for the sake of immediacy.

 

Postcards From Far Away is a very intriguing piano piece lasting just 48 seconds, but it serves as a very compelling interlude between two songs so bombasting they would otherwise be competing for attention; it's slightly more than that, of course, and serves as evidence that Martin could probably write film scores were he that way inclined. Then Glass of Water kicks in. With a vaguely interesting guitar line, the mid-tempo beat and the trademark piano, you could be forgiven for thinking this would turn into Coldplay-by-numbers right until just after the minute mark where the song explodes into an anthemic chorus with raging riffs, earthquake-sized drums and Martin's falsetto pleading through it all. At the end of track 3, you are wondering whether it's the best thing they've ever done. It's certainly, save Politik, the heaviest.

 

The rest of the EP, ignoring Lost+ and LiJ, is much more mellow than tracks 1 and 3 would have you believe; Rainy Day is an odd, often confusing number which edges a little too close to video game music, but is still strangely captivating, and Davide Rossi's violectra adds an extra layer of experimentation. The first verse is also probably drummer Will Champion's finest hour of both Viva and Prospekt's March, although he is strangely anonymous in the second half of the song. The title-track is a frankly beautiful Parachutes-esque effort with the rawest vocals Martin has released since that very album, and it works to fantastic effect; lyrically brilliant and emotionally uplifting, the song jostles with Glass of Water as the best on offer here.

 

The closer, Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground, smacks of Johnny Cash and actually pays homage to Til' Kingdom Come, the hidden track of X&Y. It's almost filler, but really, it's just a sweet way to close out the album, and it ties up some of the lyrically loose-ended threads that run through Viva and Prospekt's March.

 

It's fair to say that Prospekt's March is Coldplay's most eclectic collection of songs ever. With bitesize incorporations of rap, strings and horns alongside the typical Coldplay arrangement, it promises something for everyone. You can't help but wonder if, had two or three of these tracks been worked into Viva somewhere, they would have held a truly masterful album in their hands. At times, Rainy Day is too odd to label as 'different'; at others, it is dance-able and quirky. When it comes down to it, Prospekt's March is an inconsistent, but incredibly exciting half-hour of music.

 

__

 

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=32839

 

My posted review on Sputnik. Shameless plug.

Coldplay:

Prospekt’s March

 

Rating: 6.0

 

With this year's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay tried to be cool. They brought in Brian Eno to refine their bombast. They tried Bowie-style funk and shoegaze. They wore military duds that made them look like Arcade Fire. Everything seemed to be in place. But there was a problem: Coldplay's idea of cool and the cultural reality are two different things. This eight-track stopgap EP-- which doubles as a bonus disc on the obligatory Viva fourth-quarter deluxe edition-- allows for an assessment of Coldplay's 2008 "We Are Edgy" campaign. Can one daffy Brit and his personality-averse band bring the notion of cool closer to them?

 

Ostensibly, Coldplay know cool when they see it. They tapped operatic indie-rockers Shearwater and L.E.S. revivalist Santogold to open their world tour this year. Chris Martin is friends with Kanye West and Jay-Z, who contributes a verse on the Prospekt's March remix, "Lost +". Still, they lack the spontaneity, innovation, and effortlessness that usually accompanies edge-cutting phenomena. Take their recent performance on "Saturday Night Live": For a guy who's played to millions of fans at shows, festivals, and on TV, Martin came off like a clutzy ham not unlike former "SNL" mainstay Mary Katherine Gallagher. He was startlingly out of breath and made an effort to act out each of his simple couplets, all while yipping and hooting like a man poking fun at Tourette's syndrome. It was awkward, but kinda endearing. (Defamer: Coldplay's 'SNL' Freak-Out: Easy-Listening Performance Art, Awful, Or Both?)

 

So when calm and collected artists like Jay-Z cite Coldplay as their favorite band, they're subconsciously subverting the same untouchable aura that bolsters their own coolness. It makes little sense, but it's worked for them thus far. On the overall hipness scale, Coldplay isn't close to, say, TV on the Radio, but in a weird way they're bringing a bumbling DIY aesthetic to emotional arena rock. And, just as Viva did an admirable job of troubleshooting the band's lazy weaknesses while expanding their sound, Prospekt's March offers a truncated version of their svelte and marginally progressive new formula. If this is the best Big Rock has to offer this year, we're doing okay.

 

As far as money-making mini-releases go, Prospekt's March is relatively noble, i.e., no quickie dance remixes, only one "single edit" ("Lovers in Japan") and one piddly 48-second instrumental ("Postcards from Far Away"). All in all, half the EP is made up of completely new material that could've easily made the original Viva. Talking about the EP a couple months ago, Martin quipped that the new songs "might be considered too catchy or too heavy for Coldplay songs." The heavy Coldplay song may seem like an oxymoronic concept, but "Glass of Water" makes a good case for the band turning up the volume more often. Granted, the whole thing centers around one of the very few Meaning of Life clichés Martin has yet to utilize (bet you can't guess exactly how much water is in that glass!), but the hook's brash guitars render his words unintelligible anyway.

 

With Eno behind the knobs, everything sounds pristine, impeccable. "Prospekt's March/Poppyfields" could pass for a latter-day Radiohead ballad (except Martin replaces Thom Yorke's doom with hopeful pleads of "I don't wanna die"). With its micro-funk verse and symphony chorus, "Rainy Day" feels stiched together, but it's uniquely humble. "I love it when you come over to my house," sings Martin, taking a break from explaining death and all his friends for a moment. Mostly instrumental Viva intro "Life in Technicolor" is morphed into a full-fledged song here-- and it in turn exposes the main obstacle in the way of Coldplay's desire to replicate U2 at their height.

 

Simply: Chris Martin needs to consider his lyrics more. He's smart; he can do better than "don't you wish your life could be as simple as fish swimmin' 'round in a barrel when you've got the gun." While Bono hasn't written an astounding lyric in ages, there was a time when his universal maxims rang true and felt close. Martin has shown flashes of this type of talent, but his consistency isn't where it needs to be in order for Coldplay to elevate to the supreme stadium-filling, critic-salivating level they so desire. With their revised sound and twitching energy, these sensitive lads are primed for something even bigger than their current little-kid-in-a-big-arena shenanigans. A few elegant, cringe-proof words couldn't hurt.

 

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/147677-coldplay-prospekts-march

The text of Pitchfork's review is actually very positive... If you take away the statements about Chris's cliched lyrics and just focus on the descriptions of the music, that sounds like an 8.0+ review.

Is there a girl singing with Chris on Prospekts March/Poppyfields?

No I think Rany Day though

The lack of positive reviews is disheartening,

Is that a semi-decent Coldplay review from Pitchfork? Guys, this is it. Jesus is coming pretty soon in that case. Everyone get ready.

^^^:lol:

 

should we all run and hide in the coldplay bunker???

 

Miller!!! Make us some room!!!! :P

Coldplay - Prospekt's March (EP)

 

70%

 

Seemingly another unnecessary release by a record label in order to simply cash in; 'Prospekt's March' does little to dissuade from this statement with three of it's eight tracks having featured on the 'Viva La Vida..' album albeit in a slightly different guise.

 

Firstly we get 'Life In Technicolor ii' which is simply the lead track on the latest album which was instrumental but this time we get Chris Martin crooning over the top 'I can hear it coming/I can hear the siren sound/now my feet won't touch the ground' I don't quite know what he's on about but then who ever does? It's intriguing, however; to wonder did the music or the lyrics come first because I can't see any reason for this not being on 'Viva La Vida..' in place of the instrumental version... very odd. Secondly we get 'Lost' but with added Jay-Z because that is clearly what all Coldplay tracks have been missing - someone to rap about Tupac and Biggie over them! And lastly we get the Osaka Sun Mis of 'Lovers In Japan' now this was a highlight of 'Viva La Vida..' for me personally but I just cannot see what is so different here to be honest it's simply just filler.

 

And so what is new here then because that is clearly what us punters want to hear. 'Postcards From Far Away' is a forty-eight second through-away plaintive piano melody that again just seems a bit of a waste of time. 'Glass Of Water' follows and this is much better seeing a more up-tempo Coldplay with the customary Jonny Buckland guitar twinkling away before the sunburst in the centre that is reminiscent of the track 'Politik' there is more of an atmosphere to this track with some space-age synth thrown in for good measure. Slowing with the resplendant Martin piano before kicking off in the final hurdle it's maybe a sign of things to come or possibly a full stop on the 'Viva La Vida..' sessions.

 

Full review at http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/103497-coldplay-prospekts-march-ep.html

Coldplay - Prospekt's March

 

 

If any band is assured enough release a collection of leftovers from their last album sessions (and expect to have it heralded by trumpet-wielding cherubs), it's Coldplay. An EP containing eight tracks deemed unworthy of inclusion on their recent 'Viva La Vida..' album, the irony of 'Prospekt's March is that it's predominantly more interesting than its parent material.

 

Let's not get carried away, though; it's clear that the majority of these eight tracks are musical detritus, and are as similarly mediocre as many of Viva La Vida's worst tracks. The title track, for example, is a exercise in drab self-indulgence and mars the tempo and tone that the previous songs had been steadily building, and Jay-Z's guest appearance on the otherwise likeable Lost+ is gratuitous - an unnecessary display of inter-genre chumminess.

 

When Prospekt's March does work, though, it's pleasantly surprising. Life in Technicolor ii's twee Eastern melody shimmers inoffensively, Glass of Water's Echo and the Bunnymen-style guitar pomp cascades from the speakers layer after dulcet layer, and Lovers In Japan's prickly, metallic riff suggests a nod to the likes of '80s stadium giants Simple Minds.

 

Despite the occasional permissible number, though, Prospekt's March isn't affecting enough to tip the scale either in favour or against Coldplay. It does, however, make one wonder if a different tracklisting for 'Viva La Vida..' may have provided a considerably more listenable album.

 

http://entertainment.ie/album-review/album/6051.htm