LP7- "A Head Full Of Dreams"

[gai]

I love this geekiness about unreleased songs haha But I still dont get why people are so excited about them! They could all be predecessors to X marks the spot for all you know hahaha

a terrifying thought! i'm going to have nightmares about this lol

[coldplaykb]

I love this geekiness about unreleased songs haha But I still dont get why people are so excited about them! They could all be predecessors to X marks the spot for all you know hahaha

Haha true, but then again they could be songs like Lukas and Famous Old Painters. Those songs are great! Whenever this gets brought up I also point people to this:

 

[MEDIA=soundcloud]

[/MEDIA]

 

Who knows if that even turned into a song at all. It could just be them messing around, but I think it sounds awesome, especially the second part.

[Jedi Leo]

Haha true, but then again they could be songs like Lukas and Famous Old Painters.

 

I know Lukas from Natalie´s album (and the Coldplay version too) but I had no idea Famous Old Painters had leaked. I´ve just had no time for Coldplay geekiness since MX :/

[Jedi Leo]

It would be nice if the rest of the band came back for LP8, they're non existent in LP7. It's like CM feat. electronic sounds and special guests.

 

Are we listening to the same album? LOL Jonny is all over like a weed (the best kind of weed hehe :P) and Guy has some of his best work here. The drums are often electronic I agree but we see some great Will moments too: Birds, Adventure come to mind.

[coldplaykb]

I know Lukas from Natalie´s album (and the Coldplay version too) but I had no idea Famous Old Painters had leaked. I´ve just had no time for Coldplay geekiness since MX :/

Its actually just the instrumental. There is no vocal version, but still, its amazingly good.

[Jedi Leo]

Its actually just the instrumental. There is no vocal version, but still, its amazingly good.

 

No wonder they love Oasis so. They remind me of Oasis. Whatever Noel makes, even if its a guitar fart it ends up being beautiful LOL Same with Coldplay as far as I am concerned.

[coldplaykb]

No wonder they love Oasis so. They remind me of Oasis. Whatever Noel makes, even if its a guitar fart it ends up being beautiful LOL Same with Coldplay as far as I am concerned.

Haha exactly!

[amazingsirkg]

I hate how Chris has been flip-flopping his answers to interviewers when they ask him whether AHFOD is their last album. He always replies with something like: "I feel like we've come in a complete circle, and everything we've done has led up to this." and "I am so happy to be a part of this band right now," etc. etc. without specifically revealing whether or not Coldplay will split up after the Head Full of Dreams tour. But...

 

If an LP8 ever comes out, the band has given the indication that it's gonna be a while from now. 3,4,5 years maybe? Maybe more.

 

However, I feel like a hiatus that long is gonna produce a pretty interesting sounding LP. I don't think Coldplay is gonna stick in the pop-rock genre for that long. I can definitely see them experimenting with Jazz-rock fusions (which I think they can pull of really well), Classic/Hard Rock with an indie touch (kinda like the Arctic Monkeys/Strokes older albums), stadium rock (Muse meets U2) with electronic influences, or hell... they might just go with a pink-floyd sounding ambient rock record.

 

Whatever it is, I just hope that Will gets of those electronic drums and actually has a presence in LP8. He's a highly underrated drummer for the reason that he gets little opportunity in his songs to show how good he is. Also, I want Jonny to veer away from his ambient playing style and start playing some fast-strumming, catchy, rock riffs. Something like "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" or "Brianstorm"-like guitar work from the Arctic Monkeys.

 

But then again, I'm just thinking out loud. It'll be interesting to see what the band does from here.

[Jedi Leo]

without specifically revealing whether or not Coldplay will split up after the Head Full of Dreams tour. But...

 

In an interview they´ve clearly denied the rumours that the band is splitting up. They are not splitting up :)

 

And I love Will´s drums in Adventure by the way, off the top of my head a track from AHFOD :)

[amazingsirkg]

In an interview they´ve clearly denied the rumours that the band is splitting up. They are not splitting up :)

 

That's true, but he hasn't been really clear with the band's direction in the post-AHFOD era. And yeah, Will's drumming is good on AOAL. It's also pretty good on Amazing Day as well.

 

But compared to the stuff he did on older tracks like God Put a Smile Upon Your Face and Yes, it pales in comparison.

 

I mean, watch these two videos to get an idea of what I'm talking about:

 

1)

2)

(skip to 1:40 to get to the epic drum build up thing).

 

^This is the stuff I want Will to do more of. He's REALLY GOOD at it, and he should really focus on a larger presence on the tracks rather than simple electronic drum beats.

[Jedi Leo]

Hmm well if you talk of organic drumming perhaps, but I just finished listening to the interview where they were saying how pleased they are with the rhythmic section of this album, so clearly Will felt he was contributing quite a lot. I think for him the electronic drums count as much as the organic ones :)

 

And no they probably dont know at all which direction they are gonna take next, but we can be sure they will take one :)

[amazingsirkg]

Hmm well if you talk of organic drumming perhaps, but I just finished listening to the interview where they were saying how pleased they are with the rhythmic section of this album, so clearly Will felt he was contributing quite a lot. I think for him the electronic drums count as much as the organic ones :)

 

Hmm... maybe he does. And that's perfectly fine. I think the rhythm was creative on this album (i.e. the glass percussion in HFTW, the *boop* things on Everglow, etc.).

 

It's just that I feel like Will is an incredibly underrated drummer and same with Jonny to an extent on the guitars. I've gotten the feeling on the last few albums that both of 'em (Jonny less so with AHFOD, since I felt he shined on this album) aren't playing to their full potential. I mean, I loved Oceans, ASFOS and Fly On from Ghost Stories, but those tracks could easily come out of a Chris Martin solo album. It was just Chris with his piano/acoustic guitar with maybe a couple synths in the background. Jonny and Will's contributions on those tracks were limited. And Guy was practically nonexistent.

[Jedi Leo]

Oceans and Fly were sparse acoustic tracks in the vein of Everglow. Most of the ballads Chris plays on his piano or guitar and the others intervene only minimally (like The Scientist). To me thats perfectly understandable as you want the track to shine in its simple elegant form. ASFOS features a shimmering Jonny! (especially the live version) Several tracks on GS are absolutely defined by J (Another´s arms, Always in my head, solo in True Love) and lets not forget the bass-driven Magic :) Since Mylo I think they´ve all been more of a band and present in the songs than ever before.

[amazingsirkg]

Just wanna start of by saying, this is a good discussion Jedi. It's a lot of fun throwing ideas back and forth.

 

The tracks you mentioned on GS: Another's arms, Always in My Head, True Love, etc. were great for Jonny. But, give me an electronic drum kit and I could have totally played Always in My Head's beat: boom, click, ba-boom, boom, click (repeated throughout the track). I mean, I get that they were going for something sparse on the album, but compared to Will's few shining beacons on tracks like Yes and GPASUYF, it's just not good enough.

 

Once again, it goes back to my personal taste. I love rock music (especially classic rock like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc.) so powerful percussion is a really important factor for me in modern alt-rock songs. It's the reason why I love bands like the Arctic Monkeys so much. Matt Helders, the drummer for AM, is phenomenal when it comes to all kinds of tracks, including ballads. On powerful songs like Brianstorm and Pretty Visitors, he nails the fast-paced poundings, and on slower songs like the infamous 505, he starts off slow, but gradually builds up with crecendos and shimmering cymbals.

 

I'd just love to see Will doing a bit more of that in the future. I don't mind the simple electronic drum beat - it adds a change of pace for sure. But filling an entire album with simple percussion beats (Fun, Army of One, XMTS in AHFOD) and practically the entire GS (minus Ghost Story and the chorus of ASFOS) album doesn't really cut it for me. Especially where there were places on the tracks of both albums where I felt were sparse and could use a lot more complexity on the percussion... even on the ballads.

[Jedi Leo]

Once again, it goes back to my personal taste. I love rock music

I'd just love to see Will doing a bit more of that in the future. I don't mind the simple electronic drum beat - it adds a change of pace for sure. But filling an entire album with simple percussion beats (Fun, Army of One, XMTS in AHFOD) and practically the entire GS (minus Ghost Story and the chorus of ASFOS) album doesn't really cut it for me.

 

Yeah thats it. It all comes down to what we most like to hear, understandably so :) But putting myself in Will´s shoes for a second (or attempting to ! LOL), you made now 4 albums with straight up organic sound, one album (Mylo) with hints of electronic drums , but not much. It would make sense to me that you´d want a change of pace, so enter GS and AHFOD. If you look at it from the point of view of their entire career, they´ve done more organic than electronic, actually at least twice as much! hehe

 

I actually think he/they had fun playing all sort of percussions in AHFOD, from tapping on glass to the brilliant drum intro to the chorus in Birds to straight up drumming on the title track, etc.

 

And I speak as a drummer...who loves organic drumming LOL But sometimes we see things form the point of view of "what I like to hear" because well we are the listener hehe But from their point of view and if you look at the bigger picture its quite a different experience.

[lennyrott1]

This is Coldplay's worst album.

I just have to come out and say what I feel. I am really glad people like it, but I am shocked that people like this more than any previous album. This is sort of my eulogy. I have listened to this album over and over and it gets worse every time...Now I am not saying it is bad...I still would give it a 7ish out of 10. But I am incredibly disappointing and honestly sad for the band. I am glad they are happy with it and think that it is uplifting--but I am not uplifted by this music at all. The album sounds like a middle of the road, mild tempered playlist of Coldplay trying to be things they are not. Now certain tracks are fantastic: Birds, AHFOD, Everglow. But honestly, Up&Up is so slackly produced that I don't want to sing along. Fun is so milktoste that I don't remember it. AHFOD ends as soon as it begins. I don't want to dance or sing along to Hymn For The Weekend. It isn't even top 40 ready, it just is too middle of the road.

 

I may take a break from the forum for a while. I just don't know what to say about this album.... All the reviews I have read I agree with. It has high points, but it also just sounds kind of meh. GS grew on me. MX grew on me. Viva and all before were instant classics. I think the metacritic is right. This album just isn't anything special nor does it commit to something that is interesting. It is just all over the place. Messy production. Too sugary. Diluted down. Why?

 

Chris martin maybe can't write as good of songs anymore? Because Stargate tampered too much with the raw demo's? Because Rik mixed it awkwardly? Because the band doesn't work on music like they used to? Because the rest of the band has settled and doesn't care anymore (Will and lame drumpads/clap tracks?). I don't know.

 

Once again. I don't hate this album. I will always love a lot of these songs and hope we get a big EP with some better tracks. Somewhere in there, we had a true classic on our hands. But it failed to really leave a lasting impression on me. So yeah. Sorry to be negative but that is the reality.

 

[nvdmm]

I hate how Chris has been flip-flopping his answers to interviewers when they ask him whether AHFOD is their last album. He always replies with something like: "I feel like we've come in a complete circle, and everything we've done has led up to this." and "I am so happy to be a part of this band right now," etc. etc. without specifically revealing whether or not Coldplay will split up after the Head Full of Dreams tour. But...

 

If an LP8 ever comes out, the band has given the indication that it's gonna be a while from now. 3,4,5 years maybe? Maybe more.

 

However, I feel like a hiatus that long is gonna produce a pretty interesting sounding LP. I don't think Coldplay is gonna stick in the pop-rock genre for that long. I can definitely see them experimenting with Jazz-rock fusions (which I think they can pull of really well), Classic/Hard Rock with an indie touch (kinda like the Arctic Monkeys/Strokes older albums), stadium rock (Muse meets U2) with electronic influences, or hell... they might just go with a pink-floyd sounding ambient rock record.

 

Whatever it is, I just hope that Will gets of those electronic drums and actually has a presence in LP8. He's a highly underrated drummer for the reason that he gets little opportunity in his songs to show how good he is. Also, I want Jonny to veer away from his ambient playing style and start playing some fast-strumming, catchy, rock riffs. Something like "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" or "Brianstorm"-like guitar work from the Arctic Monkeys.

 

But then again, I'm just thinking out loud. It'll be interesting to see what the band does from here.

While very interesting, none of what you just said is going to happen. I've said since 2008 this band seriously needs to go on hiatus but they haven't and I doubt they will. The music will pretty much stay in the current form and we have to accept they'r now no different than Maroon 5 or Take That. Chris has emphasized a great deal how they're happy to be a pop band wanting to make happy music to make people happy that they're happy.

[LeftrightleftArchi]

Someone added a setlist to the AHFOD Tour page. Any1 know if that's legit?

[Nikola]

This is Coldplay's worst album.

I just have to come out and say what I feel. I am really glad people like it, but I am shocked that people like this more than any previous album. This is sort of my eulogy. I have listened to this album over and over and it gets worse every time...Now I am not saying it is bad...I still would give it a 7ish out of 10. But I am incredibly disappointing and honestly sad for the band. I am glad they are happy with it and think that it is uplifting--but I am not uplifted by this music at all. The album sounds like a middle of the road, mild tempered playlist of Coldplay trying to be things they are not. Now certain tracks are fantastic: Birds, AHFOD, Everglow. But honestly, Up&Up is so slackly produced that I don't want to sing along. Fun is so milktoste that I don't remember it. AHFOD ends as soon as it begins. I don't want to dance or sing along to Hymn For The Weekend. It isn't even top 40 ready, it just is too middle of the road.

 

I may take a break from the forum for a while. I just don't know what to say about this album.... All the reviews I have read I agree with. It has high points, but it also just sounds kind of meh. GS grew on me. MX grew on me. Viva and all before were instant classics. I think the metacritic is right. This album just isn't anything special nor does it commit to something that is interesting. It is just all over the place. Messy production. Too sugary. Diluted down. Why?

 

Chris martin maybe can't write as good of songs anymore? Because Stargate tampered too much with the raw demo's? Because Rik mixed it awkwardly? Because the band doesn't work on music like they used to? Because the rest of the band has settled and doesn't care anymore (Will and lame drumpads/clap tracks?). I don't know.

 

Once again. I don't hate this album. I will always love a lot of these songs and hope we get a big EP with some better tracks. Somewhere in there, we had a true classic on our hands. But it failed to really leave a lasting impression on me. So yeah. Sorry to be negative but that is the reality.

Oh honey the drama

 

But yeah they said that they've been 3 years in the studio making these 2 albums so yeah it's not like they haven't given their max this is the best they can do sad but sad

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

While very interesting, none of what you just said is going to happen. I've said since 2008 this band seriously needs to go on hiatus but they haven't and I doubt they will. The music will pretty much stay in the current form and we have to accept they'r now no different than Maroon 5 or Take That. Chris has emphasized a great deal how they're happy to be a pop band wanting to make happy music to make people happy that they're happy.

 

I can accept Take That strangely (they had a massive commercial and critical hit with Progress and the incredible tour that followed it) but Maroon 5 - I don't ever want to see Coldplay in that bracket and I never thought they would be in that bracket 10-13 years ago but sadly that is the case.

 

I'm also kind of disappointed that this album hasn't got sub 60 on metacritic.

 

Either way, they are in desperate need of a hiatus after the tour. I bought tickets for that tour but work like this makes it difficult to get really excited about it. I don't envisage myself singing along to HFTW. Heck, the 'woahhhhs' in AHFOD will make me all 'woaahhhed' out by time Viva gets played.

 

Maybe that gig will be a final rendezvous with the band I loved from the end of my primary days right through secondary school. Whether it is a final sign off for me with Coldplay is really up to the band and what they decide to produce on their 8th album. If it's more r'nb inspired American trash pop trite consider me (and everyone else from generation Oldplay) done.

[uncc49]

After many listens

AROBTTH

Parachutes

Viva

AHFOD

Prospekts March

Ghost Stories

X&Y

Mylo Xyloto

[Jedi Leo]

I dont think there´s anything wrong with being happy, just saying. What else is life for? :) So I am happy they make music I can dance to and uplifts me. However I dont feel AHFOD is void of its darker moments: Everglow, Birds, Hymn, Up&up, X marks the spot, amazing day, Fun all have darkness in their stories and I feel that all the hope these songs ultimately leave you with is not shallow, superficial or bland but hard earned after a long walk in the dark tunnel. Thats one of the main reasons the album speaks to me.

[Mexima]

I've said since 2008 this band seriously needs to go on hiatus but they haven't and I doubt they will.

wow i didnt realize that,maybe its because chris "receive" these ideas of songs everyday and it has not much to do with the worlds acceptance, and the ideas initially came from his life or his view but not what people would like thats probably a great thing

[The Adversary]

I dont think there´s anything wrong with being happy, just saying. What else is life for? :) So I am happy they make music I can dance to and uplifts me.

It's the type of happiness though. At least for me, the "happiness" this album is trying to portray is not genuine, rather the "Buy Coke and you'll be happy" or "Buy the Beats Pill to be happy" kind of happiness. Except now it's "Buy Coldplay to be happy". This is corporate pop at it's finest, superficial at worst, specious at best.

 

Happiness and joy are two very different things. Coldplay's melancholic music gives me more joy than this ever could as it's something I can actually relate to. It's a lot easier to relate to "Oh, no, what's this? A spider web, and I'm caught in the middle, So I turned to run,The thought of all the stupid things I've done" than "My heart goes ba boom ba boom"

[Jedi Leo]

It's the type of happiness though. At least for me, the "happiness" this album is trying to portray is not genuine, rather the "Buy Coke and you'll be happy" or "Buy the Beats Pill to be happy" kind of happiness. Except now it's "Buy Coldplay to be happy". This is corporate pop at it's finest, superficial at worst, specious at best.

 

Happiness and joy are two very different things. Coldplay's melancholic music gives me more joy than this ever could as it's something I can actually relate to. It's a lot easier to relate to "Oh, no, what's this? A spider web, and I'm caught in the middle, So I turned to run,The thought of all the stupid things I've done" than "My heart goes ba boom ba boom"

 

Melancholia is not happiness to me and doesn't give me joy. It has its own beauty for sure but its certainly not happy or hopeful. And I feel the happiness in AHFOD exactly the opposite you do, that is I feel it very genuine and hard earned (as I wrote earlier). Just because something is exuberant it doesn't mean its shallow. Maybe because I quite relate to it. I´ve been through some pretty heavy stuff in my life (no need for details) and being able to come out of it and still have an open heart and faith in the future was such an enormous achievement for me that if I could, I would have written A sky full of stars hehe Good someone else wrote it for me :)

 

So yeah I guess its about whether you can relate to a certain feeling the songs are attempting to portray. Some do, some won't. But let me just say that when Chris sings "under this pressure, under this weight, we are diamonds taking shape" I certainly can feel in those words the full extent and pain of that pressure/weight and what it has taken for him to come out of it with the realisation that it was ultimately a gift.