MX reviews by forum members (i.e. not press)

[IpsRich]

Is there one? If not, consider this my attempt at starting one [if there is feel free to 'merge' me moderators!].

 

Comments of course welcome (but remember these are my own opinions). Thanks.

 

 

Coldplay go electro-pop...almost.

 

Uncompromising isn't a word readily associated with Coldplay. All too often the critics will point to some kind of appeasement in the band's output - either to the fans, perennial favourite the label, or to the critics themselves. Frankly, at this point in their career the band should pretty much be their own boss. Their success and mass appeal today is almost peerless and this shouldn't be something to be ashamed of (even if they continue to yearn for Radiohead's credibility).

 

So the overriding feeling with new LP Mylo Xyloto is that intention is to write songs on their own terms, unhindered from all the external baggage that goes along with being billed as one of music's big boys.

 

Themes of defiance, adventure, paranoia, pain and resilience are all here (no doubt quite familiar by now), but whether they constitute a 'concept' is up for debate. MX is fortunately blessed with the ever-present rich, soaring Coldplay trademark melody - nobody does it better. However on this particular outing it is painted (or should that be spray-painted?!) by a bass-heavy electro/R&B production. As a result it exudes a pomp, vigour and energy rarely tapped into by the band previously. It works surprisingly well.

 

The spine is imperious - from the drum driven question-asker Hurts Like Heaven, to mid-tempo single Paradise and then the adventurous Charlie Brown. Centre-point raver Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall is joyful and unbound (albeit lyrically challenged), on to paranoid stomper Major Minus and later the yearning swagger of Rihanna-enhanced Princess of China (although try and ignore the la la la's in the chorus). Penultimate track Don't Let It Break Your Heart is punchy and brash, if a tad on the short side.

 

But, there is a flaw with this record. Having set their stall out early and with the great beyond for once in sight, the retreat back to a zone of acoustic comfort is all too quick. The head of steam achieved in the first four tracks and then later after ETIAW and Major Minus, is rather negligently disposed of. The band has admitted in press that there were two albums in development - an electro and an acoustic. You get the feeling that both could have co-existed well in their own right, but together the sum of the parts isn't greater.

 

Whilst UFO is as good a melodic song that the band have done in recent times, and Up In Flames is beautifully simple, with more self-discipline maybe they shouldn't have made the cut. Along with the stripped down wailer Us Against The World, these could have worked wonders on a standalone LP or Prospekts March-esque follow-up.

 

What Mylo Xyloto would have become as a result is a ballsy, relentless powerhouse electro-rock record from start to finish - a real statement to all and sundry. Instead the result is at times a disjointed effort, which meanders from what makes this album potentially fantastic. Yes, the quieter numbers are strong in their own right, but you have to question whether they fit.

 

But to focus on the negative would do disservice to Mylo Xyloto, because there is much to praise. Sonically Coldplay continue to evolve and experiment where others rest on their laurels. The band offer a far more coherent proposition than predecessor Viva La Vida, where perhaps too much of guru Brian Eno's musical chemistry set were experimented with.

 

If you buy into the 'new' electro sound (which some hardcore Coldplay-ers might not) then you'll love it. Hurts Like Heaven (although a little under-cooked in its studio guise) and Charlie Brown stand up amongst the best in the band's back catalogue to date. Complex closer Up With The Birds is also a highlight. Ironically it brings together the acoustic and electric seamlessly here, and is hopefully a sign of things to come.

 

Coldplay uncompromising though? Agonisingly not quite, yet...

 

7/10

[blankshore]

Nice review!

[Saket]

Here's my review:

 

the-secret-chords.blogspot.com/2011/10/mylo-xyloto-by-coldplay.html

 

Let me how you guys find it!

[mountainloafers]

Your reviews are great! This thread was missing from the forum, due to the fact that coldplayers were posting their "first impression" reviews and hadn't had enough time to let MX sink in for an honest take. Sometimes I feel like I can not properly review an album until I've played it over a few months and sometimes longer.

 

Being an admitted fanboy of the band, a horrid speller, and bland writer, it is sometimes best I just leave my opinions to myself. Having said that I like to read everyone else's review, both good and bad. So thanks for getting the ball rolling. I hope people will post their final reviews when they feel like sharing.

[Megalomania]

Bad.

 

/end review

 

Score: 2/10

[Brent]

^Sounds like my review of The Resistance.

[Megalomania]

^Sounds like my review of The Resistance.

 

Please stop following me around and posting sarcastic, nasty comments after all of my posts. It's unnecessary and paints a bad image of you, in addition to not improving the forum at all.

 

If you don't like what I have to say, then, well, Ian installed an ignore list for a reason. Use it. :wink:

[Brent]

Please stop following me around and posting sarcastic, nasty comments after all of my posts. It's unnecessary and paints a bad image of you, in addition to not improving the forum at all.

 

If you don't like what I have to say, then, well, Ian installed an ignore list for a reason. Use it. :wink:

 

I did it twice. Sometimes this happens when two people are logged on, commenting on recently-updated threads. If that makes me a bad person, so be it. I don't find it appropriate to try to douse Coldplay fans' excitement with sarcastic borderline-trolling in these threads. So, I fight immaturity with immaturity. And that's my sense of humor. And my right as a member on the forum. Free thinking and expression is what a "forum" is all about in the first place.

 

There's a latin phrase I learned in high school: cuique suum, "To each his own." And you (among others who shall remain nameless for now) should respect that. What's the point of following the MX-related threads if you don't like the album and you do it solely to bash the band and their fans? On a Coldplay fansite, no less. I understand that many people don't like the album but it's time to move on from that now. Some of us like MX. And somehow, the world keeps spinning.

[Megalomania]

I did it twice. Sometimes this happens when two people are logged on, commenting on recently-updated threads. I just don't think it's really appropriate to try to douse Coldplay fans' excitement with sarcastic borderline-trolling in these threads. So, I fight immaturity with immaturity. And that's my sense of humor.

 

There's a latin phrase I learned in high school: cuique suum, "To each his own." And you (among others who shall remain nameless for now) should respect that. What's the point of following the MX-related threads if you don't like the album and you do it solely to bash the band and their fans? On a Coldplay fansite, no less. I understand that many people don't like the album but it's time to move on from that now. Some of us like MX. And somehow, the world keeps spinning.

 

You've done it many other times besides today, but whatever. Think what you want.

 

High school? I can beat that. A phrase I learned in Kindergarten: "Two wrongs don't make a right."

 

If that's your logic, then you need to start respecting me too. Just because I don't like a bad album from a (previously) good band doesn't mean that I'm a "troll" or I "do it solely to bash the band and their fans". It's called an opinion, and guess what? Everyone's allowed to have one, and you need to respect that fact as well.

 

And how do you think I got on a Coldplay fansite? Hm? I'll give you a hint. :cheesy: It has to do with the fact that I used to be a Coldplay fangirl. As someone that used to respect (love, actually) Coldplay and everything they did, I have just as much of a right as you to be a member here.

 

 

 

edit: s'all good bro

/awkwardly ignore post pl0x

[grim99]

I did it twice. Sometimes this happens when two people are logged on, commenting on recently-updated threads. I just don't think it's really appropriate to try to douse Coldplay fans' excitement with sarcastic borderline-trolling in these threads. So, I fight immaturity with immaturity. And that's my sense of humor.

 

There's a latin phrase I learned in high school: cuique suum, "To each his own." And you (among others who shall remain nameless for now) should respect that. What's the point of following the MX-related threads if you don't like the album and you do it solely to bash the band and their fans? On a Coldplay fansite, no less. I understand that many people don't like the album but it's time to move on from that now. Some of us like MX. And somehow, the world keeps spinning.

 

Ahaha nice. I wouldn't say the resistance was that terrible but I expected better from another one of my favorite bands. But then again I might just have a problem latching on to the past. Ill always like older muse better (origin...showbiz..) and ill ALWAYS like older coldplay better (blue room,parachutes, every other old amazing b-side)

[Brent]

You've done it many other times besides today, but whatever. Think what you want.

 

High school? I can beat that. A phrase I learned in Kindergarten: "Two wrongs don't make a right."

 

If that's your logic, then you need to start respecting me too. Just because I don't like a bad album from a (previously) good band doesn't mean that I'm a "troll" or I "do it solely to bash the band and their fans". It's called an opinion, and guess what? Everyone's allowed to have one, and you need to respect that fact as well.

 

And how do you think I got on a Coldplay fansite? Hm? I'll give you a hint. :cheesy: It has to do with the fact that I used to be a Coldplay fangirl. As someone that used to respect (love, actually) Coldplay and everything they did, I have just as much of a right as you to be a member here.

 

And I agree with everything you said here. You do have the right to be a member here. Just like I have the right to make that second wrong. Ya dig?

 

You do have the right to do just what I did: Make to-the-point remarks about anything you want. But if you don't think you'll get a sarcastic remark back from someone who disagrees and grows wary of this kind of comment, you're being naive.

 

 

:hug:

[mountainloafers]

Bad.

 

/end review

 

Score: 2/10

Sucks you hated it so much... I too have been a fan for just as long. I still think there is an opus in waiting with Coldplay. MX is a great pop album imo. It doesn't pull the same strings as the heady AROBTH or reach the heights of Viva, but it is still Coldplay. What I am hoping for is that Chris will start writing about difficult subject matters and contemplate the harsh realities more on the next album. However, I also believe that this is an album they needed to make, even though it wasn't what some fans wanted. Unabashed all out uplift! My wish is that LP6 is a double album OPUS that truly spans the breadth of their past and present. Some uplifting pop, thought provoking acoustic ballads and several MM, Politik, Violet Hill rockers... I'll keep that dream alive until it's true.

[Hartroc]

Um...The Resistance was pretty (really (unbelievably)) bad.

 

Just saying.

[Our Escape]

Um...The Resistance was pretty (really (unbelievably)) bad.

 

Just saying.

 

I did enjoy all the 1984 imagery in it!

[Prospector]

(sorry for the english if there's something wrong)

 

This might not be theire best album but it's the freshest and coolest. I haven't had this "freshness" feeling since the first time I heard Hot Fuss. It's new and urban, conceptual and colourful. This is my track by track review:

 

Mylo Xyloto is a nice way to start, a prelude, it works as good as Life In Technicolor on Viva La Vida. Then, even before you can think too much about how good it is, Hurts Like Heaven is alredy playing. The uptempo song is one of the best tracks the band has produced, and it's different from most of the songs they have done too. Keys, acoustic and eletric guitars along with amazing double vocals gave the song an 80's feeling.

Then comes Paradise, one of the most hated songs of the "old fans". I've got to say it's not that bad, at all. Although it gets overepic on the "ohhs" of the chorous, the song works well on the album.

Charlie Brown starts and the most "Viva La Vida" momment of the album is here. My favourite track on the record, the synth intro sets the mood to the amzing guitar riff. Chris' vocals are calm and work perfectly with the whole "madness" and noises of the song.

Us Against The World is the biggest surprise of the album for me and the first momment on the record that gives you the chance of taking a deep breath. The organs and guitar intro added a lot to it and the whole performance sounds as if they were playing inside the room. Amazing.

M.M.I.X. is the most insignificant instrumental, it's good though, and reminded me of Where The Streets Have No Name. Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall is a very good track in any ocasion. It adds a lot to the record, but it also works alone.

Major Minus is the rockiest momment of the band's poppiest album. It starts the second half with style. U.F.O. is quite beutiful but it seems there's something missing for it to be great.

On the previous abums there is always a track that shows how the next will sound like, although we only get to know wich is when the new album is out. Clocks was a preview to X&Y, Til Kingdom Come to Viva La Vida and Lovers In Japan to Mylo Xyloto. Princess Of China might show the future of band, the most electropop song of the album is an epic break up song. This one is more about the experiment than the song, and it works.

Up In Flames is another surprise. The eletronic beat and the simplicity of it had everything to be antonyms but they work magically.

A Hopeful Trnasmission sets the mood again. But Don''t Let It Break Your Heart needed a second listen. The vocals are strange the structure seems a little crazy but once you get it, you love it. And I think the more you listen the more it grows on you. It happened something simillar with me and Lovers In Japan.

Finally Up With The Birds arrives and gives the record an optimistic ending, althought for me it's the weekest album closer of the band's career.

 

Key songs: Hurts Like Heaven, Charlie Brown, Princess Of China

Best Track: Charlie Brown

Rating: 9 (more because of the freshness than the songs)

[Prospector]

Um...The Resistance was pretty (really (unbelievably)) bad.

 

Just saying.

 

I liked it...

[MXColdplayObsessed]

Here is my review of MX:

 

 

********** (10/10) Amazing album. It's like a journey from start to finish, a lifetime in 45 minutes. Mind-bogglingly simple and yet extremely complex, MX has the potential to change the life of the listener. Things start to not look so good when you see Rhianna featured on Princess of China, but one listen and it shows itself to be a brilliant, classic song that only Coldplay could pull off. Mylo Xyloto is mysterious and honest, blending the four previous Coldplay albums into one to create a masterpiece.

[Revolverwin]

Here is my review of MX:

 

 

********** (10/10) Amazing album. It's like a journey from start to finish, a lifetime in 45 minutes. Mind-bogglingly simple and yet extremely complex, MX has the potential to change the life of the listener. Things start to not look so good when you see Rhianna featured on Princess of China, but one listen and it shows itself to be a brilliant, classic song that only Coldplay could pull off. Mylo Xyloto is mysterious and honest, blending the four previous Coldplay albums into one to create a masterpiece.

 

THIS^:P