First Impressions of Mylo Xyloto (and vote in the 1-10 sliding scale poll!)

[akindofmagic]

I got my CD today.

 

My average rating is 6,36.

When listening to all the previous Coldplay-Albums for the first time, I had to listen to them over and over again.

Now with the release of Mylo Xyloto i don't feel forced to push the repeat button on my stereo.

It is weird. I am a bit disappointed. The album sounds overproduced, there is too much going on. All this walls of sounds and strings etc. and I really dislike all the reverb. The reverb in some songs is pretty exaggerated.

I always defend bands who try to step into a new direction and develop, so I do with Coldplay.

It is okay, they try something new or different.

Sadly, it doesn't match my taste. Maybe the next time they stick back to the simple production and let the songs speak for themselves and not the effects on the songs.

 

However, I'm really looking forward to them live next summer.

[Tryptophan]

:thumbsup:

 

I also thought of mentioning how I wished they included Moving To Mars on the album, but I've tried slipping it into different places on the tracklisting and it doesn't seem to work anywhere :thinking:. It's one of my favourites from this era (this is evolution, people) but it's almost as if they knew it was on another level compared to the rest of the tracks, which is why they left it off. It's the most mature and original track of this era, and it's just a shame they didn't decide to create an album in the same vein. It could have been their masterpiece.

 

:nod::nod::nod::thumbsup::nod::nod::nod:

 

Wait no, their masterpiece is A Rush Of Blood To The Head. But other than that:

 

:nod::nod::nod::thumbsup::nod::nod::nod:

 

@Blue Nails: Nice review, love how you're so schizophrenic about it, your mind says "don't fall for it" but you admit that you can't help falling for it anyway. :)

[Sjef]

It's really great.

If it sounded too much like any of their previous albums I would have been disappointed.

[Brent]

I think the right way for a new direction is what Viva was: With the instrumental diversity and world music vibes they had on there. It was really something, from the bongo drums on Lost! to the sitar in Yes (my favorite song from that era). However, throwing some synths on a phat beat isn't innovating, because sooooooo much pop music does that nowadays.

 

Not that MX is bad by any means: I think it's a really good pop album. However, it's not as cohesive as Viva is, and I think they were going for cohesiveness and experimentation this time around. And yeah, while it's a different sound to what we're used to hearing Coldplay sound like, it still seems too safe and I can't help but get the feeling that this has been done before.

 

I hope they step back and reassess themselves for the next album. Because while I like MX a lot, this will get old really quickly. I don't want Coldplay to become the crap pop-tart that Maroon 5 has become. Yuck.

 

I'd give it an 8/10, but Coldplay: Watch your step.

[admnistramation]

I've given it more time and it stands as a solid 7/10. :shrug: UFO has grown on me and UWTB is now my favorite, POC > ETIAW >>>> Paradise, Charlie Brown and HLH are nice anthems, MX and AHT are really sweet, DLIBYH is bright and energetic and even a little shoegazy, Major Minus is still incredibly U2-lite, UATW is always incredible, and Up In Flames is monotonous and reflects how poorly Chris Martin's talent is aging.

 

7/10. Kind of meh, alright, easy to get sick of.

[Brent]

I've given it more time and it stands as a solid 7/10. :shrug: UFO has grown on me and UWTB is now my favorite, POC > ETIAW >>>> Paradise, Charlie Brown and HLH are nice anthems, MX and AHT are really sweet, DLIBYH is bright and energetic and even a little shoegazy, Major Minus is still incredibly U2-lite, UATW is always incredible, and Up In Flames is monotonous and reflects how poorly Chris Martin's talent is aging.

 

7/10. Kind of meh, alright, easy to get sick of.

 

Although I don't agree, this is an example of what criticism should be like. Bravo.

[admnistramation]

I could have elaborated, but I honestly don't feel like it. Mylo Xyloto will get reviews of all kinds, I'll let everyone else do the talking and cite some reviews that see fit with what I think. :p

[Major_Love]

Although I don't agree, this is an example of what criticism should be like. Bravo.

 

Yeah, I see it the same way. This is serious criticism.

 

Personally I want to say some words about Up in Flames. It seems like PoC is the song how Mylo and Xyloto broke down their relationship and Up in Flames is the song which describes the emptiness you feel when you loose someone who is very important for you. So, I personally find that the song couldn't be much better to describe this feeling. I'm very satisfied with this song now, but firstly I was also sceptical. Except the first 10 seconds its one of my favorite tracks of Coldplay now.

[getithom]

I think the right way for a new direction is what Viva was: With the instrumental diversity and world music vibes they had on there. It was really something, from the bongo drums on Lost! to the sitar in Yes (my favorite song from that era). However, throwing some synths on a phat beat isn't innovating, because sooooooo much pop music does that nowadays.

 

Not that MX is bad by any means: I think it's a really good pop album. However, it's not as cohesive as Viva is, and I think they were going for cohesiveness and experimentation this time around. And yeah, while it's a different sound to what we're used to hearing Coldplay sound like, it still seems too safe and I can't help but get the feeling that this has been done before.

 

I hope they step back and reassess themselves for the next album. Because while I like MX a lot, this will get old really quickly. I don't want Coldplay to become the crap pop-tart that Maroon 5 has become. Yuck.

 

I'd give it an 8/10, but Coldplay: Watch your step.

 

I completely agree. Despite the fans of this era, I really believe most fans want Coldplay to have a more familiar sound on their next LP.

[mitch323]

It is probably their second 'worst' album overall (I didn't care for X&Y) but still a solid album. To be honest I don't think they can ever be expected to top Parachutes or AROBTTH, as they are both near-flawless albums.

 

But regardless, still a great album.

 

Faves so far are:

 

Us Against the World

Charlie Brown

UFO

Princess of China

Up In Flames

Major Minus

 

Disappointed Moving to Mars was not on the album as it is much better than a few of the songs that made the cut.

[TryWhistlingThis]

My review after 2 listens...

 

First thing to note, before buying the album, the only songs I listened to were those which were officially released on the band's website

(Paradise/Waterfalls/Minus). I didn't listen to any leaks or even the live versions which have been circulating YouTube for the last few months.

Absolutely love the artwork to the album, I get a choice of two covers!

 

Mylo Xyloto- nice intro

 

Hurts Like Heaven - the first thing I notice with this album is that it's not suited for small speakers or mobile devices. It sounds fantastic on

headphones, but currently i'm playing it again on my iPod Touch (via the built in speaker) and it sounds really messy and loses a lot of the layers.

I've tried different settings but it doesn't improve it much. I know it's not the best way to hear music, but other albums (including Coldplay's) sound

great on mini-speaker. But because the production this time around is at its heaviest, there's just too much noise saturation.

 

Paradise - i like this one, always have. But i'm skeptical about how this will play out live because the production is a major driving force of this

song with the harmonies, strings and synth. I'm guessing Will is going to be playing electronic drums on this? Live drums would drown out the sound

too much for the type of song it is. But it's a great anthem.

 

Charlie Brown - a nice mix of early Coldplay and Viva La Vida (the song). Johnny's electric guitar riff harkens back to something off the Parachutes

album. But, that's where the similarities end to early Coldplay. A great song which I anticipate should translate live and will make a very nice

single for the radio (assuming the band is still concerned about that).

 

Us Against the World - not quite into this one yet. Up until this track the production has been one of the most apparent elements of the

album but not in a way that takes away from the music. It just seems strange to have a song that is now so stripped back and intimate which, up until

now, has been the antithesis to the album's tone. It's just a little too gentle for me as we've heard a lot of this from Coldplay in the past. It's

nice but it's not something i'm always in the mood for.

 

M.M.I.X - i've always been a bit funny with interludes because i've always found it's something that just really belongs on a main track but for some

reason is used instead to add to the track listing. It's especially odd when you can buy the track stand alone off iTunes. But it serves its purpose

as a nice segue to...

 

Every teardrop is a waterfall - the controversial track that introduced us to MX. The use of electronica and synth did surprise me at first but it's

grown on me a lot since and sounds very relevant to the album when heard in the context of the entire body of work.

 

Major Minus - I have always loved this track. It's easily my most listened to track in the leadup to the album. To my dismay, it hasn't been so well

received on the forums. I just can't express how much I like this song enough. It's flawless; musically, lyrically and vocally. This will sound increadible

live. Easily some of Johnny's best guitar work.

 

U.F.O - strangely, unlike Us Against The World, I like this a lot and it first with the album. Sure, it comes across more as a Martin solo piece

 

Princess of China - another track that may not work live. Rhianna, electronic drumming and the saturation of synth kind of does take away from what

the song has to offer. I'm mixed on this at the moment but i'm not a fan of too much post year 2000 music so i'm clearly not a fan of Rhiannon, auto-tune,

contemporary pop or electronica. I admire the desire to step outside of the boundaries, but something is lost in the translation here. Whereas

the duet with Chris Marin and (if I recall the artist's name correctly) Kanye West worked brilliantly and would have been a great coldplay song.

But, with Pricess, there's just a little too much Rhiannon.

 

Up In Flames - this is kind of like a Coldplay meets Massive Attack, mainly the backbeat gives it this feel. But it's mostly familiar Coldplay

territory and by this point of the album, quite welcome. Another potential single.

 

 

A Hopeful Transmission - i'm a little annoyed with this one as it would have made a great full length instrumental, but instead we just get teased.

A shame.

 

 

Don't Let It Break Your Heart - can't get into this one yet, it's not speaking to me.

 

Up With The Birds - not my favourite Coldplay closing track, but nice enough. I haven't got much to say about it just yet.

 

 

Overall, a good Coldplay album. For now, Viva La Vida is my favourite Coldplay album but I certainly prefer Mylo Xyloto to X&Y. After the innovation

we got on the fourth album and its offspring EP, my expectations were obviously pretty high. I wouldn't say Coldplay have stopped inventing or

tweaking their sound or even taken a backstep. I get the impression that while Chris wants the sound of the band to move forward, at the same

he's very self-conscious of what critics and fans will think. He doesn't want to leave anyone behind but he also wants to keep people guessing

with optimism. The transition we're seeing now to me resembles the Help-Rubber Soul-Revolver-Sgt Pepper transition of The Beatles in the sense

that Coldplay is working up to something bigger. The transition in their sound is very methodical on this album in the sense that it doesn't take

a massive leap forward like they did between X&Y and Viva. Next time around i'd love to hear a darker, moodier Coldplay with some atmosphere. While I like

Mylo Xyloto for its exploration of sound, at the same time its done in a way that is decent and relevant to what is popular in the industry right now.

I stress again, that does not make it a bad record but when you take into account the talent of the band and where the album could have gone, you can't

help it wish for just a little bit more.

 

4 out of 5

 

 

So for now its:

 

1. Viva La Vida

 

2. A Rush Of Blood To The Head

 

3. Mylo Xyloto

 

4. Parachutes

 

5. X&Y

[oldmuckers]

very nice but you have parachutes twice! which one was meant to be a rush?

[TryWhistlingThis]

very nice but you have parachutes twice! which one was meant to be a rush?

 

Fixed :)

[aschall]

nice review! :thumbsup:

 

just curious, in the "help-rubber soul-revolver-sgt pepper" analogy, what progression of Coldplay albums are you referring to?

 

in example, chutes-rush-x and y- viva ?

[TryWhistlingThis]

Well, Viva-Mylo-Album 6 seems to be the Help-Rubber Soul-Revolver for me.

 

Regarding The Beatles albums, during that era there were still a lot of sounds of their Merseybeat era while at the same time you had some exploration too with new riffs (Ticket To Ride), instruments (Norwegian Wood's inclusion of the sitar), styles (Eleanor Rigby) and things there were totally

unlike The Bealtes (Tomorrow Never Knows).

 

Almost the same thing is happening with Coldplay. So far Viva and Mylo have some of the

things that are typical to Coldplay - melodies, harmonies and soaring anthems just as The Beatles during their relative era still were writing short, catchy, 4/4 pop & rock love songs. At the same time, we're seeing things that are unfamiliar to Coldplay recordings. Let's analogise with The Beatles example above:

 

New riffs (Violet Hill, Major Minus), instruments (Yes, Lost, Princess of China), styles (Princess Of China, Every teardrop..., Paradise and the title track, Viva La Vida) and things are totally

unlike Coldplay (Yes and Princess Of China).

 

The point i'm making goes back to my review in the sense that we can see Coldplay are serious about moving forward but their taking it step by step. If anything, Chris Martin is to Coldplay what Paul McCartney and Sir George Martin were to The Beatles where the lines between Producer and band member become quite blurred. Once again, based on this gradual evolution, i'm starting to think the band is working up to something bigger. Though at once stage Chris claims that Guy (in an interview to which I cannot source the weblink)

walked in and expressly stated that the album at the time just wasn't working. So perhaps the result that is Mylo Xyloto is symbolic of a potential creative tension within the band where one wants to go further into the deep end while the other is concerned about alienating fans.

[ColdplayBlop]

Personally, I find the album was superb, but it did have its flows. I find each song was so different than the text, so it kinda felt off balanced, but the story stayed strong. While I loved Moving to Mars, i'm sort of happy it wasn't on the album, i just don't think it would've fit with the rest of the songs =S. Id probably give the album 8.5 out of 10.

[y3110w]

When it's good, it's actually good (Us Against The World, Charlie Brown) but when it's bad it falters (Paradise, Up In Flames). I'd rate it as the second worst Coldplay album, just hovering above X&Y. I'm a bit generous on the rating I guess as I gave it a 7/10.

[LARD]

Parachutes: 10

AROBTTH: 9

X&Y: 8

Viva la Vida: 9

Mylo Xyloto: 8

[periahdark]

I wrote a review of it just a couple hours ago. I'm not very musically inclined so it's more of a track by track overview and my final thoughts/personal experience with the album. Hope you guys enjoy it still :D

 

http://periahdark.tumblr.com/post/11821070110/luminous-and-wired-mylo-xyloto-reviewed

[thebeehive]

I already have MX-it is AWESOME!!!!!!!1!!!!!1!1!!:lol:

[geekchic]

I love it! It's so happy and great to dance to. "Good things are coming our way"

[ApproximatelyInfinite]

I think the right way for a new direction is what Viva was: With the instrumental diversity and world music vibes they had on there. It was really something, from the bongo drums on Lost! to the sitar in Yes (my favorite song from that era). However, throwing some synths on a phat beat isn't innovating, because sooooooo much pop music does that nowadays.

 

Not that MX is bad by any means: I think it's a really good pop album. However, it's not as cohesive as Viva is, and I think they were going for cohesiveness and experimentation this time around. And yeah, while it's a different sound to what we're used to hearing Coldplay sound like, it still seems too safe and I can't help but get the feeling that this has been done before.

 

I hope they step back and reassess themselves for the next album. Because while I like MX a lot, this will get old really quickly. I don't want Coldplay to become the crap pop-tart that Maroon 5 has become. Yuck.

 

I'd give it an 8/10, but Coldplay: Watch your step.

 

I feel almost exactly the same way--this is really well written. I really love MX, actually a lot more than I expected I would, but I wonder how it'll age, especially in comparison to the others, because it seems very "of its moment" and, like you said, uses a lot of similar techniques to other (pop) music out there these days. I definitely agree that it's less innovative than I think anything else they've released in that sense.

 

However, for some reason I feel that MX is more cohesive than VLV. I have a hard time articulating what I mean, but I feel like the sonic thread is stronger on MX than it was on VLV, in that all the songs seemed to have a common "thing" going on. I think all of Coldplay's albums BUT VLV are actually quite cohesive, while VLV is more doing one thing one minute and a completely different thing the next. That worked for that album, very well, I think, but I'm always drawn to album cohesion, and I feel that that's something MX has in spades.

 

And "watch your step" is a great way of putting it--I think they pulled this album and this style off very well, but if they plan to do the same sort of thing again (meaning create another album working off popular tricks and sounds of the time with a dash of anthems and a dash of acoustic guitar songs), I don't know if it would work as well for them. The next time around I'd love to see them really try and put out that stripped-down album they originally planned on doing, or something similarly different from what they've been doing of late. Reassess and tone down a bit, I guess.

[l0wxo2]

Just finished listening to it and I think that this is an incredible album. Let me just say that when Viva came out, it took me awhile for certain songs to grow on me but with this album, I didn't have that problem.

 

I do not like the studio version of HLH and prefer the live version... same goes for Major Minus but other than that, I really love the album. So I give it a 8/10. I was actually quite surprised how much I liked Princess of China, I think Chris and Rihanna's voices go really well together. I love the studio version of Charlie Brown, U.F.O. is amazing and Us Against the World and Up In Flames still bring me to tears. Don't Let It Break Your Heart I loved immediately. It is so massive from beginning to end and is my favorite track. Up With the Birds is freaking gorgeous and a brilliant closing song. The boys did a brilliant job on this album and I am so proud of them.

[getithom]

I plan on posting a great, full-length review sometime in the next day or so, but my initial reaction is below.

 

Upon firs listen, I felt a little underwhelmed. I didn't think it was bad, per say, but not what I was expecting. Upon a second and third listen, I really, really adore Mylo Xyloto. Like IOwxo2 said about Viva La Vida, I had the same issue with. Not this time around, however. The songs from this era give new life that I haven't felt in their past couple of albums.

 

That said, it has its problems, but really, what album doesn't? I find it funny that I really liked Paradise previous to the official release of Mylo Xyloto, but I am not too fond of it right now. I assume it's because I've listened to it for so long that I want to hear the unheard things for now.

 

For now, I'm going to give it a 8.5/10. It has energy, soul, emotion and beauty. Well done, Coldplay.

 

As far as album-ranking goes:

1. A Rush of Blood To The Head

2. X&Y

3. Mylo Xyloto

4. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

5. Parachutes (I still love you!)

 

Another thing: HOW AWESOME IS DON'T LET IT BREAKY YOUR HEART?

[ApproximatelyInfinite]

I'm still unprepared to put it in the album ranking list yet. I'm going to have to put some thought into that.

 

And I had the same problem with VLV as well--really liked it, but didn't really get the brilliance of some tracks until later. This time, I felt that the songs I was iffy about I'd already heard, and they sounded much, much better in context of the album. Maybe it's because I was "more excited" for VLV's release, even though I had my concerns about what they were doing even back then. But I was so, so excited for it that when it came, it might have been inevitable for me to be a bit more critical of it at first (same thing happened to me with a non-Coldplay album this year that I was pants-wetting excited for). This time, I was quite worried about the whole thing, even though we'd heard most of the songs in some form, and was very pleasantly surprised. There was no hurdle of equating high expectations with reality and bringing them more down to earth: this time it was the opposite, and that was refreshing.