1) Parachutes

2) AROBTTH

3) Ghost Stories

4) MX

5) VLV

6) X&Y

1. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

2. Mylo Xyloto

3. Ghost Stories

4. A Rush of Blood to the Head (can't believe it myself)

5. X&Y

6. Parachutes

I just can't believe so many people are putting Parachutes in last.

I just can't believe so many people are putting Parachutes in last.

 

Same :( It comes in at 2nd for me

Same :( It comes in at 2nd for me

 

It comes in first for me by far :)

It comes in first for me by far :)

 

The hint's in the name for my favourite ;)

The hint's in the name for my favourite ;)

 

I figured as much! AROB is great too

1. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

2. Mylo Xyloto

3. X&Y

4. A Rush of Blood to the Head (can't believe it myself)

5. Parachutes

6. Ghost Stories

When I look at them on the whole, based on my idea of what a cohesive, full listening experience is:

(1st) Viva / MX

(2nd) Ghost Stories / AROBTTH

(3rd) X&Y / Parachutes

 

When it comes to the songs, based off of how many tracks that I really, really love, by percentage of tracks-per-album (excluding songs under 1min, and this could change after I listen more to Ghost Stories):

(1st) ::: 100% Viva

(2nd) ::: >70% MX, AROBTTH, X&Y

(3rd) ::: <70% Ghost Stories Deluxe, Parachutes (All were above 50%)

1. Viva La Vida + Prospekt's March

2. A Rush Of Blood To The Head

3. X&Y

4. Ghost Stories (incl. the 3 bonus tracks)

5. Parachutes

6. Mylo Xyloto

1. Viva La Vida + Prospekt's March

2. A Rush Of Blood To The Head

3. X&Y

4. Ghost Stories (incl. the 3 bonus tracks)

5. Parachutes

6. Mylo Xyloto

 

I agree with this

AROBTTH

Parachutes

Ghost Stories

X&Y

VLV/DAAHF

Prospekt's March

MX

1. A Rush of Blood to the Head – 10/10. Masterpiece. I like all the songs . So many classics like CLOCKS and the Scientist, Politik + In My Place - simply wonderful album / Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends – 10/10. Masterpiece. I adore the sound and all the songs. VIVA la VIDA is my all-time favourite. So great singing-along at concerts. I can't get enough of this title track.

3. Ghost Stories – 9/10. I like the sound and all the songs. MAGIC is just MAGIC – simple and acoustic, and the video is great. Midnight has grown on me.

4. X&Y – 8/10. Some great songs such as the classics FIX YOU and the SPEED OF SOUND. Talk and A Message are also great.

5. Parachutes. 7/10. Quiet and lovely. Favourites: Yellow, Trouble, Don’t Panic and Shiver / Mylo Xyloto 7/10. Some great songs of which Us against the World and Paradise are my favourites

1.Ghost Stories

2.AROBTTH

3.VLV

4.Parachutes

5.X&Y

6.MX

1. Mylo Xyloto

2. Ghost Stories

3. X&Y

4. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

5. A Rush of Blood to the Head

6. Parachutes

wow this is quite difficult!

 

1. a rush of blood to the head.

2. VLV

3. parachutes

4. ghost stories

5. X&Y

6. Mylo Xyloto

 

i hate putting mylo xyloto least. it's more like a cheer up album that comes with a lot of energy.

Very difficult but I would have to say:

 

1. A Rush Of Blood To The Head :)

2. X&Y

3. Parachutes

4. Ghost Stories

5. Mylo Xyloto

6. Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends (only because I'm not a big fan of the first half - the last 4 tracks are amazing...)

1. Viva La Vida - Easily their most creative album, in terms of style, instrumentation, and arguably the best lyrics of any Coldplay album. It differs from its predecessor in that each song sounds different, yet the album feels like one whole.

2. A Rush of Blood to the Head - The classic Coldplay album. Awesome songs, and it defines Coldplay's place in the world rock/pop music. In has the most rock edge of any of their works, with consistently good songwriting that has stood the test of time, etc.

3. Mylo Xyloto - MX is commonly ranked lower but I personally like it for its colorfulness and the positive energy it brings. Love the blending of electronic and rock elements.

4. X&Y - To this day it's a mix of every era (minus VLV) in terms of sound. Because of this it may be the most Coldplay-sounding coldplay album, if that makes any sense. Some songs sound similar to each other, but they do each have their own unique qualities (e.g. String ascension in 'What If', weird bass/guitar lines in 'X&Y', folk-y 'Till Kingdom Come'). The album gets better appreciated the more you listen to it.

5. Parachutes - Calming, and a great acoustic guitar album. Did a good job introducing Coldplay to the world. Some songs are more interesting than others, though, and doesn't have the same energy as the rest of their albums.

6. Ghost Stories - Maybe my feelings are premature, but I actually feel like people's rankings of GS will go down as time goes on. The songs aren't bad, but most of them contain at least some of the bad qualities found in Coldplay's music. The lyrics are very simple, often repetitive, and the themes aren't really that deep. The songs achieve the creation of their intended atmosphere but don't sound that unique or new. The thing I dislike the most are the drum tracks, especially on Ink, True Love, and Another's Arms. Coldplay has a drummer, they might as well use him, rather than sounding synthesized and R&B-ish. As a drummer myself, it might explain why 'Ghost Story' was the first song on the album I really got into upon first listen, as it's the only one with an acoustic drum sound. I don't dislike GS by any means, but it doesn't do anything better than what their other albums have done.

 

Of all the posts on this forum other than mine, I agree with this the most! Well said.

1) Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends

 

This has everything you could ever want in a Coldplay album. Energetic, soothing, calming, eclectic without sounding incoherent. It is the most tightly packed Coldplay album. 45 minutes it may be but in that 45 minutes it covers more musical ground, delves into a greater range of emotions and a greater selection of tunes than any other Coldplay album. It's poppy without being too sugary, it's calming without being too snoozy, it's mature in sound without being too pretentious. It's one of the most vibrant, excellently produced pop records of the past 10 years. My favourite album of the last 10 years in fact.

 

2) A Rush of Blood To The Head

 

In truth this could have been number 1 and has just as equal a right to claim it as well. This is undoubtedly their most mature effort as a band, most certainly on a lyrical level. In fact Chris Martin's talents knows no ends on this record. His piano playing and piano sound is such sweet beautiful melancholy. His vocal performances to go with his lyrics of isolation, paranoia and helplessness are stunning with his refrain of 'Give me love over this' in Politik perhaps the best example of this. Chris Martin has also and probably will not write a better collection of songs. I doubt even Coldplaying could settle the debate as to whether the first half of the album is better than the second half or vice versa! All this praise for Chris doesn't mean we overlook the contribution of Jonny, Guy and Will. Each one's playing is coolly measured without ever feeling the need to dominate. And too right - with a set of songs that good at skeletal level, excess would be the worst thing. Kudos for Ken Nelson's production as well where he transforms Coldplay's fireside singalongs from Parachutes into an atmospheric and spacey universe.

 

3) X&Y

 

X&Y is far from a perfect album. Overlong and overproduced it may be but there is still more than enough to get your teeth stuck into - which is the least you'd expect from an album that is over an hour long! While songs like Twisted Logic, X&Y and What If and Speed of Sound are rather forgettable clunkers they are washed over easily for some brilliant tunes. Talk, White Shadows, Low and especially Square One are stand out moments. Even the most debated tunes on there - Swallowed in the Sea and The Hardest Part I enjoy. And then there's Fix You. Soppy, overly sentimental guff or an earnest, tender moment of euphoria? I still haven't decided which. Irregardless, it's not central to my opinion of the album, an album that means a lot to me personally (it was the first Coldplay album I bought and it got me through a severe bout of pneumonia!) and one I feel very defensive about. Putting all that sentiment aside though, I feel it's a very good piece of work from the band. It may sound bloated in it's sound but at the end of the day it's got a heart to it.

 

4) Parachutes

 

This is really one of the perfect debut albums in British music history. It's not big, it's not groundbreaking but it was a modest and unassuming statement of a band with great potential. Jonny Buckland is the star of this album. Don't Panic epitomises everything lovely about it with his galactic, sparkly playing the perfect introduction to Coldplay as we know it. Overall, it's not the most memorable of albums but what it is a nice and sweet introduction to a band that showed they were capable of bigger and better things as their follow up proved.

 

5) Ghost Stories

I was more than satisfied when this came out. I didn't ravish it in the way I did with Viva La Vida but I applauded the band's efforts to rescale and almost reboot after the excesses of Mylo Xyloto. However it does have some major failings. Any sign of Chris Martin being heavily affected by his breakup to Gwyneth Paltrow does not show up in lyrics that are in some parts too simple, repetitive, (yet strangely works in Magic) benign and even juvenile. The drum machine used throughout also doesn't lend itself to any avenue of creativity on the part of Will Champion. You can be minimalistic and creative, yet this idea seemed to be defeated by the very use of it. There are some standout moments though. Magic is unassumingly excellent. Midnight screams of a band tempted by the idea of surprising and shocking it's audience such is it's deviation from the usual Coldplay formula. In collaborating with Jon Hopkins they produced, in my opinion, their first truly outstanding moment on record since Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends. The closer O (Fly On) is heart achingly beautiful and captures all that is best about Chris Martin's gift for melancholic melody. It's a difficult album to rank because it showcases the best of Coldplay and arguably the worst. Also in sound and scope (and even by the bands big promotion standards) it feels like something of a breather for the band. A stop gap, an interval before they relaunch themselves back onto the bigger stage (quite literally). On other days I may find myself placing it 3rd or 4th in the list but it is tempered by the thought that years down the line I think that this album will be the band's forgotten effort, cherished only by those who really adore the band.

 

6) Mylo Xyloto

 

How do you follow up Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends? The answer, judging by this effort was 'You can't!' This is without a doubt Coldplay's biggest sounding album. It's release was preceded by a series of stunning festival gigs that got everyone excited....until people realised that it didn't sound half as good listening to it on your own on record as it did when being played live in front of 80,000 people. For me that's it's downfall. It doesn't live up to its promise on stage which is somewhat understandable considering that the band made this album with Glastonbury in mind. It suffers from a lack of coherence as well, it's track listing being all over the place, not helped by some pretty insipid and utterly unforgettable acoustic efforts in Us Against The World, the dire bore of UFO and the repetitive and forced 'Fix You lite' effort that was Up In Flames. Hurts Like Heaven doesn't live up to it's superb energy on stage (genuinely one of Coldplay's greatest live performances) and neither does Charlie Brown where Chris Martin's vocals seem weak and pointless in it's grander surroundings. It's not all a disappointment though. Paradise is still the most glorious and exotically produced song the band has ever produced. Princess of China is actually quite good even if it does still feel rather hammy. Mylo Xyloto isn't a bad record but it's not a great one as it is so shoddily executed. It suffers largely because the supporting tour and era songs were so brilliantly executed and showed how good it could have been.

I would say:

 

:arobtth: A Rush Of Blood To The Head: This is my favourite album of all time! I think it is just simply brilliant with the best album opener and closer with Politik & Amsterdam, which are two of their best songs easily. It definatley has some of there greatest songs on there too. I love it!

 

:parachutes: & :ghoststories: Parachutes & Ghost Stories: I really can't decide just yet which one I like more. Of course I've listened to GS much more often recently because of it's realese and I maybe just be finding it hard to decide between the two because of the phase, but these are both brilliant albums. Parachutes is just the first album and so so brilliant. It has classic Coldplay stuff on it, with strange and new chords, Chris' young voice, going into falsesetto a lot, and just brilliant. GS just flows greatly. Again like AROBTTH, the album opener and closer is brilliant. I love these two songs and I believe that Fly On is one of their best songs.

 

:x&y: X&Y: this album is great, it is probably the album I listen to the most when listening straight through with an album. Because I start playing one song and I just leave it going because I go "on yes the next song is great!" Brilliant album love it too.

 

:mx: Mylo Xyloto: This is of course not their best but I brilliant feel good album! I pop this on and I dance all over the place! When it first came out I was a bit "oh no their going poppy" but now I'm glad it's done, it's a great dance jump around and be stupid album and brought an amazing tour which I was able to go on with so much energy and excitement!

 

:viva: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends: I know many don't agree with me when I say it's my least favourite but for me it just is. Don't get me wrong I love this album, but compared to it's others it's just my least favourite sorry guys! Still love some great songs, it's experimental and wonderful but yeah, just doesn't get me as much.

1. Viva

2. Arobtth

3. Ghost Stories

4. X&Y

5. Parachutes

6. MX

:viva: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends: I know many don't agree with me when I say it's my least favourite but for me it just is. Don't get me wrong I love this album, but compared to it's others it's just my least favourite sorry guys! Still love some great songs, it's experimental and wonderful but yeah, just doesn't get me as much.

 

I'm in the same boat. Usually when these 'Rank the Albums' threads pops up and I put Viva last too. But it doesn't mean I hate it, just that I like it less than the others. I try to make that clear in the first post of the thread. So far, i'm pleasantly surprised at the lack of conflict of opinions and the abundance of posters explaining their rankings.

Viva

A Rush

Ghost Stories

Parachutes

Mylo Xyloto

X&Y

Ghost Stories: It's all I ever wanted Coldplay to do... Brilliant lyrics and melodies, some songs are calm, some are sad, some you can't listen to and not jump on and more of all. Many don't agree with me, but to me, ASFOS is one of the best songs they ever wrote.

AROBTTH: Do I really need to say more ?

Parachutes: They were still fresh, and they brought something new to Music. This album is a little jewel .

Viva La Vida: When I first listened to it, I got the feeling the band became more mature. And uuugh, VLV it's my song number one. EVER.

Mylo Xyloto: I wish I had been to its tour :/ sadly, I just watched it on the internet. It was so colorful and right when I needed colors in my life (instead of black and white).

X&Y: it has some amazing songs, but I don't know, I feel like it wasn't finished, the guys didn't achieve what they were exactly aiming for. Great album, though.

Rush

 

Parachutes

 

X&Y

 

Mylo

 

Viva

 

Ghost Stories

 

I love them all so its really hard for me to rate them. Ghost Stories i put at the bottom because while I love the album im sorta sick of the songs. You cant replay them a million times like yellow or charlie brown.