Why are some of you so eager to rank this album?

[Abifail]

Hi all,

 

I've seen a few posts from people who are ranking Ghost Stories alongside Coldplay's other five records.

 

I just wanted to make a point about this. Music is such an amazingly beautiful thing in the way that it lingers with us and our souls. It is carried inside us for years and sometimes decades.

 

You can't possibly judge an album that is only a few hours old. AROBTTH, Parachutes and Viva has been inside some of you and has become a part of your lives - how can you compare those records to something that is so new?

 

I'm not trying to be critical here - I'm genuinely curious as to whether or not you realise this.

 

I personally thought Ghost Stories was flawless after my first listen. But I can't truly judge it until I evaluate the way that it will affect my life and the way it will stay with me.

 

For example:

 

 

I absolutely adored X&Y after my first listen, but after a few weeks I didn't really feel a connection to the record and today - almost ten years later - I barely have any attachment to it at all. On the flip side, I didn't really like Mylo Xyloto after my first listen but a few songs on there have become really dear friends to me and a few songs that I didn't like at first have really affected me.

 

We just can't tell whether or not things will stay with us and our judgement on something as intricate as music cannot be valid unless enough time has passed for it to sink in.

 

Some of you may be hating specific songs on the record, but you never know, you might grow and develop and hear them again five years later and fall in love.

 

I hope that made sense.

[ihaveabono]

Hi all,

 

I've seen a few posts from people who are ranking Ghost Stories alongside Coldplay's other five records.

 

I just wanted to make a point about this. Music is such an amazingly beautiful thing in the way that it lingers with us and our souls. It is carried inside us for years and sometimes decades.

 

You can't possibly judge an album that is only a few hours old. AROBTTH, Parachutes and Viva has been inside some of you and has become a part of your lives - how can you compare those records to something that is so new?

 

I'm not trying to be critical here - I'm genuinely curious as to whether or not you realise this.

 

I personally thought Ghost Stories was flawless after my first listen. But I can't truly judge it until I evaluate the way that it will affect my life and the way it will stay with me.

 

For example:

 

 

I absolutely adored X&Y after my first listen, but after a few weeks I didn't really feel a connection to the record and today - almost ten years later - I barely have any attachment to it at all. On the flip side, I didn't really like Mylo Xyloto after my first listen but a few songs on there have become really dear friends to me and a few songs that I didn't like at first have really affected me.

 

We just can't tell whether or not things will stay with us and our judgement on something as intricate as music cannot be valid unless enough time has passed for it to sink in.

 

Some of you may be hating specific songs on the record, but you never know, you might grow and develop and hear them again five years later and fall in love.

 

I hope that made sense.

 

well said.

[Stefan8]

Because people like making lists.

[Nature]

Well said, icant really figure out where to place this album, but i thought i knew.

[Nivram Ra]

Well, you're right about that. But it's just nice to talk about it. I agree with you it will take time for the songs to grow on you, but you can rank them by listening to them for a few times. Overtime it will change, just like a few songs from MX and VLV for me. But it's just nice to talk about it, see what the other opinions are and sometimes you read something you didnt noticed yet.

[LazyDancerKar]

x

Edited January 17, 2023 by LazyDancerKar

[Strawberry Swinger]

Nice post. Though I myself tend to be too judgemental too quickly, we should give this record time, and just listen to it.

 

I like it, I am not fascinated by it and there are some things that are easier to rate when your ears are not yet fully used to the sound of the songs, one of those things being the production and the difference brought by the 'modern' sound.

 

However, it is what it is. We can only "choose" to like it or not. And both of it is Ok.

[Famous Old Painter]

AROBTTH

Viva

Parachutes

Ghost Stories

X&Y

MX

 

:P

[Paddy]

I agree. Spend the summer with it and make some memories. I guarantee that's where the love for all your favourite records come from - not necessarily the music itself.

[Cobalt]

Not as bewildering as the amount of paranoia everyone seemed to get before the album, fussing and worrying they won't like it. Never seen that before

[vinch]

I agree. Spend the summer with it and make some memories. I guarantee that's where the love for all your favourite records come from - not necessarily the music itself.

 

Spot on, same with all music. It's the memories you associate with a certain song that make it special or a favorite.

[Leopard]

Without wanting to sound too pretentious, I think that being a long-term Coldplay fan means an investment more in the band members and their personalities than their music. Although there are obvious continuous threads throughout all their albums, the tone and mood of each album is so dramatically disparate that you can't like all of Coldplay's music because it fits into one genre; it doesn't. All of the 1975's singles sound identical to me, you can even sing the lyric "she got a boyfriend anyway" (the main refrain of one of their earlier songs, Sex) over the choruses of most of their later tracks and it fits perfectly. This isn't the case with Coldplay. They don't consciously reinvent themselves with each album, but they explore a different aspect of their personalities each time. To bring it back to the main point, that's what a long term fan is investing in. I think it's an important distinction to make.

 

Of course, there's always going to be songs or parts of songs you don't enjoy, but there's always bits of people you don't like. The point is you ignore it for the good stuff which you do like. The bad bits don't necessarily cancel out the good bits, but make you appreciate them more. That's why I think each album has to be judged as a single entity. Of course, you can rank them by preference, but it can be quite hard to compare them directly. If any of that made any sense, I'll be happy. Sorry for the interruption.

 

As you were.

[Revolverwin]

I always thought that it was only their initial reaction. :) Opinions change after a while.

[Famous Old Painter]

Not as bewildering as the amount of paranoia everyone seemed to get before the album, fussing and worrying they won't like it. Never seen that before

It's odd for sure, but it's fair to assume MX is to blame for that.