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What do you mean with dissonnant chord progressions ? I always thought they were a trademaks sign of Radiohead, not Coldplay. Can you give some examples ?

 

Unusual structure is probably a better word for it, slightly dissonant, unexpected, basically overall less "catchy".

Not as much as Radiohead no hehe and not as accentuated as in "True Love" but the unusual chord progression and also unusual melody structure is to be found in most of Parachutes and some of A Rush.

 

Off the top of my head some songs I think have this unusual melodic style are GPASUMF, some of spies, sparks, we never change, High speed, etc.

I find this structure is prominent in Parachutes, still a bit there in A Rush, then almost completely disappear in X&Y. To my ears that's when Coldplay make almost every song a "catchy" song using more usual harmonious chord/melody structures.

 

We can still find examples of this "unusual style" later on but it's very limited (for example Moving to Mars).

I may be wrong but I suspect this is also partly why some prefer the older stuff cuz this structure overall gives a song a hint of more sophistication, less "catchy", and tend to make the song a bit more somber, serious.

 

Anyways that's something that popped up to my ears when I compare the early work with later ones :)

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I'd recommend you to do that, Parachutes has a great flow as an album and creates an incredibly great, warm, cosy atmosphere :)

 

As the good Coldplayer that I am I tried haha but whereas I can listen to a track or two standalone no problem, I can't listen to to the whole album cuz it just tends to put my mood down or it just gets too slow at some parts as well.

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^ Yeah I think Midnight is completely warm yet almost fully synth, so thats good example imo.

 

IMO Midnight is warm in a way but it's also kind of cool. Don't know how to explain it but it has the blue cool feel that all the other GS songs have to me anyways.

 

Oooooooh did someone say ambient:wacky:

 

I love ambient music. Coldplay have done a bit of this: see Midnight, Such A Rush Intro, Postcards From Far Away, Chinese Sleep Chant, Aiko, Moving To Mars, O

 

I love ambient music as well, probably not one track from that genre I dislike. I love those really long ambient mixes on YouTube, I have no idea how they do it but it just flows so well even though it changes so much... they take their time with it. I find it really, really enjoyable. I'd have loved if GS was more ambient album, unfortunately that really only happened with Midnight and O :( But they did just such a wonderful job on Midnight,

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So I was listening to the Radiohead James Bond theme earlier today (wow, what a track) and this to me really shows whats involved in interesting music, it's quite dissonant and there's so much going on in it, you could listen to it a hundred times over and hear something new in it each time. Coldplay used to write interesting melodies with strange chord structures which were sonically great also like thjs. I just can't believe they've now gone in completely the opposite direction and are now giving us generic songs with such dull structure that gets boring after a few spins. It's a complete devolution of songwriting.

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So I was listening to the Radiohead James Bond theme earlier today (wow, what a track) and this to me really shows whats involved in interesting music, it's quite dissonant and there's so much going on in it, you could listen to it a hundred times over and hear something new in it each time. Coldplay used to write interesting melodies with strange chord structures which were sonically great also like thjs. I just can't believe they've now gone in completely the opposite direction and are now giving us generic songs with such dull structure that gets boring after a few spins. It's a complete devolution of songwriting.

 

Yeah thats kinda what I meant about the dissonant chord structure. It does make a song sound more interesting and for lack of a better word more sophisticated. Shiver comes to mind. I can see why you and many others would prefer that: the structure of say Shiver is definitely more complicated and "rich" than a song like Lost.

 

Yet Ill tell you my brain tells me I should like the sophistication better, but my heart and ears won't hear of it *LOL* Its like I can appreciate how they are better in the sense that their structure is just more rich and goes in directions unexpected, but I dont seem to enjoy them more just because of that factor. So there... I think different structures appeal to different parts of our selves perhaps? :)

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So I was listening to the Radiohead James Bond theme earlier today (wow, what a track) and this to me really shows whats involved in interesting music, it's quite dissonant and there's so much going on in it, you could listen to it a hundred times over and hear something new in it each time. Coldplay used to write interesting melodies with strange chord structures which were sonically great also like thjs. I just can't believe they've now gone in completely the opposite direction and are now giving us generic songs with such dull structure that gets boring after a few spins. It's a complete devolution of songwriting.

 

Post of the day !

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Kinda reminds me of guitar solos...I dont seem to enjoy the intricate ones just because they are intricate, like the mere factor that they are elaborate does not play a big role in my liking them or not. Jonny can hit 3 notes and he´s got me right there! haha

 

I truly believe music resonates with something deep in our soul, so hard to put your finger on what it is as much as you try there is very little logic to it hehe Then sometimes when you think you got your "formula" all figured out, a song you never thought you´d like surprises you and you like it and you dont know why...and you´re back at square one haha :)

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Jonny can hit 3 notes and he´s got me right there!

 

That is right, too. While I like the complex structures of the AROBTTH songs I realized when playing the melodies on keyboard that many of the lead melodies are actually so simple (example: the riff of In My Place, or Clocks) that you wonder why nobody else has discovered them before Coldplay :D

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That is right, too. While I like the complex structures of the AROBTTH songs I realized when playing the melodies on keyboard that many of the lead melodies are actually so simple (example: the riff of In My Place, or Clocks) that you wonder why nobody else has discovered them before Coldplay :D

 

Easy to learn and play

 

but very hard to create

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OT - I was going to say, has anyone else noticed that these two albums (Songs of Innocence and AHFOD) play well side by side each other? I relistened to Songs of Innocence again after watching U2 perform a cracking set on their i+e tour on tv, noticed a lot more detail to the songs, then thought AHFOD has a similar musical palette...

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OT - I was going to say, has anyone else noticed that these two albums (Songs of Innocence and AHFOD) play well side by side each other? I relistened to Songs of Innocence again after watching U2 perform a cracking set on their i+e tour on tv, noticed a lot more detail to the songs, then thought AHFOD has a similar musical palette...

Well, basically Every Breaking Wave and Army Of One are the same song, and AHFOD itself is very U2ish in a disco pop key

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So I was listening to the Radiohead James Bond theme earlier today (wow, what a track) and this to me really shows whats involved in interesting music, it's quite dissonant and there's so much going on in it, you could listen to it a hundred times over and hear something new in it each time. Coldplay used to write interesting melodies with strange chord structures which were sonically great also like thjs. I just can't believe they've now gone in completely the opposite direction and are now giving us generic songs with such dull structure that gets boring after a few spins. It's a complete devolution of songwriting.

 

They did have stronger songwriting in the past but I'd argue, they're not very "dull" today either. They still have great songwriting abilities, just not with the magic as with Oldplay.

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