===The ultimate Oldplaying Thread===S, BS, TBR, P, AROBTTH, X&Y, VLV, PM===

[anthamic]

I haven't listened to AHFOD in so long I've *often* forgotten of its existence even if it resides in my music library. (gotta have that completeness!)

 

And HFTW has a crap load of views already, even if it was just recently "released"; this is a warning to stay off the radio!

 

 

 

 

Sent from my Death Star using Tapatalk

[Guest kmm1482]

It's odd how little I care about the album. Never would have guessed this would happen. I'm kind of the same way with Bloc Party; I was listening to the new album, got bored halfway through and turned on Silent Alarm

[Jedi Leo]

I never post here really cuz it's your place guys :) but I'm about to listen to parachutes again from beginning to end after years (after i finish live 2003) so I thought I'd celebrate with a little post here if that's ok with you :) [emoji16][emoji6]

[prospekt46]

I never post here really cuz it's your place guys :) but I'm about to listen to parachutes again from beginning to end after years (after i finish live 2003) so I thought I'd celebrate with a little post here if that's ok with you :) [emoji16][emoji6]

 

One of the best aspects of Parachutes is the space it was recorded in. Try to listen to Will's percussion and contrast it with another instrument, a good example is Chris's guitar in High Speed.

[prospekt46]

To add on that

 

If you listen to Death and All His Friends, you can hear Chris's fingers press on the keys and his voice echo off the room in stereo. You can actually tell where he's playing on the piano, very neat. There's a lot of these little things you can find in most songs.

[Guest kmm1482]

One of the best ways to describe the early band that I'm still in love with is that it's organic and rough around the edges.

[I ran away]

Ah, this wonderful thread.

 

Been a while since I been her. But I wanna be more active here again and less active in the rest of the forum.

I got something to explain to you guys but more of that tomorrow, maybe.

[Guest kmm1482]

Ah, this wonderful thread.

 

Been a while since I been her. But I wanna be more active here again and less active in the rest of the forum.

I got something to explain to you guys but more of that tomorrow, maybe.

Looking forward to your thoughts [emoji5]️

[MidnightSpies]

I thought the video was "pretty," for lack of a better word, but it doesn't really fit the song.

 

I'm ready for some more simple/serious videos like the ones for Violet Hill, In My Place, The Scientist, Fix You, etc.

 

Oh absolutely.

 

"Less Is More"

 

I think the best advice to give the band, for their videos and music.

That was their strength: leaving stuff out, just pure, simple and organic.

[The Adversary]

Coldplay have lost all credibility in my eyes.

 

I will continue to cherish the early work but this new Coldplay is not the Coldplay I grew up with.

 

The new material is an insult to albums of such calibre as AROBTTH and X&Y.

[prospekt46]

After more thought I think VLV may actually tie AROBTTH in my mind. There's an unexplainable feeling they both give, and though they aren't opposites, they feel like brother and sister. Their discography compliments itself. The direction and work that went into each successive album sounds like they built on their work in different ways.

 

(Wacky opinionated similes incoming)

AROBTTH is like Parachutes if you made it go to college and sit up straight, it's refined and bigger.

 

Viva is like X&Y teaching AROBTTH how to experiment with new sounds, mixed with Eno when he was good for the band, it's fresh and artistic.

 

Coldplay have lost all credibility in my eyes.

 

I will continue to cherish the early work but this new Coldplay is not the Coldplay I grew up with.

 

The new material is an insult to albums of such calibre as AROBTTH and X&Y.

 

As much as I can't wrap my head around their direction, it's still Coldplay. They aren't unrecognizable, and even though a few years ago I would have told you X Marks the Spot was in fact written by The Nappies, I'm not going to stop watching new live appearances and interviews with them, or going to concerts (unless things get REALLY grim). So as much as I think "wow they're really not coming back around", they could also be way worse, if that's any consolation.

 

One last metaphor,

AHFOD is a conversation someone overheard from X&Y and MX and tried to retell word for word. It feels disingenuous and immature for the band that wrote songs like "Twisted Logic" or "A Rush of Blood to the Head" to have "Hymn for the Weekend" in the same discography.

[Guest kmm1482]

Good news guys!! Lady Gaga is singing the national anthem on Sunday! [emoji52]

[ColdplayingfromKansas]

Okay but that Clocks --> Fix You transition though in that Superbowl video :wacky:

 

Also the more I listen to AHFoD the less it sounds like a Coldplay album???

[I ran away]

Coldplay have lost all credibility in my eyes.

 

I will continue to cherish the early work but this new Coldplay is not the Coldplay I grew up with.

 

The new material is an insult to albums of such calibre as AROBTTH and X&Y.

 

Well said...will you go to the AHFOD tour though ?

[I ran away]

I remember they were recording in old churches during the pre-MX period, they were going for an acoustic album (remember for example Wedding Bells). Then they departed for another direction, sadly.

 

Although to be fair, the acoustic songs on MX don't feel quite as "right" (can't really put my finger on it, I just don't like them...) as acoustic songs in earlier albums, so I wonder if an entirely acoustic album would have been a good idea. I really wonder where all that previous creativity went after Viva.

 

(I'm just catching up with the Oldplaying thread so keep that in mind when you see that I reply to some older posts now)

[I ran away]

Jonny didn't vary up his guitar enough on the quieter songs, I'm not 100% on it but I think the effects used in CB sound like the same effects used in UATW (Slight distortion being prominent when ever he arpeggiates or even his riffs in DLIBYH). In their older discography, syncopation and LACK of sound is what really created a lot of magic.

 

Chris's voice and acoustic guitar take up too much of the perceived soundstage. Granted, I find this problem with every song on MX, the sound feels more like a wall instead of a real space of any shape or size. Not to mention the same vocoder/reverb effects are used what seems to be every song, giving Chris a very UNorganic feeling compared to previous albums.

 

U.F.O. chooses to have Chris sing through a tin can which is really the biggest problem with the song, second being the strings volume, way too loud in my opinion.

 

Charlie Brown makes maybe the most avoidable mistake on the album in overlaying Jonny's riff with some horrendous honky-tonk piano/percussive square lead. It really blows my mind because at Rock am Ring 2010 it SOUNDS like they got the song right and it wasn't there. Beats me.

 

Major Minus abuses Chris's poor acoustic guitar with reverb but it wouldn't fit the rest of the song if it didn't have it. On this song I think the voice effects actually fit. Major Minus in general is a real example of a song they flat out wouldn't have been able to make, or at least in this format, if they didn't "change", take that as you will.

 

Up With the Birds comes the closest to putting Chris's voice in the right spot. First half of the song is what I really think is the "dreamiest" the last 3 albums have reached (The Escapist being the dreamiest song I think they've made). Toning down the weird multi-Chris harmonic thing it does at "Might have to go" just the TINIEST amount would have went a long way as it wouldn't have meshed with the reverb as much which created a lot of noise for little sound. Also Jonny found a different effect on his pedal after recording 12 out of 14 songs (POCs effect is very unique in comparison to the rest). Honestly this song comes the closest to breaking down the sound wall and putting up something that feels natural.

 

All in all I can't disagree more. MX has in my opinion the worst production value/decisions and really suffers because of it. But opinion or not, the sound is at least consistent throughout the album. If they were aiming for that, they did a good job.

 

OK that may well be a very good and detailed analysis on why the acoustic songs on MX don't sound like they should :)

[I ran away]

Everything felt so professional but the passion was so evident. You could really feel the drive in every song.

 

Yes, the AROBTTH Era. It (they...) felt so genuine about what they were doing. I love the X&Y Era too, and I used to think it was their best. But recently upon closer watching of some video footage I think you can see the first signs of "getting too big", going more for "show" there already . I still love X&Y concerts a lot though.

[I ran away]

I'm really caught up on this

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlsVUPgwd_0

 

I'm having a very hard time believing Chris now is the same one we had. I was watching this video and there's something about the way he conducts himself that says "Yeah, we're the biggest band in the world and we know it". His performances on stage (mainly X&Y and VLV, previously to this he wasn't AS bombastic on stage with how he acts, a bit more reserved I guess) were like he thought he was iconic and in the realm of Mercury and Bowie. While I don't think he was THAT iconic, the way he conducted himself was and made Coldplay feel like they were simply apart from everyone else. Chris walked around (sometimes) like he was a artistic god, which worked very well in X&Y when the music was bigger than ever, Talk being a good example, also the reason I used it. That act only works if people believe it and in my opinion he's sold it the best in the modern era (early 00s and on)

 

When he sung it felt like he really believed in all the lyrics and their weight. Even the small things he does like at 3:50, that's not a dance move in any sense, but it doesn't look awkward, and it looks like he's sending the energy to the crowd. It's a larger than life kind of thing that he did a lot. Everyone knows he can't dance, and it should stay that way, but one thing he did very well was communicate the energy of the song through his movements.

 

I'll give you a good example. Chris likes to jump, in fact he likes to jump a lot. Jumping is all something people are familiar with, we've seen people jump, we know what jumping feels like. During In My Place in recent years (but not all the time so don't tear me apart for cherry picking I'm just trying to give an example), Chris does this during the chorus,

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=SINCw_nocJE;m=1

 

Compare it to what Chris did a few years before that

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=7ugrGg7MfeQ;m=1;s=5

 

(Bonus, play each video asynchronously to hear wicked sick copyright-dodging transposition! Can you tell which is the right key?)

 

Now, what communicates more energy? The energy of jumping and landing? Or the energy of (theoretically) lifting the energy of the sound and everyone in the room to its highest point in the song? I know it's only one example and I'm sure you can find him doing the opposite in opposite years (he actually does the same thing at the third "yeah" of the first chorus) but do you see the point I'm trying to make? Most can agree today's Chris would jump, while Oldplay's Chris would do the latter. This is just an opinion but the latter simply FELT bigger. It's the climax of the song, the high point of its energy. Jumping simply doesn't cut it. Jumping along to the thumping of VLV, to contrast, is very different and I don't know how much anyone wants me to ramble about anything anymore.

 

Excellent post and analysis. And yes, the Talk performance does feel a bit (too) theatrical and Chris sometimes did strut around, that's what I meant when I said the X&Y Era showed first signs of "going for grandeur". But it was all still very good and you can feel they poured everything they had into it.

[I ran away]

I didn't want to post my opinion about the new [HFTW] video on its designated thread since a lot of people seem to like it and I'm in no place to depress or aggravate them with anything I say.

 

NOBODY should be forced to say that on this forum...but its only Oldplayers being accused of being intolerant. So dearest Newplayers, if you read this....

[I ran away]

Miss B could just wear some more clothes in some parts.

 

LOL, this is exactly what I said in the HFTW video thread :)

[I ran away]

Favorite covers?

I like the You Only Live Twice cover a lot... Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is great, too

[I ran away]

So how is AHFOD sounding to you now after roughly 2 months? Still sounds awful to me. Little or no redeeming features and in general a really poor album.

 

A few days ago, after having given it many listens and chances over the course of 2 months, I finally deleted the entire album (minus Fun and Birds) from my collection.

[I ran away]

I've honestly had no desire to replay it. Even the songs I like. Compare to the first 3-4 albums on rotation nearly every day for years to nearly no Coldplay at all in the past year or so. I'm not engaged, I don't get the same feeling and I don't like singing along to these songs

 

Same here. Even after I deleted the rest, from the 2 best AHFOD songs for me (Birds and Fun) I only ever actually listen to Fun sometimes. No comparison to how many times I replay older songs or albums.

[I ran away]

It's still a Coldplay album but man is it ever stretching that. It's also still the worst album, I think. It's not that far away from the next but it's distinguishable.

 

I guess that's based on what I believe makes a Coldplay album.

 

What makes a Coldplay album Coldplay for everyone? Very interested in people's opinions on this.

 

Well, AHFOD doesn't really feel like a Coldplay album to me, minus the ever-so-recognizable Ooooohs everywhere. When i initially heard AOAL on its world premiere at BBC1, I could not distinguish it from the songs that came on the radio while we were waiting for AOAL to be premiered. The same feel, the same cliched synthie-disco tricks like the beat drop....Maybe that's why I hate AHFOD, because I no longer feel Coldplay are special. I no longer feel they are different from the rest of chart-topping music at the moment.

[I ran away]

I never post here really cuz it's your place guys :) but I'm about to listen to parachutes again from beginning to end after years (after i finish live 2003) so I thought I'd celebrate with a little post here if that's ok with you :) [emoji16][emoji6]

 

Glad to hear you did that ! Well, how did it go ? :)