So when listening to the album, it's pretty obvious AHT is a reprise of MX. Then I listened to UFO more and realized it too used MX. Then I recently realized Major Minus uses it too. Am I going crazy, or is it really used this often? And can anyone else hear MX in other songs?

When is it played in Major Minus?

Yeah, I think they said in an interview that U.F.O. was kind of the first song they wrote for the new era, and that the melody is used in quite some other songs. I should listen to Major Minus again, haven't heard it there yet.

So it's Hurts Like Heaven, Princess o China and Paradise. They are all connected. I was about to create a detailed thread.

I can't hear it in MM...

I posted it on an old thread:

 

I listen to Hurts Like Heaven about a hundred times on a day and I just thought that the ending, the piano part, could give us some idea of another song. Well, today I was coming back from the university, listening to Hurts Like Heaven when I said "Hold on. I know this".

 

Hurts Like Heaven's melody's notes and progression and Princess of China ones are the same. Well, they are not on the same key, nor the same tempo, but if you low HLH's key by a half tone and make it a little slower. You can see it's almost the same. Even it's progression is equal.

 

Try listening like this:

 

Written in graffiti on a bridge in a park / Once upon a time ....

Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing the mark / .... as fast as I can (don't know PoC's lyrics)

It's so cold, it's so cold / Got to go

It's so cold, it's so cold / Got to go

 

This is the verse, now the chorus

 

Yooooooooooooooo... / You could have been the princess, I'd be your king. Could we have a castle and wore a ring but

(*Changes the note*)

ooooooooou... / Noooooooo, You let(got?) me goooooo.

 

We also have the Lalala part that fits on the solo. And other parts too. I need to analyse it better.

 

I just realized that PoC and Paradise are also connected:

 

The final Oh Oh Ohh Oh Oh OOOOHH part from Paradise, which is different from the others, is also different like the end of Princess of China. When the chords change, the two songs fit completely.

When is it played in Major Minus?

 

The guitar solo. Listen to the B-side preview they have. You can really hear it in the transition between Major Minus and UFO

Repetition is Obvious

 

So when listening to the album, it's pretty obvious AHT is a reprise of MX. Then I listened to UFO more and realized it too used MX. Then I recently realized Major Minus uses it too. Am I going crazy, or is it really used this often? And can anyone else hear MX in other songs?

 

I think you're definitely on to something here… The theme of these chords repeat quite often. At some point we'll have to go through and identify exactly where each repetition occurs, but it definitely happens in most songs on this album. Take a Song such as "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall", where the main riff is just two chords. This theme still appears. During the lyrics "You may hurt me bad, but still I'll raise the flag" it's the same chord structure that's introduced in MX.

Interesting, will have to listen for this more next time through...

 

Of course lyrically you find a similar thing with roses, teardrops, rain, fly etc repeated across different songs. Would be interesting to go into that in more detail some time on another thread...

Don't Let it Break Your Heart also has the same motif.

 

Listen during "And..if I lost the map....."

I posted it on an old thread:

 

 

 

I just realized that PoC and Paradise are also connected:

 

The final Oh Oh Ohh Oh Oh OOOOHH part from Paradise, which is different from the others, is also different like the end of Princess of China. When the chords change, the two songs fit completely.

 

That's a really good find there! Never noticed that until now, the whole lyrical and melody theme is kind of reprised throughout every song...yet they all sound so different, that's very very clever!

It's called Geniality!

i dont hear it,it could be like that but i dont think so......

I'm beginning to think this is something Coldplay was very conscious of while making this album. It's no secret that the simplicity of pop songs leads to artists using similar(or identical) chord structures for different songs. I'm sure that Coldplay recognized this pattern in their song writing, and decided to embrace it 100%. Rather than try and write stuff radically different than what comes natural to them, they just gave into this specific catchy hook and decided build the whole album around it. There's obviously a ton of production on this new album, and I think that really helps differentiate each track from one another. The songs are arranged and recorded so well, that it took us this long to recognize how similar they are. Between the different melodies, lyrics, instrumentation, and production, each song seems to stand out quite well on its own. Personally, I think it's quite impressive how dynamic and epic this album is despite the repetition of such simple song structures. Although, that's probably why I've liked Coldplay all along.

I can't wait to hear this album! It sounds to mewhat you are all talking about is similar to The Who set up Quadrophenia, if anyone's heard that album. Parts (chord progressions, lyrics, solos, etc) are mixed and matched between songs.

 

Love that album, so I'm excited.:D

I don't think it was conscious. I am sure of it. Like in VLVODAAHF we have some structures in different songs that we almost don't pay attention (like the drums on LiT chorus and on Chinese Sleep Chant for example). I love this. I mean, it's genial!

OH HOLY FUCKING CRAP! IT'S EVERYWHERE! IT'S ON POC, IT'S ON MAJOR MINUS!

UFO ITSELF IS AN ACOUSTIC MX!

This is fucking brilliant!

OH HOLY FUCKING CRAP! IT'S EVERYWHERE! IT'S ON POC, IT'S ON MAJOR MINUS!

UFO ITSELF IS AN ACOUSTIC MX!

This is fucking brilliant!

 

I just listened to the album again after reading this thread, and I had the exact same epiphany!!!!! :D

seriously. r u ok?????

This is great!

I don't hear it in Up In Flames :\ I guess that one was written after all the others so it didn't get the MX treatment.

MX, UFO, AHT and DLIBYH fit with that progression.

 

HLH and Princess Of China lyrics fit.

This is great!

 

First listens it was clear you could hear MX in the songs. :awesome:

A recurring melody would make sense two of the preludes and UFO, but I don't hear anything in Major Minus. And the "Matching up" of lyrics? That's bollocks, sorry.

 

EDIT: Actually, now I think of it, "Might have to go where they don't know my name" has that same melody.

That's great! I didn't even notice it! I remember The Who did this on quadrophenia. Coldplay know how to make an album!