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


Major_Love

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MX - Sounds great. Anthemic, uplifting. 8/10

Hurts Like Heaven - Out of all the live songs this was my favorite one but I really hate the way they produced this one. I can't feel the power that the live performances embody. However, it's still a great song though and always got the live version. 9/10

Paradise - 7/10

Charlie Brown - 7/10

Us Against the World - This song grew on me and I was just waiting for studio version to get a better listen and I love it. 8/10

MMIX - Guess they added this for the transition and the whole making it feel like an album purpose. Don't care for it though. 2/10

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall - 9/10

Major Minus - 6/10

UFO - 5/10

Princess of China - Really good melody. Could've done without Rihanna though. 7/10

Up in Flames - My favorite off the album. Classic soothing Coldplay. 9/10

A Hopeful Transmission - I liked this transition far more than MMIX. 6/10

Don't Let it Break Your Heart - nothing really catches me on first few listens. 6/10

Up With the Birds - Really picks up in the second half of the song. 7/10

 

Overall, I give this album a 3/5 on the first few listens.

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Okay, first listen I was a bit skeptical. I wasn't really sure what to think of it

 

I'm on my second listen now and I have to say that even in the brief few seconds that it took for me to scroll back to 'Mylo Xyloto' in iTunes, it's grown on me.

 

It's very different from what the guys have done in the past, but overall I'm pleased. It's a solid 7 at least (not even close to the 9.5s that I gave to Viva and ARoBttH, but better than Parachutes and X&Y at this point).

 

So I'll just do this:

 

Mylo Xyloto - :surprised:

Hurts Like Heaven - :anxious:

Paradise - :rolleyes:

Charlie Brown - Oh hai der

Us Against The World - Lovin' the intro :cool:

M.M.I.X. - AHA! :cheesy: Mysterious sounds in the ETiaW lyric snippet video thingys have been explained!

ETiaW - :lips:

Major Minus - :dazzled:, :wacky: or *insert smilie expressing pure joy here*

U.F.O. - :pleased: Short. Sounds like Don't Panic (*whispers*butdontpanicisstillbetter)

Princess of China - :o (I also screamed a little in the beginning and at the synth drop)

Up In Flames - PIANO! OMG I HAVEN'T HEARD YOU SINCE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS (also, ending piano is sweet)

AHT - :nod: (and a moment of 'hehe, I see what you did thar')

DLIBYH - :guitarist: with a little bit of :wtf: Reminds me of Rainy Day for some reason (maybe because I can't really understand what he's saying? :P)

Up With The Birds - . . . I'm not sure about this one yet. :thinking:

 

And, I think that Paradise and ETiaW sound much better when listened to in the album context. Pluse, the entire second half of the album is epic.

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Don't mind me. I'm just reading people's reviews.

I haven't heard the album yet. I'm patient, and I can handle a week of waiting.

I'm intrigued. So many lovers, and so many haters. It's like "Mylo Xyloto" is the Coldplay equivalent of Indiana Jones 4! :confused:

I've only heard PoC, and I agree with whoever said Florence & The Machine should have done Rihanna's part. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to live with the Rihanna duet... her contribution is fine and dandy, but RiRi's no GaGa.

 

I just started listening to Florence & The Machine and I love her, she and Chris should record something together.

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Guest howyousawtheworld
I do not post on this forum much these days, but as Mylo Xyloto has leaked I thought I would post my thoughts.

Mylo Xyloto is a colossal yet ingeniously short album opener. I absolutely love the way it slowly builds up the pace and seamlessly kicks into the true album opener, Hurts Like Heaven.

Hurts Like Heaven is fantastic. It couldn’t sound a further apart from its live incarnation but it certainly does hold its own and provides the statement of intent for the rest of the album. Its clicks, techno blips and beeps remind me of Athlete.

Paradise? Its huge synths and bass line now seem not so bad in context with the rest of the album. It is a radio-friendly and non-Coldplay-sounding 4 minutes and 38 second song that will inevitably attract more new fans and eject a few old fans too.

Charlie Brown. It is Coldplay, but then again it isn’t. This song has been around for three or so years. If you listen carefully you can hear the largely acoustic song that it once was, to fit on a once promised acoustic album that failed to materialise. At times it feels as though it has been fleshed out to suit the style of Mylo Xyloto, I kind of wish they’d kept it for an acoustic sixth album.

Us Against the World is lovely. It is quite an important song for me because it was decided a while ago, after playing a live performance of it to my fiancé, that this would be the song that is played during our ‘first dance’. On first listen the thirty seconds had us worried, as we’re used to just Chris and the guitar, however our worries were allayed following an amazingly simple and untouched recording of this soon to be classic song.

M.M.I.X. It’s an instrumental. It does help to prepare you for ETIAW which I would much prefer to just launching straight into its dance-synth tomfoolery after such a beautiful song.

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall. You either love it or you want it to die a slow and painful death. I did hate it, but after hearing it as part of this album I am starting to enjoy it. I particularly like the last 59 seconds. OooooooOOOoooooh! And so on.

Major Minus. After hearing the live performance a few months ago I was very disappointed with the studio recording. It’s the vocal and composition of instruments. It sounds over-produced and loses that raw edge that you get with it being played live. It is GPASUYF’s ugly step-sister.

U.F.O. So, during Major Minus I got talking to my fiancé about how Coldplay will probably never go back to their ‘Parachutes’ sound and how UATW is probably a nod to all those fans who have stuck with them since the late 90s. U.F.O. starts up and we both look at each other and laugh. Where the fuck did this beautiful gem come from? It is more Prospekt’s March than Parachutes but I love it all the same. I got goosebumps.

Princess of China is fucking cool. It is such a contrast to the previous track and I believe its placing on the album is for that exact reason. It has incredibly sharp synths that could cut through just about anything. Rihanna is not as prominent on the song as I have been made to believe after reading some of the user reviews on this form.

Up In Flames builds up to something special, but it takes an age to get there. Is it too repetitive? Is it too whiny? You be the judge. I absolutely love the last line ‘Can we pour some water on?’ Stunning.

A Hopeful Transmission helps to remind you that you’re listening to Mylo Xyloto. It’s a wonderfully short instrumental piece that mirror’s the opening track ‘Mylo Xyloto’ but in a playful breezy fashion.

Don’t Let It Break Your Heart is my least favourite track. Stuffy. Bloated. I can only describe it as album filler. I cannot see that it serves any other purpose. It’s as if Chris and the gang decided that they needed another Lovers in Japan. This could have been left off.

Up With The Birds. I was pleasantly surprised with this song. It is the perfect ending to the album. This album’s 42, but in two parts and actually good. An uplifting end to the album with some beautiful sounds, some weird some not so weird.

 

So after three years I have heard Mylo Xyloto. The 5th album from my favourite band that I’ve loved since 1999. Parachutes is my favourite album, closely followed by AROBTTH. X&Y and VLVODAAHF were never great, but they do exist and I have listened to them countless times. I guess part of being a fan of the band is to go along for the ride. See what happens. You get some great albums and some not so great. Mylo Xyloto is in my opinion a great album.

 

That's a very good review. Not afraid to praise but not afraid to see where criticism where it's due. You should come on here more often. Probably got more wisdom than most members on here.

 

I look forward to listening to it in full next Monday.

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Guest howyousawtheworld
Don't mind me. I'm just reading people's reviews.

I haven't heard the album yet. I'm patient, and I can handle a week of waiting.

I'm intrigued. So many lovers, and so many haters. It's like "Mylo Xyloto" is the Coldplay equivalent of Indiana Jones 4! :confused:

I've only heard PoC, and I agree with whoever said Florence & The Machine should have done Rihanna's part. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to live with the Rihanna duet... her contribution is fine and dandy, but RiRi's no GaGa.

 

I just started listening to Florence & The Machine and I love her, she and Chris should record something together.

 

Don't know if I could handle a Florence and the Machine duet. She's like Kate Bush's shit younger sister.

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So here's my thoughts after waking up in the morning and finding it leaked.

 

1. Mylo Xyloto

 

Just what I expected from listening to the live version, an interlude before Hurts Like Heaven. Which is fine, because it does work great, and it's a lovely opener.

 

2. Hurts Like Heaven

 

This song does lose a bit of the energy from the the live version we've come to know, but it still sounds great and there's enough left to keep me tapping my feet. I would have appreciated more of Chris Martin's lyrics coming through clearer, but that's not for me to choose.

 

3. Paradise

 

I've loved this song since its release, and it is very well placed on the album to add to the overall feel.

 

4. Charlie Brown

 

This is a stunner. I've been waiting for the album version of this forever, and I was not disappointed. Though, from the live versions and the lyrics I've seen that are supposedly official, the first word is supposed to be I... stole the key. That is mysteriously absent on this rip, and a FLAC rip I've heard also. Minor quibble, but it just makes the first bit of the song sound wrong.

 

5. Us Against the World

 

At the beginning it reminds me of Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground, but it's truly a beautiful song. I'm irked the almost American twang put on the World in the chorus, though.

 

6. M.M.I.X.

 

Definitely makes the transition to the more upbeat Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall more palatable, and breaks the album up at a good point to bring the slow guitar of Us Against the World back to a synthy pop song.

 

7. Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall

 

This song has been the prime mover for my excitement for the album. It was never my belief that Mylo Xyloto would be an album laden with pop songs like this one is, but I was excited for something so upbeat and catchy to be the first thing we heard. My hope was that more people would hear this and think, "Hmm, Coldplay isn't just sad, slow ballads, but they can do catchy songs, too." To that end, I think Charlie Brown should have been the first single, but I digress. The song is still brilliant and serves a purpose by contrasting the darker Major Minus.

 

8. Major Minus

 

This song took me a while to get into after listening to it on the Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall single, but it did get me, and I began to enjoy the darker side of the song, the paranoia that it invokes in me is quite an exciting feeling. I'm glad it made it to the album, and it's a great song.

 

9. U.F.O.

 

This one will have to grow on me. The vocals take on a seemingly lower quality recording, but it fits the mood and then changes to the clearer recording I've been used to. Unfortunately, I think this may be the low point of the album for me, but I'll have to let it sink in. The other songs have, thus far, been truly memorable and exciting, given their variety, but U.F.O. feels slightly out of place.

 

10. Princess of China

 

I had not listened to the live version of this song until a few days ago, and I was excited by it, but I was holding out for the album version given the fact that it had been removed from the live setlists. I am really liking this song, it sounds very big, and Rihanna is certainly an unexpected inclusion, but she's not there long enough to bother me, and her chorus bit in the first two minutes is fantastic. She doesn't sound as annoying as she does in her other songs, and the fact that you can hear Chris Martin right behind her voice through the majority of the song helps greatly. It's definitely one of the more interesting songs on the album, but it is certainly a good one.

 

11. Up in Flames

 

This is one of the best songs on the album and I think its should certainly be the closing song during a concert. As it builds and swells, it certainly works at pulling my emotions with it. Each chorus takes me further and further. Recently, this seems to be something Coldplay has been missing for me. Since The Scientist, there hasn't really been a song that has pulled me with it in the way Up in Flames does. Its over too quickly, but it's definitely one of Coldplay's greatest songs.

 

12. A Hopeful Transmission

 

Once again, another transition to bring us back to one of the faster and foot-tapping songs on the album. It works perfectly, and puts Don't Let It Break Your Heart onto a pedestal.

 

13. Don't Let It Break Your Heart

 

This is also one of the best songs on the album. Whether it be by the setup A Hopeful Transmission establishes, or the exciting beat and wonderful lyrics, this is one of the standout tracks Mylo Xyloto has to offer.

 

14. Up with the Birds

 

The first minute and half are interesting, to say the least, but they lead up to an amazing final minutes of the album. That's not to say that these first minutes of Up with the Birds are horrible, or wrong, but towards the end of those first minutes, it's difficult to see the aim of the song, and the strings are quite loud and seem slightly out of place. But then, you see the point of them as they transform into the second half of the song that really catches you and finishes the album off strongly. Just as A Hopeful Transmission sets Don't Let It Break Your Heart up to lofty heights, those first few minutes send the finishing chords of the album to a cheery conclusion.

 

General

 

The album, most certainly, needs to be listened to in its entirety without break, as I did for the first 45 minutes of my morning. This really lets you get a sense that all the individual songs add the album up to something much greater than the sum of its parts. The album clearly had a lot of thought put into it and each part to ensure they stand up on their own and together, even better. This, in my opinion has been the best Coldplay album to date. The difference between this and anything else Coldplay has produced to date clearly demonstrates that they are more than willing to try something different and make it work. More that that, it works brilliantly.

 

Individually, the songs themselves don't rely on their preceding tracks to sound right. They just do. And with the exception of U.F.O., the whole album is fantastic. Without U.F.O., I'd give it a 10/10. But it has to have a 9.9/10 for that.

 

Please let me know what you think of what I think, I'd love to hear a different perspective on the album. I've read a lot of people are disappointed by it, and I'd love to know what makes you think that. But if you agree with me, I'd love to know why, and what particular tracks stand out to you

 

Notable Songs

 

1. Up in Flames

2. Don't Let It Break Your Heart

3. Charlie Brown

4. Princess of China

5. Hurts Like Heaven

 

and, of course, Paradise and Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

EDIT: I tried to be as fair as I could, but given my anticipation and love for Coldplay, this is probably quite a biased analysis. I did my best to convey in my writing that this is just what I think, and in no way should you expect to find the same feelings and thoughts coming from yourself. I just wanted to share my excitement and thoughts to give someone else a frame of reference to show me what I may be missing or what I got right. Thanks again!

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Guest howyousawtheworld

Nice review trillian. You enjoyed it a lot then! I'm glad you say it has to be listened to in it's entirety. I think I made a mistake in listening to a few of the tracks today. Doesn't make sense to me at the moment. All will be revealed next Monday.

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Is it as good as Rush and Viva? Ehhh probably not. Parachutes might even be better. But

its a killer album i love that even tho i don't really like Every Tear and Paradise, their in the perfect spots on the album. Every Teardrop as an album closer would've been terrible imo.

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The album is great.

 

It's like...A wall of sonic noise that I can't wrap my head around.

 

I'm still really overwhelmed with it. And It's a hell of an emotional roller coaster. As good as Viva, not as good as ROB.

 

9/10

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So I've managed to get through the whole thing in spite of school and cross country practice, and I have to say, this is incredibly cohesive and brilliantly done. The sound is once again nothing like previous albums, but this adds to it. Mylo Xyloto/Hurts Like Heaven sounds even better than the live versions. I love the vocal effects and the underlying piano. Paradise fits fairly well but it pales in comparison with the rest of the album which is a good thing. Charlie Brown is also beautifully done, and the piano bit at the end transitions perfectly into Us Against the World, which although it could've done without the intro, is magnificently done and not too overproduced. Like Q magazine said, it's where they haven't gone that makes MX great. MMIX serves a good transition into Every Teardrop is a Waterfall and Major Minus. UFO is a great acoustic, and the lyrics are amazing. Princess of China is decent but it could've used more Chris and less Rihanna. Up in Flames is brilliant for its simplicity. It is definitely one of the most emotional songs in the repitoire. A Hopeful Transmission is good, but what I didn't like is that it's the third take on the same tune used in Mylo Xyloto and UFO. It transitions well into Don't Let it Break Your Heart which is a great uplifting song. Up With the Birds is up there with Amsterdam as closers go. It has the same soft beginning and build, and I love the lyrics the most of any song on the album.

Overall, I'd rate it 9/10 (I don't really like the way Paradise fits but that's bearable. If not for that I'd give it 10/10)

Best songs: Hurts Like Heaven, Charlie Brown, Up in Flames, Up With the Birds

Worst songs: Paradise, Major Minus, A Hopeful Trasmission

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The album is great.

 

It's like...A wall of sonic noise that I can't wrap my head around.

 

I'm still really overwhelmed with it. And It's a hell of an emotional roller coaster. As good as Viva, not as good as ROB.

 

9/10

 

I need to know: rank the albums in order of awesomeness.

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After two listens I'm not a fan. There are some nice moments, but the album is too jaunty, over-produced, and when in doubt it leans towards pop music.

 

I love Brian Eno - I love his solo stuff, and I love what he did with the Talking Heads back in the early 80's and his work with U2 as recently as No Line on the Horizon. But I think he has totally scrambled Chris Martin's brains - giving him mixed messages of incorporating pop music mixed with electronica into every song. Not a bad thing by any stretch, but it seems like they are trying way too hard with every song. Coupled with their bizzaro rule about 4 minute songs and a 42 minute album, they are killing themselves instead of trying to blossom.

 

I know the boys are still stinging from the critical reviews of X&Y, but writing a bunch of radio-friendly wall-of-sound music is not the answer. They need to take a deep breath - relax - study Buddism, break out the sitar, or something. Go back and listen to the utter rock brilliance of the bridges in "Bigger Stronger" when Johny was literally shredding his guitar while Guy's bass bounced around. Songs are allowed to be more than 5 minutes long. Then listen to High Speed again - a psuedo-electronica song that puts you in a warm vibe, without relying on gimmics or pop guest stars. Songs can meander, and not have to be "up-lifting." I can't imagine these four rich 34 year-olds writing songs about being on the ledge, tied to a noose anymore. It's more petty fantasies about being a kid, nightmares about losing your riches and fame, or the cliched power of love.

 

Crap, that is a mess of a review. Sorry. I'm just bummed.

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