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When people say X&Y was "overproduced".


IneedYou23

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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!!

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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...

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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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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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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.

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.

 

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

THIS

 

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.

and THIS

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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.

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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.

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^ 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

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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.

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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.

 

yea, same here, they held a bit of a charm on me for a while but now I can barely ever listen to them unless I'm really in the mood to relax with some Coldplay songs I think are totally cheesy... which is really rare haha.

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I don't dislike X & Y, but I don't love it either. And that's my issue with it -- it's just OK. Also, to my ear, it sounds like a collection of singles, rather than a cohesive whole. And many of the songs sound too similar to each other. They seem formulated, rarely braking free (I think Fix You is the exception and why it stands out imo). I rarely listen to the album straight through. I usually skip around to my favorite tracks.

 

As far as being "over produced," I don't know what that means. If you are going to describe that as too layered with lots of sounds, then Viva is also over produced. I know many long-time fans love the stripped, raw sound of Parachutes & AROBTTH (as do I), but I also love VLV and think it's beautifully conceived & executed.

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With VLV they at least had a producer who knew what he was doing, and they managed to keep the songs sounding more cohesive than X&Y, I think that's the main difference.

 

Yeah that's the thing. No one would ever say that Eno doesn't enjoy layering on the sound and ambiance. It's why he's famous.

 

It's just he sort of turned Coldplay and all their abilities in the right direction.

 

The X & Y period seems to have arisen from a lot of questioning going on in the bands and Chris's mind. I mean, all the songs are sort of about indecision and feeling odd about things. He doesn't seem to know what's wrong or what to do. I'm probably over-analyzing in saying what follows, but I think some of that personal indecision informed the music. It's like they didn't know what to do.

 

EDIT:

 

Also, the songs that are my favorite's on X & Y are the songs where Chris seems to be in control of the situation. Fix You, A Message and Swallowed in the Sea are all incredible love ballads that are certainly display how earnest his sentiments are. Even if the are incredibly cheesy, you can tell he feels it.

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X and Y is my favorite

 

its rather hit or miss with the songs for me

 

hit:

fix you!!!!!

speed of sound

white shadows

a message

swallowed in the sea

kingdom come

 

miss:

square one

x and y

what if

low

hardest part

 

but the hits are so good i dont mind skipping the misses

 

id save the entire album just for fix you

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Fix You, A Message and Swallowed in the Sea are all incredible love ballads that are certainly display how earnest his sentiments are. Even if the are incredibly cheesy, you can tell he feels it.

 

Exactly. These are the only songs I like on the album, for just the reason to say -- they sound sincerely sincere (if a bit cheesy). It's also the reason why I love the acoustic version of The Hardest Part Chis has been playing on this tour vs. the album version (which I dislike). The album version screams "pop single," while the current stripped down version sounds soulful & sincere.

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It's also the reason why I love the acoustic version of The Hardest Part Chis has been playing on this tour vs. the album version (which I dislike). The album version screams "pop single," while the current stripped down version sounds soulful & sincere.

 

So so so true. Ever since I got my LRLRL CD at the concert I went to I've listened to the acoustic version many more times than I have the album version (probably 10 times more). The sincerity of the song on the album gets muffled by it's pop sound. The music video certainly didn't help either...

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I love X&Y, it's still my 2nd favourite album, but I can also see WHY some people don't dig it. It was the first where their sound kind of changed to be more 'typical' of super successful bands, so I guess some of the songs were more 'cookie cutter' than those on the other albums. Hence the over-produced term also. I find it really difficult to rate their albums, but X&Y is always up there for me due to some killer songs.

 

I guess it depends on if I am rating based on songs I like, or the album as a whole. I tend to rate on how much I like the songs on it. If the case were the latter, X&Y would probably rate lower due to it not being as consistently good as the others, in my opinion.

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I love X&Y, it's still my 2nd favourite album, but I can also see WHY some people don't dig it. It was the first where their sound kind of changed to be more 'typical' of super successful bands, so I guess some of the songs were more 'cookie cutter' than those on the other albums. Hence the over-produced term also. I find it really difficult to rate their albums, but X&Y is always up there for me due to some killer songs.

 

I guess it depends on if I am rating based on songs I like, or the album as a whole. I tend to rate on how much I like the songs on it. If the case were the latter, X&Y would probably rate lower due to it not being as consistently good as the others, in my opinion.

 

i agree, i absolutely love x&y album! :heart:

and i really loved the hardest part album version i like it as much as the LRLRL version. theres so many songs on there that are just awesome, but i dont get that one song um twisted logic i think its called:P

 

still my second favorite album:D

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