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

[Alienbob]

MX/Hurts Like Heaven: 10/10

Epic. Best song on the album, great production. I love the auto-tune backing vocals, the guitar riffs, everything.

 

Paradise: 8.5/10

Pretty good song. Great synth strings, great bass work and drum work, but it's lyrics are some of the worst on the album. And, the guitar riff at the end is just boring.

 

Charlie Brown: 9/10

Great song. Fun, upbeat, and I love Chris's voice and the lyrics of this one. All of it's parts are amazing, and the piano at the end is beautiful.

 

Us Against the World: 9/10

The best of the slower songs on the album. Just plain beautiful.

 

M.M.I.X./Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall: 6.5/10

M.M.I.X. provides epic buildup, the Every Teardrop is still...Every Teardrop. I'm sorry, I just can't take the song seriously. The synth is fun, but the acoustic guitar is to much. It's not layered, it's cluttered.

 

Major Minus: 9.5/10

Criminally underrated. Wish it had the guitar part after the first chorus from the live version, but it's still great, and the bass, guitar, and drums are all top notch. It's Coldplay firing all their guns at once.

 

U.F.O.: 8/10

Pretty, great lyrics, love how the MX melody comes in. However, it's no Don't Panic. The melody is to tacky and forced to ever reach that height of awesome.

 

Princess of China: 7.5/10

Great synth, great drums and bass. Love the vocals. It's just that the structure is weird, and the production is tacky and cluttered. They didn't need all those weird flourishes they added, such as the things that sound like harps, that tacky piano part. It's just seems cheap.

 

Up In Flames: 7/10

Pretty, and has grown on me. The drum's, contrary to most people's opinions, are amazing. They add this steady coolness to it. The piano and mix of orchestration is great. But in the end, the song is just that: pretty. It's lyrics are average. The melody is average. It's TOO simple.

 

A Hopeful Transmission/Don't Let It Break Your Heart: 8.5/10

Don't Let it Break Your Heart is amazing, it's just too short. It needed more, to push it farther. AHT is pretty, a great reprise of the MX theme.

 

Up With the Birds: 10/10

Just god damn beautiful. Amsterdam meets Death and All His Friends. The lyrics are just plain great, like the best poetry. The two parts are equally awesome. Again, like Don't Let It Break Your Heart, it could be longer, but this song doesn't suffer as much as that song because of it's length.

 

A great album. I'm sad to see that so many people seem to dislike it. :\

[lotrobsessed101]

I have been listening to the album non-stop for a whole week despite not being initially wowed by it and feeling kinda disappointed. I guess the excitement of having new Coldplay music was stronger than my disappointment and that made me need to listen to the whole album on repeat. That was until I got a couple of other albums yesterday, now I haven't listened to Mylo Xyloto in 2 days and don't think I'll be listening any time soon. So that's what I think it's the main problem about this album: it ticks the right boxes, it won't really offend anybody, it will make Coldplay fans devour the music and they won't be able to get enough of it for a while... until the novelty of it goes ... I don't see this album having any lasting power but I hope to be proven wrong.

 

Main problems the album has imo (now that I've listened to it countless times):

-OVERPRODUCTION, killing Chris's voice on several songs and making all real emotion go out of the window.

-Messy concept: if this is supposed to be a concept album, I'm sorry but I still don't get the concept. It lacks consistency for me.

-It should be 11 tracks and not 14. The interludes are a rip-off and totally ruin the experience if you play shuffle. They would sound great as part of the next track, but not as a track on their own. I can't believe they are even sold separately on i-tunes!

-Certain songs like U.F.O and some others I can't think of right now are too short, it's like they tease you and they suddenly finish when you're actually getting in the mood for more.

-Charlie Brown could be an amazing song if it actually had a chorus. The song is instantly likeable as soon as it starts but you're left feeling there's something missing by the end of it (imho). The music is amazing but the singing part is very weak.

-Princess of China could be great if it had a different structure and less Rihanna.

-How dare they call "Up in Flames" a modern day Fix You????? :O Embarrassing! (again, this is just my personal opinion).

 

There's of course lots of good things about the album: it is very uplifting, addictive and, unlike most people, I actually LOVE Paradise. I also love Up With The Birds (wish it was longer though) and even Major Minus. Hurts Like Heaven could be spectacular with better production.

 

I'm still looking forward to seeing Coldplay live, but I'm sad this album doesn't even get close to having the effect ALL their previous albums had on me (including X&Y, which nobody seems to like and I absolutely LOVE together with AROBTTH). I welcome change and experimentation, as long as the results are good and actually work.

 

This is pretty much how I'm feeling about the album. I had really high expectations after Viva la Vida and Prospekt's March. Viva has become my second favorite album. It was so amazing! I was expecting to be wowed as much with MX as I was the first time I listened to Viva. I just feel a little dissapointed. The album still hasn't "clicked" completely with me even after 11 listens in the past 2 days. :/ There are things I like, but this is the first time I've heard a Coldplay song I can't stand, Up in Flames. Also, there isn't a clear standout track like Viva was for it's respective album.

[TryWhistlingThis]

The thing with this album is i'm just struggling to find my "moment". After the first or second listen of Viva La Vida, I knew I loved Lost and would play the whole album again just to get to that track because of the atmosphere created by the percussion and Chris' haunting, brooding vocals. After that, it was Yes with its twangy, experimental sound and then Viva La Vida for its sheer beauty before it became a hit. I had things to lock onto which is what made the repeat listens so inviting. Plus, the overall tone of the album was just fantastic.

 

With MX, it's just hard to find that moment. Sure, I love Major Minus because to me it feels like Yes meets Violet Hill. U.F.O and Up With The Birds have grown on me a lot. But even with those songs, I haven't identified with an actual lyric or riff that makes me go "yeah - lets hear those twenty seconds again!" The album leaves me satisfied, but not full. It's not their worst, X&Y, which just left me exhausted and drowsy. But with this, I just have no point of reference (so far) to really remember the album by.

[Brent]

^Agreed. That's my main problem with it.

[TryWhistlingThis]

 

Major Minus: 9.5/10

Criminally underrated. Wish it had the guitar part after the first chorus from the live version, but it's still great, and the bass, guitar, and drums are all top notch. It's Coldplay firing all their guns at once.

 

 

THIS. It is such a gift when a complete stranger articulates your thoughts in writing. Word for word, I completely agree. This is precisely what i'm getting at when I say that Coldplay are capable of amazing things, but they only go so far. They're definitely capable of a Bullet The Blue Sky type song.

[TryWhistlingThis]

Apologies for the double post, but all this talk has now inspired me to put Viva La Vida on again. Just after hearing Life In Technicolour, it already sounds like a fresher, less dated sounding record than MX because it hasn't been saturated with all the dance and electropop. For this reason, MX feels more like an album for now that will start its aging process in a few years once the current wave of electronic music starts to fade out of fashion. Whereas, Viva La Vida sounds so much more like a band record.

[lotrobsessed101]

Apologies for the double post, but all this talk has now inspired me to put Viva La Vida on again. Just after hearing Life In Technicolour, it already sounds like a fresher, less dated sounding record than MX because it hasn't been saturated with all the dance and electropop. For this reason, MX feels more like an album for now that will start its aging process in a few years once the current wave of electronic music starts to fade out of fashion. Whereas, Viva La Vida sounds so much more like a band record.

 

I agree. I think Viva is going to stand the test of time and I'm not sure MX will, although it's too soon to judge. I put on Viva yesterday inbetween my many repeats of MX and it was so refreshing. I think I love it even more now that the era is over. You know how they say you realize how much you love something when it's gone. That's kind of how I feel about Viva.

[TryWhistlingThis]

I agree. I think Viva is going to stand the test of time and I'm not sure MX will, although it's too soon to judge. I put on Viva yesterday inbetween my many repeats of MX and it was so refreshing. I think I love it even more now that the era is over. You know how they say you realize how much you love something when it's gone. That's kind of how I feel about Viva.

 

Viva was one of those rare albums for me that I loved from first listen and it's impact just hasn't waned. I purchased it on release day too, so i've been with it since day one. Of course, I attended the tour. It was actually my first time seeing the band live. But Viva for me also confirmed my status as a Coldplay fan. I didn't get into them until AROBTTH, I loved them then. But then X&Y came out, I was a little deterred, but then the innovative Viva came along and X&Y was just that one underwhelming album.

[lotrobsessed101]

Viva was one of those rare albums for me that I loved from first listen and it's impact just hasn't waned. I purchased it on release day too, so i've been with it since day one. Of course, I attended the tour. It was actually my first time seeing the band live. But Viva for me also confirmed my status as a Coldplay fan. I didn't get into them until AROBTTH, I loved them then. But then X&Y came out, I was a little deterred, but then the innovative Viva came along and X&Y was just that one underwhelming album.

 

Same for me! I didn't get to buy it on release day because I was out of town, but I was in love since first listen and I still absolutely love it. And I miss it so much now that Viva Era is well said and done with. It comes in just a smidge behind AROBTTH as my second favorite. I became a fan during X&Y era, but I was more of a casual fan until Viva. Viva era was also the first time I got to see them live. We have a lot in common!

[Alienbob]

Viva was the first album I ever bought, first album I ever listened to. I was musically depraved.

 

I still love that album, but I wish they had just done a double album with the b-sides included. My double album Viva is way better than normal Viva La Vida, and makes a better concept album than MX. :P

[Alienbob]

THIS. It is such a gift when a complete stranger articulates your thoughts in writing. Word for word, I completely agree. This is precisely what i'm getting at when I say that Coldplay are capable of amazing things, but they only go so far. They're definitely capable of a Bullet The Blue Sky type song.

 

And thanks for agreeing with me. Major Minus is so underrated, by far one of my favorites on the record.

[aschall]

i think UFO is underrated :\

[Blue Nails]

THIS. It is such a gift when a complete stranger articulates your thoughts in writing. Word for word, I completely agree. This is precisely what i'm getting at when I say that Coldplay are capable of amazing things, but they only go so far. They're definitely capable of a Bullet The Blue Sky type song.

 

I agree with this too. I've always loved Major Minus, including the studio version. It's such a sexy song. I wouldn't have liked the album as much without it.

[francvi]

Apologies for the double post, but all this talk has now inspired me to put Viva La Vida on again. Just after hearing Life In Technicolour, it already sounds like a fresher, less dated sounding record than MX because it hasn't been saturated with all the dance and electropop. For this reason, MX feels more like an album for now that will start its aging process in a few years once the current wave of electronic music starts to fade out of fashion. Whereas, Viva La Vida sounds so much more like a band record.

 

I don't have a problem with dance and electronic sounds as long as they are good. Personally, I don't think the problem here is experimenting with electronic music as much as just not knowing how to use those sounds in a way that compliments the song and Chris's voice, basically it all came down to not knowing how to produce the album properly. As I've said many times, I'm an electronic music lover but the way this album is produced is just messy, imo. And if not all songs are that good to begin with, the problem gets even worse.

[Cheese Nip 2]

I mentioned this before but it doesn't really sound "electronic" to me. I get a shoe gazing vibe, but whut eva:artist:

 

On the subject of Viva La Vida as a concept album, I've always thought that too. I've also always though X&Y was a concept album too though, and I seem to be the only one in that boat!

[Tonsu]

Apologies for the double post, but all this talk has now inspired me to put Viva La Vida on again. Just after hearing Life In Technicolour, it already sounds like a fresher, less dated sounding record than MX because it hasn't been saturated with all the dance and electropop. For this reason, MX feels more like an album for now that will start its aging process in a few years once the current wave of electronic music starts to fade out of fashion. Whereas, Viva La Vida sounds so much more like a band record.

 

Fascinating points here and in other posts, thanks :)

 

Viva's going to be timeless I think, but MX is not just 'of its time' but also possibly very dated already I think. The electronica (the breaks in PoC and the terrible 'CD is scratched' effect in BLIBYH spring to mind as some of the worst offenders) haven't seen their like in dance music since the mid-90s I don't think, and for good reason. And there is an awful lot of 80s influence in there that sounds totally redundant and utterly self-indulgent to me (having lived through that time myself).

 

There was none of that on Viva. It was all new and original and still sounds fresh to me. Almost all of MX sounds derivative.

 

Still early days so I really do hope my opinion changes!

[Snagi]

Parachutes: 10

Rush: 10

X&Y: 9

Viva: 8

MX: 6.5

 

 

Songs are really good on Mylo but compression gets me really upset.

 

I will give a full review as soon as I can hear it in my studio.

 

But it looks like loudness war stroke again

[Abracadabra]

5/10

It isn't actually what I was looking forward to for three years, but it taught me not to expect anything from Coldplay in the future. At the moment I feel like I wouldn't care much should they decide to retire. Their so desired masterpiece was made long before MX, anyway.

 

As to the content of MX:

 

My favourites are UATW and surprisingly, Up with The Birds. UATW was enchanting from the first time I heard it months ago. The studio version doesn't suffer any unnecessary changes and it sounds even more soft and friendly,Chris's voice there.

 

I quite like UWTB, too. The eerie background in the first, solemn part of the song is mind-blowing, I would never have believed Coldplay could use something as wicked as that, especially not after my indifference, or rather disappointment with the most of what they produced this era. And then the unexpected, exuberant turn of the song. Liked that too.

For me, this song is the only one where Coldplay succeed to surprise, in a positive way. It contains the reminiscences of the band I once loved.

 

CB, HLH, ETIAW,Paradise and MM have remained the same and I already discussed them someplace else.

 

I can't decide as to DLIBYH and UFO yet. That might signify they may be worth while.

 

Princess of China- Ugh. The quality is not much better than that of the recorded video. Rihanna isn't helping much, either.

 

I think all the intros (MX, MMIX, AHT) are stupid. As in, them being separate songs is completely unnecessary. Of the three, MX sounds quite nice and embellished, but I would tie it up with an actual song, that song not being HLH or any other of the album,though.

 

It is such a shame to have MTM left out, but it obviously wasn't their thing this time.

 

This is the first Coldplay album I have no intention of buying and I'm happy I haven't pre-ordered it. There are definitely albums more worth my money out there.

[mamgirl]

I'm not very articluate so I can't really put into words why exactly....but I love this album from start to finish. I have listened to it daily and am not getting tired of it yet. I guess it's because I like the upbeat dancy type songs, and these ones are done by Coldplay. So I have the best of both worlds in my opinion. I thought I was going to be disappointed by the fact that there are a lot of songs that are a different style than we're used to. No. Love them all.

[Revolverwin]

MX is EPIC

[nvdmm]

5/10

It isn't actually what I was looking forward to for three years, but it taught me not to expect anything from Coldplay in the future. At the moment I feel like I wouldn't care much should they decide to retire. Their so desired masterpiece was made long before MX, anyway.

 

As to the content of MX:

 

My favourites are UATW and surprisingly, Up with The Birds. UATW was enchanting from the first time I heard it months ago. The studio version doesn't suffer any unnecessary changes and it sounds even more soft and friendly,Chris's voice there.

 

I quite like UWTB, too. The eerie background in the first, solemn part of the song is mind-blowing, I would never have believed Coldplay could use something as wicked as that, especially not after my indifference, or rather disappointment with the most of what they produced this era. And then the unexpected, exuberant turn of the song. Liked that too.

For me, this song is the only one where Coldplay succeed to surprise, in a positive way. It contains the reminiscences of the band I once loved.

 

CB, HLH, ETIAW,Paradise and MM have remained the same and I already discussed them someplace else.

 

I can't decide as to DLIBYH and UFO yet. That might signify they may be worth while.

 

Princess of China- Ugh. The quality is not much better than that of the recorded video. Rihanna isn't helping much, either.

 

I think all the intros (MX, MMIX, AHT) are stupid. As in, them being separate songs is completely unnecessary. Of the three, MX sounds quite nice and embellished, but I would tie it up with an actual song, that song not being HLH or any other of the album,though.

 

It is such a shame to have MTM left out, but it obviously wasn't their thing this time.

 

This is the first Coldplay album I have no intention of buying and I'm happy I haven't pre-ordered it. There are definitely albums more worth my money out there.

 

 

brilliant post. there are a few moments here and there throughout the album which made me anticipate for some greatness (on my first listen) but it never came. it was like watchin a movie where they build up the tension and excitement and then nothing happens or they skip right through to the aftermath. very disappointing. plus theres some truly tedious songs that i just cant listen to. i was playin POC yesterday and i thought what the #$@* were they thinkin.

 

im kinda glad though cuz i now know not to expect anything special from coldplay anymore cuz then i'd be more nicely surprised if they came up with a masterpiece of some sort. dont wanna sound like a jackass but i really hope they dont win any grammys for this. most probably wont

[Coldplay3277]

brilliant post. there are a few moments here and there throughout the album which made me anticipate for some greatness (on my first listen) but it never came. it was like watchin a movie where they build up the tension and excitement and then nothing happens or they skip right through to the aftermath. very disappointing. plus theres some truly tedious songs that i just cant listen to. i was playin POC yesterday and i thought what the #$@* were they thinkin.

 

im kinda glad though cuz i now know not to expect anything special from coldplay anymore cuz then i'd be more nicely surprised if they came up with a masterpiece of some sort. dont wanna sound like a jackass but i really hope they dont win any grammys for this. most probably wont

 

the wont win any grammys for this...i bet on it

 

im rooting for Florence + The Machines new album for Album of the year!:cool:

[Vitamin Z]

After some listens...

 

MX/HLH: 10

Paradise: 10

Charlie Brown: 10

UATW: 10

MMIX/ETIAW: 10

Major Minus: 10

UFO: 10

POC: 10

Up in Flames: 10

AHT/DLIBYH: 10

UWTB: 10

 

Perhaps a bit exaggerated but wow, even songs such as Up in Flames and Major Minus which I didn't like at first have grown on me. Fantastic album.

[nvdmm]

the wont win any grammys for this...i bet on it

 

im rooting for Florence + The Machines new album for Album of the year!:cool:

 

too right! my god they're good

[Nature]

i want to give this album an 1.