Things I really, really wish Coldplay would do

[Lihyahm]

(main one's MX related so I posted it here, move if necessary)

I really wish they'd record a truly great album, not just a good one - they're this generation's U2 pretty much, but where's their Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby? (IMO) they've released three good albums and look to have another album that's just 'good' out soon (X&Y is mediocre, again IMO). I think if they really pushed themselves artistically/creatively and decided to be more than just a pop band which they seem pretty content being with MX, they could record something that'd be a true classic. VLVODAAHF was a big step in the right direction with this but MX is barely a step at all. One of the main reasons they left LiFii off VLV was because they felt it was too obvious a single, despite featuring instrumentation they'd never used before. ETIAW feels too obvious a single and that's why it's a step in the wrong direction - they're not pushing any boundaries or reaching new ground for themselves, apart from having Eno help them make cool synth sounds far more prominently than before - but he's Brian Eno, -the- art rock producer, surely he can do more than that for you! Paradise could have been a step in the right direction, as it's a new sound for them, but it's missing something very important - a melody. The other new songs we've heard so far lack the more creative arrangements and instrumentation of VLV (the album) and while they're pretty good songs, they're not anything really new or different for the most part and feel merely content to be good rather than great.

 

Here are some other things that would also be 'cool':

-Extend the outro of Lovers in Japan into a big jam - would be amazing live, especially near the end of a gig or something

-Play the extended version of Clocks from the Twisted Logic tour or at least the full version again - not the radio edit like they've been playing ever since VLV

-Play longer sets live - hopefully they'll do that when they're headlining arenas later this year like they did on the VLV tour

-Play a greater variety of songs live - there's all sorts of songs they've been ignoring this last tour, I know VLV could use some more songs in the set and although it's good to see Shiver and Everything's Not Lost return at last, it'd be nice to see some more Parachutes songs too (Don't Panic!). I'm not too fond of X&Y but there's still some songs like Til Kingdom Come and Square One that it'd be nice to see return and even some of the deeper cuts from AROBTTH like Amsterdam and the title track would be fantastic to see again.

[Mark]

You're pretty much basing the public perception of the band on your own opinion. "I think they've released three good albums". A lot of people would actually rank A Rush of Blood to the Head as one of the albums of the last decade. A few would say Viva La Vida.

 

If you want to go into why Coldplay won't release anything considered "legendary", it's probably because pretty much everything has been done, and since the turn of the century, bands have been looking band and going retro, not forward. But that's a whole other discussion. As is the fact that no critic will openly call Coldplay the greatest band in the world for fear of being laughed at. You are aware of the Coldplay hate in the world, I assume?

 

But hey. Give it time. The Joshua Tree wasn't a classic album over night. Albums need to mature like wines, and then you gauge its impact on music.

[Tryptophan]

Damn, not again.

 

They have done things that are truly great. I hate this kind of "they have to be like U2 and be the bestest biggest greatest band in the world" thing. It's sad that they think this themselves sometimes (especially Chris).

[Hartroc]

Things I Wish Coldplay would do:

 

- Play A Rush of Blood to the Head and Amsterdam live again.

[Tryptophan]

Things I Wish Coldplay would do:

 

- Play A Rush of Blood to the Head and Amsterdam live again.

 

You're creeping me out because you can read my mind. Or rather, great minds think alike. :p

[Hartroc]

You're creeping me out because you can read my mind. Or rather, great minds think alike. :p

 

:wink3:

[Juanma]

Do a proper DVD ! !

[RiotFever]

I wish they covered Radiohead

[LadyBellaStrawberry]

Do a proper DVD ! !

 

+1

 

I wish Coldplay would tour more places, although I know they try their hardest! And I appreciate that! It's just when they come here (Canada) they only come to two or three cities (regularly), and Canada is the second biggest country in the world, so it's hard to go. Well, I guess this doesn't just include Coldplay but all artists.

[Destrokk]

Ticket.Prices.

[rainplay]

+1

 

I wish Coldplay would tour more places, although I know they try their hardest! And I appreciate that! It's just when they come here (Canada) they only come to two or three cities (regularly), and Canada is the second biggest country in the world, so it's hard to go. Well, I guess this doesn't just include Coldplay but all artists.

 

In size we're big..but in population we're tiny... So I guess they just go to the big cities..I guess I'm lucky I live near a big city

 

And I really wish coldplay would change up their setlist..it's getting pretty boring watching them live lately

[para-para-parrotdies]

I wish they covered Radiohead

 

:laugh3: Can you imagine Coldplay trying to play a song like The Gloaming? The National Anthem? Idioteque???

 

On a serious note, I wish they take more risks in developing their sound and incorporate other musical influences, something like jazz or experimental electronic music.

[Samuel_94]

This thread is silly, why cant the band do what they want? Is it or is it not their own music?

[ColdplayingfromKansas]

Things I Wish Coldplay would do:

 

- Play A Rush of Blood to the Head and Amsterdam live again.

 

THIS.

 

-Play the extended version of Clocks from the Twisted Logic tour

 

OH MY GOD THIS TOO.

 

Why did they ever stop playing that version? My favorite song of all time is the Toronto 2006 version of Clocks . . . couple that with the new arrangement of GPASUYF and you have the building blocks of an epic gig. :wacky:

 

Also, a huge full-band jam at the end of Lovers In Japan would be awesome :cool:

[RiotFever]

:laugh3: Can you imagine Coldplay trying to play a song like The Gloaming? The National Anthem? Idioteque???

 

On a serious note, I wish they take more risks in developing their sound and incorporate other musical influences, something like jazz or experimental electronic music.

 

I imagine them playing High & Dry, Subterranean Homesick Alien, Supercollider, The Butcher, Codex, Videotape...

 

It think they are able to cover The Gloaming, The National Anthem or Idioteque:lol:, but it's not their style.:confused:

 

Staircase is the only Radiohead song I have never, I don't, and will never imagine Coldplay playing.

[Skin&Bones]

Well... here's what I think:

 

Their previous music had more than just instruments. Clocks was more than a song with piano, guitar, drums, and bass. It had an atmosphere -- this sort of gas floating around it that made me see life differently. All of their songs before Viva were emotionally applicable to anybody's life, whether you were going through your mid-life crisis or going through tough times in school. I still get this feeling when I listen to Clocks, The Scientist, Trouble, Shiver, Everything's Not Lost, See You Soon, Amsterdam, Politik, and Fix You. The songs have this weird mix of dread and hope. This comforting and understanding feeling I get from a parent.

 

Viva was a great album because it was creative and it was new but now, everything just seems like ear candy. Don't get me wrong, I love Viva and I'll undoubtedly love this new album but it's never going to be the same Coldplay. I'm never going to listen to Lost! or Cemeteries of London and feel what I felt with the rest of the music.

 

What I wish: I wish Coldplay took this new creative route and tried to reach some of their roots. I wish Chris Martin looked for music in the soul and not the brain. I wish they constrained themselves to four instruments again. I KNOW they're very talented, I KNOW they want to be creative... but with MX they're approaching it the wrong way. It seems they forgot where they came from and how they got where they are now.

 

Now I'm still excited for MX. Princess of China is amazing and I'm excited to hear Rihanna. Hurts Like Heaven is gloriously upbeat. Charlie Brown is atmospheric. Paradise is pure, sweet, and savory ear candy. Us Against The World is well-structured and image-evoking. I love the songs that have come from it, but they're not the same. They're not the Coldplay I grew up with, which is GREAT! They're changing! Yay! But they don't write music like they used to... It's not the sound I'm concerned about, it's the emotional connection.

 

Sorry if I'm too sappy and sorry if I wrote too much. I don't want to change the mood of the thread. I just agree that they need to change. That doesn't mean change their sound, it means change their song-writing. I don't want Chris Martin to be a candy-factory of melodies, I want him to make something worth remembering.

[ColdplayingfromKansas]

^ He has written songs worth remembering :P A Rush Of Blood To The Head, Clocks, Fix You, Don't Panic, Amsterdam, The Scientist, and even more recent songs like Strawberry Swing, Violet Hill, Death And All His Friends, Moving to Mars, etc. are all amazing.

 

Maybe the guys are in a low spot right now--it infallibly happens to all artists at one point or another--if that's the case then all we can do is stand by them and stay confident that the next album will be better.

[lafinion]

^ He has written songs worth remembering :P A Rush Of Blood To The Head, Clocks, Fix You, Don't Panic, Amsterdam, The Scientist, and even more recent songs like Strawberry Swing, Violet Hill, Death And All His Friends, Moving to Mars, etc. are all amazing.

 

Maybe the guys are in a low spot right now--it infallibly happens to all artists at one point or another--if that's the case then all we can do is stand by them and stay confident that the next album will be better.

 

Absolutely! :smug:

I view their two recent albums as an adventure they want to take. I don't really like the way they've gone this time (MX era I mean), but maybe the next thing they'll do will be far more good and different.

[Vitamin Z]

I would absolutely love them to play the Twisted Logic version of Clocks, the version on How We Saw The World is epic

[ApproximatelyInfinite]

Well... here's what I think:

 

Their previous music had more than just instruments. Clocks was more than a song with piano, guitar, drums, and bass. It had an atmosphere -- this sort of gas floating around it that made me see life differently. All of their songs before Viva were emotionally applicable to anybody's life, whether you were going through your mid-life crisis or going through tough times in school. I still get this feeling when I listen to Clocks, The Scientist, Trouble, Shiver, Everything's Not Lost, See You Soon, Amsterdam, Politik, and Fix You. The songs have this weird mix of dread and hope. This comforting and understanding feeling I get from a parent.

 

Viva was a great album because it was creative and it was new but now, everything just seems like ear candy. Don't get me wrong, I love Viva and I'll undoubtedly love this new album but it's never going to be the same Coldplay. I'm never going to listen to Lost! or Cemeteries of London and feel what I felt with the rest of the music.

 

What I wish: I wish Coldplay took this new creative route and tried to reach some of their roots. I wish Chris Martin looked for music in the soul and not the brain. I wish they constrained themselves to four instruments again. I KNOW they're very talented, I KNOW they want to be creative... but with MX they're approaching it the wrong way. It seems they forgot where they came from and how they got where they are now.

 

Now I'm still excited for MX. Princess of China is amazing and I'm excited to hear Rihanna. Hurts Like Heaven is gloriously upbeat. Charlie Brown is atmospheric. Paradise is pure, sweet, and savory ear candy. Us Against The World is well-structured and image-evoking. I love the songs that have come from it, but they're not the same. They're not the Coldplay I grew up with, which is GREAT! They're changing! Yay! But they don't write music like they used to... It's not the sound I'm concerned about, it's the emotional connection.

 

Sorry if I'm too sappy and sorry if I wrote too much. I don't want to change the mood of the thread. I just agree that they need to change. That doesn't mean change their sound, it means change their song-writing. I don't want Chris Martin to be a candy-factory of melodies, I want him to make something worth remembering.

 

Wow, I really like this post. I feel almost exactly the same way--I love the new stuff, but it has nothing to do with their roots to me, and I liked the roots "better," in a lot of ways (though the difference is more qualitative than quantitative to me). No matter how much I like their new work and no matter how much I know they cannot and should not go back to making music exactly like their first two albums, I'm always going to kind of mourn the loss of those types of songs from back then.

 

My other wishes would have to be business-related. I think they'd creatively benefit from getting off a label and taking much more control over their own promotion and business dealings, which could also lead to things like lower ticket prices, fewer chances for scalpers to rule tickets (if they made that a focus of theirs)...the possibilities would be endless. I also think they need an official fanclub in that mix, with a moderate membership fee but outstanding benefits, like ticket incentives and exclusive content.

 

Oh, and I wish they'd shake up their setlists live, especially at their own concerts. I wish they'd stop playing just the hits night after night and throw in a few more obscure songs from their catalog that are big-fan favorites. They can keep the same core of popular songs, most bands do that, but save a few slots on the setlist each night to throw out a rotating cluster of different songs to wow the more knowledgeable members of the audience. They're good enough musicians and performers to be able to keep a few more songs in rotation than they do.

[ticking_clocks]

Well... here's what I think:

 

Their previous music had more than just instruments. Clocks was more than a song with piano, guitar, drums, and bass. It had an atmosphere -- this sort of gas floating around it that made me see life differently. All of their songs before Viva were emotionally applicable to anybody's life, whether you were going through your mid-life crisis or going through tough times in school. I still get this feeling when I listen to Clocks, The Scientist, Trouble, Shiver, Everything's Not Lost, See You Soon, Amsterdam, Politik, and Fix You. The songs have this weird mix of dread and hope. This comforting and understanding feeling I get from a parent.

 

Viva was a great album because it was creative and it was new but now, everything just seems like ear candy. Don't get me wrong, I love Viva and I'll undoubtedly love this new album but it's never going to be the same Coldplay. I'm never going to listen to Lost! or Cemeteries of London and feel what I felt with the rest of the music.

 

What I wish: I wish Coldplay took this new creative route and tried to reach some of their roots. I wish Chris Martin looked for music in the soul and not the brain. I wish they constrained themselves to four instruments again. I KNOW they're very talented, I KNOW they want to be creative... but with MX they're approaching it the wrong way. It seems they forgot where they came from and how they got where they are now.

 

Now I'm still excited for MX. Princess of China is amazing and I'm excited to hear Rihanna. Hurts Like Heaven is gloriously upbeat. Charlie Brown is atmospheric. Paradise is pure, sweet, and savory ear candy. Us Against The World is well-structured and image-evoking. I love the songs that have come from it, but they're not the same. They're not the Coldplay I grew up with, which is GREAT! They're changing! Yay! But they don't write music like they used to... It's not the sound I'm concerned about, it's the emotional connection.

 

Sorry if I'm too sappy and sorry if I wrote too much. I don't want to change the mood of the thread. I just agree that they need to change. That doesn't mean change their sound, it means change their song-writing. I don't want Chris Martin to be a candy-factory of melodies, I want him to make something worth remembering.

 

 

 

I agree with you somewhat and also disagree, but I love your post. I stated this in another thread, those classic Coldplay songs will always be there, they'll never change, and you can always go back to them. Even if their recent work does not carry as much emotional weight, it's new, refreshing and exciting! I say go along for the ride, enjoy it or what it is. Hopefully next time around they will make something more connected to their roots. On a side note I believe that Chris has something of writers block and that's why they ditched the acoustic album, maybe he couldn't come up with enough meaningful deep lyrics to fill an entire album, so instead they came up with songs like paradise with lots of sound and pretty colors to distract from the fact it's pretty much empty lyrically. I'm not complaining, I love Paradise and all their new stuff, but I do hope in the future they make another AROBTTH, not musically, lyrically. Something deep and meaningful, with a new and experimental sound. Maybe they need to go through this phase to become an even greater band.

For now let's just enjoy the ride(those of us who enjoy the new material) and hope and pray this is NOT their last album.

 

P.S I'm also happy if this era will introduce new fans to their older work, that way more people can appreciate the beauty that is Coldplay.

[ticking_clocks]

Wow, I really like this post. I feel almost exactly the same way--I love the new stuff, but it has nothing to do with their roots to me, and I liked the roots "better," in a lot of ways (though the difference is more qualitative than quantitative to me). No matter how much I like their new work and no matter how much I know they cannot and should not go back to making music exactly like their first two albums, I'm always going to kind of mourn the loss of those types of songs from back then.

 

My other wishes would have to be business-related. I think they'd creatively benefit from getting off a label and taking much more control over their own promotion and business dealings, which could also lead to things like lower ticket prices, fewer chances for scalpers to rule tickets (if they made that a focus of theirs)...the possibilities would be endless. I also think they need an official fanclub in that mix, with a moderate membership fee but outstanding benefits, like ticket incentives and exclusive content.

 

Oh, and I wish they'd shake up their setlists live, especially at their own concerts. I wish they'd stop playing just the hits night after night and throw in a few more obscure songs from their catalog that are big-fan favorites. They can keep the same core of popular songs, most bands do that, but save a few slots on the setlist each night to throw out a rotating cluster of different songs to wow the more knowledgeable members of the audience. They're good enough musicians and performers to be able to keep a few more songs in rotation than they do.

 

An excellent post as always ;)

[SeeYouSoon42]

Play Glass Of Water, Warning Sign, Green Eyes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head live

[SeeYouSoon42]

Also release a CD of B-sides and un-released tracks.

[Samuel_94]

Yeah, like car kids and famous old painters. Definitely hoping stuff like white shadows and twisted logic are played again live soon. As for what I wish coldplay would do (to keep with the the theme of the thread) is to keep making great music and albums and never split up!!!!!!!!