coldplayisawesome Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 I'm writing this post to share some thoughts on several things different people have said over the last few posts (sorry for not individually picking out the quotes). First of all, it is great to see that our beloved thread is thriving again - for some time there was so little activity I was worried about it. Am I the only one here who is not too enthusiastic about Eno and Hopkins ? No offence to their work, and sure, Eno did help Coldplay to become more diverse in their sound during the Viva Era, but to me this was one of the beginnings of the end. This "open to all sounds and influences" approach still worked in As for ambient, I'm personally not the biggest fan of ambient music and I don't think it suits Coldplay. The ambient pieces we had so far have mostly been Hopkins pieces over which Chris Martin sings, not "real" Coldplay pieces. For example Midnight: It's an interesting song and I like it, yes, but if you listen to Jon Hopkins' original track Amphora (which I have, if anyone needs it) you will be disappointed to see how little "Coldplay" has added to Amphora except Chris Martins vocals to call it Midnight now. All I'm saying is, I am not sure how Coldplay as a band and an entirely ambient sound would fit together...And if you say it's atmospheric, I would argue that Coldplay has been good atmospherically already in the pre-Parachutes (!) era, incorporating dreamy atmospheric sounds while at the same time having a guitar-based sound. It's not something they need one of those big name producers for. But no doubt both Eno and Hopkins would be a million times better than Stargate, who to me are the worst choice and ruined several tracks on AHFOD (with the band's full approval of course, its no use to blame Stargate if the band knowlingy chose their sound to be stargatifyied.) My favourite producer to come back would be Ken Nelson, but seeing that the band basically split up with him during the making of X&Y, it is never going to happen. About Guy's presence in AHFOD: I'm happy for Guy that he gets into the spotlight more often, but if Guy's increased presence on AHFOD mainly consists in stomping out bass grooves to a disco beat, I prefer the Guy whose bass was more subtle but essential to the incredible soundscapes of the first three albums (and especially AROBTTH). About AHFOD being the album with the least tension and trouble to make for them: Is that a good thing ? You may think this statement provocative. Obviously, you like the band and you don't want them to go through toil and trouble. So do I ! It's great for them as human beings that they are having that much fun and no pressure. But is it good for the music they put out ? I ask in the reverse, why were their early albums more stressful or troublesome to make ? Because they were perfectionists and wanted to show the world the very best of what they could do, to make songs that are not forgettable but art in itself. Just look at the selection process for their early albums ! Look at the sheer quality of the B-sides, excellent songs as we all know that were not deemed "good enough" by the band back then, because they had the highest level of demand for themselves. Chris, Jonny, Guy and Will were their own harshest critics. They wanted to be good; when they found they were good, they wanted to be better. This thinking led to a high quality in both the songs themselves and their production. And now ? Where are these demands now ? Today, they seem to be content with whatever they produce. I would, by the way, give music critics and the public part of the blame here, because they have mercilessly hunted down the early Coldplay and laughed at the emotionality and sincerity they brought to their songs calling them bedwetters or bland, and who called them boring or did not take them serious as rock musicians because unlike other bands they made headlines about their shyness and politeness instead of about last night's wild party with drugs and groupies, as other bands do (One of the reasons I can identify so much with the band is that, by the way, their kindness, politeness and decency as human beings). It's funny that the same people who tried to bring them down earlier love their sound now. Now they can sell whatever music they make. Liberating for them, maybe, but lets face it: If they were to make an entire album full of X Marks The Spots, so to speak, the record would still sell millions and millions of copies and hit No.1 in many countries because it has the sticker with the name "COLDPLAY" on it. They have become so big that that name alone is enough to sell any music. They say they don't care anymore what people think about them (which, as I argued above, is partly to blame on the critics and public's earlier reactions), but they also don't seem any more to care about how good the songs are in terms of artistic value. At the moment they just want to have a good time themselves and give people a good time at the concerts (and Chris said that for ASFOS, for example). There is nothing wrong about thinking the latter, but it is not a criterium of quality. The truth is that almost any cheap Eurodance song will give people a good time, this doesn't mean it is artistically valuable. But since Chris Martin only seems to care about how much he can jump around during a track and make people dance, it appears that these are his new "quality" criteria. Actually when I think about it like that I see no hope for Coldplay in the near future. Now that was an opinionpiece from the bottom of my Oldplayer heart... great thoughts, my friend. personally, i think Markus Dravs was really great with them, though I have little idea of what his influence was exactly vs. Eno. it's more of just a feeling i have :P ambient stuff is cool, but i think maybe the Chinese Sleep Chant style (i forget what it's called, sorry :embarrassed:) is more interesting and would be cool to hear them explore more. i also really love Guy's work on AHFOD... i always felt like there wasn't enough of him in early Coldplay songs, even with great songs like Sparks and Everything's Not Lost. but i also really love Apparatjik, and i feel like they make (made? :cry:) music more like what Coldplay is putting out now. so that's why i think Chris is not the only one to blame for the shift in style :lol: in terms of AHFOD being the easiest for them to make, trying to focus more on enjoying the process... it's almost like they did take a break but didn't actually stop working, if that makes sense :P something i just thought about, which relates to the lack of B-sides as well... Coldplay have never been exactly prolific, especially with 2-3 years between their albums on average, but it seems like their best eras (in terms of what fans seem to favor) are those where they produced tons of music, either as B-sides or with Prospekt's March, for example. i don't know how many songs they wrote for AHFOD that got scrapped, but i could definitely see that if they focused more on just what was going on the album and not much else, it could affect the final product. quality over quantity is what most people will say, but i know some other creative people who believe that quantity often leads to quality. putting out as much content as you can as quickly as you can helps to refine your work and can force you to stretch your imagination when it comes to developing new work because you have to dig deeper for those new ideas. it doesn't mean the first iterations are bad, it just means that you become more inventive as time goes on. i think i might have said it before in this thread, but it seems like they really hit that groove with VLV and have been riding on that since then. they just need another VIVA-type era where they throw out what their current processes are and start fresh again. especially since they are very different people from who they were back then, with a lot of life changes and the fact that i'm pretty sure i heard in one interview that Jonny's the only one who lives in London (i.e. by their headquarters) anymore. as an Allplayer, i'm still pleased with what they've released lately, but even i can see it's time for them to shake things up a little :D 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastwars Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 great thoughts, my friend. personally, i think Markus Dravs was really great with them, though I have little idea of what his influence was exactly vs. Eno. it's more of just a feeling i have :P ambient stuff is cool, but i think maybe the Chinese Sleep Chant style (i forget what it's called, sorry :embarrassed:) is more interesting and would be cool to hear them explore more. Shoegaze/Dreampop :heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart: If we want to have proper CP back, we have to ask to Robin Guthrie (the musical genius behind the sound of the Cocteau Twins) if he wants to be their producer. I dream of a CP album after a 5 years hiatus with Robin and Jon Hopkins as producers. @I ran away : I think that it's not Eno/Hopkins fault if thing went the way we know, it's simply Chris that lost his head after the big commercial success of Viva (and the end of the relationship with Gwineth I add). Imho, Coldplay made their most interesting pieces of the newplay era when they tried to embrace different styles except for electro-mainstream-pop, like the Bowie-influenced Moving To Mars, Midnight (the best newplay song for me), the indie-pop oriented songs like All Your Friends and Birds, or when they stayed true to themselves (like with Always In My Head, Ghost Story, Atlas) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldplayisawesome Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Shoegaze/Dreampop :heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart: yes, thank you!! it would be so cool if they did more of that, right? :wacko: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beastwars Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 yes, thank you!! it would be so cool if they did more of that, right? :wacko: Absolutely... Jonny's older brother was fond on My Bloody Valentine when he was younger and influenced his brother during the years... think of the sound of the 3 EP's era (Safety, Brother&Sisters and The Blue Room), it was heavily influenced by shoegaze (you can hear it clearly on the instrumental of We Never change, which is quite Slowdive-ish imho, or in Bigger Stronger) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldplayisawesome Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 bring back this song Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp3176 Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 This might just be the longest post ever written in Coldplaying history. I've got a lot to reply to. Before I go on, I'd like to say all of your posts are very well written. Great job everyone. I'm writing this post to share some thoughts on several things different people have said over the last few posts (sorry for not individually picking out the quotes). Well worry not because this time I'll individually pick out the quote's, I'm good at sorting thru stuff like this :) First of all, it is great to see that our beloved thread is thriving again - for some time there was so little activity I was worried about it. I'm glad your thread is doing well again. :) Am I the only one here who is not too enthusiastic about Eno and Hopkins ? No offence to their work, and sure, Eno did help Coldplay to become more diverse in their sound during the Viva Era, but to me this was one of the beginnings of the end. This "open to all sounds and influences" approach still worked in VLVODAAHF, but it imho has also led the way for accepting all kinds of music including the most commercial, superficial pop acts as their influences, and has paved the way for ditching subtlety in favor of the pop-rock/dancepop bombast of MX and AHFOD. I can see where you're coming from. Sure, I believe too that it weren't for Eno they would not have the sound they have today. It's a shame Coldplay had to take the poppier route instead of truly getting in depth with diverse influences which tbh Eno was for. However, I do believe that if Eno were to be brought in again they would get back on track and not do such a poppy release next time. That's why everyone is loving Eno and Hopkins. Because they aren't pop artists. If Eno and Hopkins gets in next time (which will almost definitely not happen, but we can dream) they will once again explore diverse influences, not make an even poppier album. So in my opinion, there are only things to be excited about. :D Btw I wouldn't call MX "bombastic", maybe a tiny bit here and there, but yeah. Your argument is stronger for AHFOD though... As for ambient, I'm personally not the biggest fan of ambient music and I don't think it suits Coldplay. The ambient pieces we had so far have mostly been Hopkins pieces over which Chris Martin sings, not "real" Coldplay pieces. For example Midnight: It's an interesting song and I like it, yes, but if you listen to Jon Hopkins' original track Amphora (which I have, if anyone needs it) you will be disappointed to see how little "Coldplay" has added to Amphora except Chris Martins vocals to call it Midnight now. All I'm saying is, I am not sure how Coldplay as a band and an entirely ambient sound would fit together... No, it may not be Coldplay's usual style but that's the point. We want more of a diversity of styles from Coldplay. And if we know one thing about Coldplay, it's that they do really well in nearly every music style. Yes, even the hip hop of XMTS. That song ain't my cup of tea either but it is a million light years better than any other hip hop track right now. Of course back in the day hip hop to me was actually good and songs from back then I would much much rather listen to then Coldplay's version but still. The same goes for Coldplay's version of pop. Sure, don't enjoy it? Fine. But you have got to admit it is so much better and genuine than other mainstream pop nowadays, and really AHFOD isn't typical mainstream pop, compared to other pop releases nowadays it sounds quite diverse and dare I say it artistic! (But only in the pop world. Nowhere else. Just in the pop world it sounds artistic. :wink2:) And also when they experimented with truly diverse styles they've done well, as the Viva era and the b-sides of Mylo and GS era have shown. They've proven themselves with ambient in the form of Midnight. Now I know you've said it is a Jon Hopkins piece with Chris Martin vocals over it, but still it does sound like a nice song which you have agreed with. I still think that if Coldplay did take a shot at ambient it would sound incredible. Just imagine... Ambient music in a truly Coldplay style! Which was already Midnight to an extent but if they tried to create something truly original from it and go more in depth with it I think it would sound amazing. At least to me. I know you've said here that you don't like ambient as much as other people on the forum like I do, and I could see why, you've said that a really important thing for you to like in music is that it needs a strong melody, and sometimes ambient doesn't really have that... (You've got to admit, still far superior to mainstream pop music LOL) Oh well, we've already seen Coldplay add a form of that stronger melody to ambient in the case of Midnight (OK I know, technically not Coldplay but I bet they'd still add a bit more of a melodic style to ambient if they made a truly original track themselves considering what they've done to hip hop which had virtually no melody nowadays, lol) I'm interested in that Jon Hopkins original track. If you wouldn't mind sending me A PM with that track that would be great! Thanks in advance :) And if you say it's atmospheric, I would argue that Coldplay has been good atmospherically already in the pre-Parachutes (!) era, incorporating dreamy atmospheric sounds while at the same time having a guitar-based sound. It's not something they need one of those big name producers for. Yes, ambient is also atmospheric and I like that. I like that Pre Parachutes songs too though but who knows if they'll every come back to that... Maybe... I'd have loved to see an album in that style dominantly too! Also, did you just call Eno and Hopkins "big name producers"... You'd better have been referring to someone else because they're definitely not "big name"! But no doubt both Eno and Hopkins would be a million times better than Stargate, who to me are the worst choice and ruined several tracks on AHFOD (with the band's full approval of course, its no use to blame Stargate if the band knowlingy chose their sound to be stargatifyied.) I know! Stargate are an awful choice for producer. The album sounds a bit too clean (but still better than mainstream pop) and I think that's because of Stargate's slick pop production. I don't think they wanted it to sound too too clean but it is a little polished off of the "sweet spot". There are quite a few instances of electronic drums where there should be organic drums as well. Like Everglow. But really a lot of the tracks in the album kind of deserve electronic drums like Birds and Hymn because the style simply fits it. Where organic drums would actually feel more out of place... Then again, Hymn could have been a more rock style song and to get rid of some of the cringeworthy lyrics as well... My favourite producer to come back would be Ken Nelson, but seeing that the band basically split up with him during the making of X&Y, it is never going to happen. Yeah that's a bummer isn't it? How they had to split up so early... Yet Radiohead is still going with Nigel which they've had since almost the beginning... About Guy's presence in AHFOD: I'm happy for Guy that he gets into the spotlight more often, but if Guy's increased presence on AHFOD mainly consists in stomping out bass grooves to a disco beat, I prefer the Guy whose bass was more subtle but essential to the incredible soundscapes of the first three albums (and especially AROBTTH). I know, but for one I was replying to someone who ignorantly thought that AHFOD was more of a Chris Martin solo project than anything. Guy was just one of the examples because after all he is more present then ever. Also, the Guy we have now is more essential to today's Coldplay than the old style Guy would have been. These dancier songs need a stronger bass line and for that Guy needed to appear in the spotlight more. So far, he's done a wonderful job and has kept up well. I liked the more subtle Guy too and don't get me wrong here, I like what Coldplay once was more than they are now and I'm not saying they need to make dance songs to be good because they definitely don't, I'm just providing the other side of the debate here. Since what is a debate without someone at least acknowledging the other point of view? That's how conversations go on, if we only said the same things it would be inedibly boring! :) Okay so back on track, I like the subtler Guy as well but his new style is so much fun too, I love hearing what he comes up with now! Again, just more of a diversity thing I suppose. If Guy had the same style forever it would get at least a bit boring after a while, would it not? About AHFOD being the album with the least tension and trouble to make for them: Is that a good thing ? You may think this statement provocative. Obviously, you like the band and you don't want them to go through toil and trouble. So do I ! It's great for them as human beings that they are having that much fun and no pressure. But is it good for the music they put out ? I ask in the reverse, why were their early albums more stressful or troublesome to make ? Because they were perfectionists and wanted to show the world the very best of what they could do, to make songs that are not forgettable but art in itself. Just look at the selection process for their early albums ! Look at the sheer quality of the B-sides, excellent songs as we all know that were not deemed "good enough" by the band back then, because they had the highest level of demand for themselves. Chris, Jonny, Guy and Will were their own harshest critics. They wanted to be good; when they found they were good, they wanted to be better. This thinking led to a high quality in both the songs themselves and their production. And now ? Where are these demands now ? Today, they seem to be content with whatever they produce. I know, and I do agree. They now are only having fun with making music and agreeing with each other, but that does lead to a generally lower quality and songs like "X Marks The Spot" being let onto the album. Because they aren't perhaps truly asking themselves what the best they could do is. Contrast this with what they once were, there may have been more arguments but you're right in saying this does get better results in the music as they've made sure that they are doing the best they can do and being harsh about it. When even the B sides were good but not let onto the album for not being the very best, it is a fact that they were once much harsher on themselves and wanted to deliver the best. But you know what? That was a lot of years of tension back then. There must have been really bad fights in the past over various things. I think for once it was time they had a little fun, and for the music to reflect that. Sure, it may not be quite as good a product as what once was but think of this new release as their celebration that they don't have to do that anymore, a sound of a band just having fun after all of these years! The last 7 albums when you look back tell a story. There was a lot of conflict involved in making the music and the music itself even reflected that. But as time went on, they became more accepting and now after they've realized that so many people love them because of the hard work they've put in they just decided to all out have some fun, without caring too much about how the end product will be received. You see what I mean? They deserve it, after the long years. In a way this album is the end of an era, not necessarily the end of the complete story but the end of a part of it, where they once had troubles but now they've earned their celebration after their hard work. I would, by the way, give music critics and the public part of the blame here, because they have mercilessly hunted down the early Coldplay and laughed at the emotionality and sincerity they brought to their songs calling them bedwetters or bland, and who called them boring or did not take them serious as rock musicians because unlike other bands they made headlines about their shyness and politeness instead of about last night's wild party with drugs and groupies, as other bands do (One of the reasons I can identify so much with the band is that, by the way, their kindness, politeness and decency as human beings). It's funny that the same people who tried to bring them down earlier love their sound now. True, and once again I agree. They in part may have been pushed to make more upbeat music because that's what some wanted, not what they claimed to be "bland" or "bedwetter" music. It makes me feel for what they must have went through back in the day, with people calling you names like that, wouldn't you want to change to avoid that? It sucks it had to happen and that all some people care about is partying and crap. If they don't like it they should have just moved on to something else rather than disturb them and leave people like you here with a band that to your ears is nowhere near what they once were. (I also agree with you on the way the band acts in general. They are very nice people and aren't into any thing "bad". Their music is generally very clean as well opening it up to a much much much younger audience, like not even teen, so their parents would be more comfortable with listening to this type of music. And really this still holds true today, even though their music has drastically changed I'd say they only got nicer in the process as people. They don't fight with one another as more as described above. ) Yeah, it does seem like the people who made fun of them in the past like they way they are now, and vice versa really. You're not going to impress anyone no matter what you do though. I mean, yes some people like me love the entirety of their discography and think that the way they've changed only makes them more dynamic in terms of what you want to listen to when you feel a certain way: want a song for when you're on top of the world? They've got a song for that. Want a song reflecting the lowest times of low? They've got that to. And everything in between. I honestly think it only works out in their favor. You'll have tons of fans, of old and new works, buying their respective things they love, so that's much more than is you just stuck to one style. Then you have the fans like me that generally like it all. Coldplay have something at least for nearly everyone, whether some people realize it or not, and are very dynamic. Isn't it much better to be this way then to just keep putting the same thing out over and over again? And the counter argument here is that it's the nature of the change that is disliked, not change itself, which is true, and I do agree with that. They have managed to stay so popular for so long though, longer than really any other modern band, and that isn't easy. You've got to admit that ever since they've began they have been making hits and to this day still are. Not many bands can say that so I wouldn't say they've completely lost it even now! Now they can sell whatever music they make. Liberating for them, maybe, but lets face it: If they were to make an entire album full of X Marks The Spots, so to speak, the record would still sell millions and millions of copies and hit No.1 in many countries because it has the sticker with the name "COLDPLAY" on it. They have become so big that that name alone is enough to sell any music. I agree with you here as well. They legitimately can sell anything, your right about that. So if that's the case, why not make an artistic album? It is going to sell no matter what. And it could positively impact the music industry, and open up everyone's eyes to the fact that you don't have to make a song with a typical chords progression and "getting hoes" and that stuff. Really if Coldplay manages to pull that off I will be so proud of them for making music great again and will hail them as the best band to ever exist... They say they don't care anymore what people think about them (which, as I argued above, is partly to blame on the critics and public's earlier reactions), but they also don't seem any more to care about how good the songs are in terms of artistic value. Once again, very true. Really if they didn't care what people thought of them anymore that would be better if they still wanted to make music with good artistic quality... But really, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The two typically go hand in hand, right. I don't think they'd care about "artistic quality" if they didn't care what other people thought of them, right? However it is possible to care what people think, but still make this type of music. You want to look cool and trendy. You want to fit in. Really that is even worse than what Coldplay thinks right now. Music like what they make now is a result of purely having fun and jamming out in the studio. Be happy and thankful it's that instead of wanting to become the biggest sell out ever and trying to be super cool and trendy and as a result acting all cocky and actually endorsing getting drunk and high to a younger teen population which is really what a lot of pop crap is nowadays. Let me ask you something, Coldplay so far in their music as poppy as it may sound hasn't endorsed any kind of young population clichés like partying and drugs and getting hot women and that stuff. (Okay, okay, yes, Hymn is a bit of an exception and I do agree is probably in part made due to a desire for money) it's still so much more genuine than anything else nowadays pretty much. You've got to think, Everything's Not Lost! They are getting older and so likely aren't looking to make dance tunes as much anymore, and I also do think that Chris Martin is not wanting to jump around as much any more as evident by their playing of older calmer songs. Sh yeah. At the moment they just want to have a good time themselves and give people a good time at the concerts (and Chris said that for ASFOS, for example). There is nothing wrong about thinking the latter, but it is not a criterium of quality. The truth is that almost any cheap Eurodance song will give people a good time, this doesn't mean it is artistically valuable. But since Chris Martin only seems to care about how much he can jump around during a track and make people dance, it appears that these are his new "quality" criteria. Actually when I think about it like that I see no hope for Coldplay in the near future. Now that was an opinionpiece from the bottom of my Oldplayer heart... Yes, and for the most part I agree once again. I've said stuff about this before. Having a good time does not necessarily mean having artistic quality (although it can, see: Viva era and for me personally Mylo era). They were artistic in the past though and for them it is time to celebrate what they've done by making a good feeling oriented album and just doing whatever feels nice. Yes, they could put in more work to make something more similar to LiT ii or Glass of Water but again here it's more about pure happiness and celebration. Don't worry, as I'm sure this is marking the end of an era for Coldplay and are looking to start anew next time around. Or it at least feels like it... Wow. That took forever and a day!!! All on mobile. So difficult even with a phone not laggy at all like mine. This post is long enough already, I do have more to reply to but this is more than enough for now. So tired. Good posts everyone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I ran away Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 That took forever and a day!!! All on mobile. Oh wow, I appreciate that you took the time to give such a detailed response, and on mobile, so that I wanted to say that I already appreciate your post before I read it ! I will read it now...see you in about a month ;) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prospekt46 Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 This is perhaps more of a random Coldplay thought but I think it's perhaps better suited here. I was in a bar during the week. The barman had spotify on and my friends were requesting songs (Oasis, The Verve, The Stone Roses, The Smiths. Your typical Britpop) I love this type of music so I decided to keep the tunes coming and requested Yellow. The barman flat out refused to play the song. When I asked him why he just grunted "Cause Coldplay are shit" I was absolutely stunned. I think it just goes to show the level of Coldplay hate. Parachutes and AROBTTH are just as good as anything The Verve have released and AROBTTH is arguably as good or better than anything Oasis have released (Apart from What's The Story (Morning Glory)It just goes to show, if you release two or three shit albums like Coldplay have, it denigrates your better work. I promptly left the bar. You expected a bar to play Coldplay? Cmon that wouldn't fly at any point in their career LOL I agree with you here as well. They legitimately can sell anything, your right about that. So if that's the case, why not make an artistic album? It is going to sell no matter what. And it could positively impact the music industry, and open up everyone's eyes to the fact that you don't have to make a song with a typical chords progression and "getting hoes" and that stuff. Really if Coldplay manages to pull that off I will be so proud of them for making music great again and will hail them as the best band to ever exist... I think VLV was that for them. They really made something unique and the craftsmanship is unreal. In fact I don't know if they ever could make something as refreshing as VLV in my opinion, seems like a once in a lifetime kind of album. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Adversary Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 You expected a bar to play Coldplay? Cmon that wouldn't fly at any point in their career LOL Well, it was more of a hipster type bar. They had a picture of Thom Yorke on the wall so not too much of a stretch :D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I ran away Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 So I just finished reading it all and while I mostly agree with many of your points as well, I picked out some for responding specifically (for discussion sakes obviously mostly stuff which i don't entirely agree with, so don't let this bias you - I liked your post ! :)) Well worry not because this time I'll individually pick out the quote's, I'm good at sorting thru stuff like this :) Oh yes, you are ! Appreciate the time you took. Btw I wouldn't call MX "bombastic", maybe a tiny bit here and there, but yeah. I have to be honest, I think most songs on MX sound "bombastic". By that I mean that they have a heavy, celebratory, larger-than-life sound. This sound started to shape itself during the Viva Era, where songs like VLV and LiTii or GOW already have it, but it is much much much bigger in the MX Era (maybe a bit less even in AHFOD, to be honest). Funnily enough, this sound was exactly what initially grabbed my attention. At a time when I had never heard the word Coldplay in my life (can you believe it ? But as I have explained before, I have been raised in a mostly classical music environment), and I was subjected to mainstream radio at my "workplace" around 2011/2012, the songs Paradise, VLV and Princess Of China stood out for me because of their melodies and their solemn, almost majestic sound. That's what I mean with bombast. And don't get me wrong, I liked it because it sounded so different from everything else at the time, and I still like it, but earlier Coldplay was so good at creating stadium hymns with subtlety, and I slightly prefer those. (In My Place, White Shadows and Speed Of Sound come to mind, for example). I do believe that if Eno were to be brought in again they would get back on track and not do such a poppy release next time. Sure. AHFOD isn't typical mainstream pop Quite honestly, I was listening in along with other Coldplayers at the world premiere of AOAL on BBC Radio. And while waiting for Chris to appear on radio I heard a lot of other songs by artists popular today, and as you know mainstream has gone rather dancepop/EDM in the last couple years (it was much better a few years ago, imho, around 2011). And as I listened to AOAL for the first time I genuinely thought that if I didn't know it was Chris's voice I would had thought it is by one of those dancepop artists and not by Coldplay. Cause it uses all the tricks everyone else uses - beat drops, vocal loops, disco beat, heavy bass, you name it... I'm interested in that Jon Hopkins original track. If you wouldn't mind sending me A PM with that track that would be great! Thanks in advance :) Will do ! Also, did you just call Eno and Hopkins "big name producers"... You'd better have been referring to someone else because they're definitely not "big name"! I think Brian Eno is quite a big name, to be honest. As for Hopkins, you're right, I am not so sure. I liked the more subtle Guy too and don't get me wrong here, I like what Coldplay once was more than they are now and I'm not saying they need to make dance songs to be good because they definitely don't, I'm just providing the other side of the debate here. Since what is a debate without someone at least acknowledging the other point of view? That's how conversations go on, if we only said the same things it would be inedibly boring! Exactly ! Sure, it may not be quite as good a product as what once was but think of this new release as their celebration that they don't have to do that anymore, a sound of a band just having fun after all of these years! If AHFOD was the only album like that, I wouldn't mind. But to me, I can see a decline since MX (I know you like MX a lot, I know...I don't mean to make you unhappy there or to offend you, but to me personally it just doesn't hold up with the previous albums...). From MX it went on to decline to GS and then to AHFOD, that's how I view it. And that means out of seven albums they have made three that were not up to standard and the excuses are running out. Especially since we know they are talented and we expect the very best of them, not an average output. :) I mean, yes some people like me love the entirety of their discography and think that the way they've changed only makes them more dynamic in terms of what you want to listen to when you feel a certain way: want a song for when you're on top of the world? They've got a song for that. Want a song reflecting the lowest times of low? They've got that to. And everything in between. Well, to me there is plenty of highs also in Oldplay discography :) I think songs like Yellow, WS, COW, Talk, SOS, TIDU, LiTii, VLV, GOW are very uplifting too ! Many people think Oldplay = misery and melancholy and sadness. (I know you don't think that, I know that you know the entire discography well :)) But it is a common stereotype against Oldplay that it is all sadness, which is simply not true. (By the way, I know Newplay (minus GS, which obviously isn't, but I mean MX and AHFOD) is not all happiness either and this is good.) I don't think they'd care about "artistic quality" if they didn't care what other people thought of them, right? Hmm, I see what you mean. Fair point, but.. In my opinion you can also care about artistic quality just for yourself. Because you have an ambition inside you not to put out music that is not good or sounds like everybody else's music... They are getting older and so likely aren't looking to make dance tunes as much anymore, and I also do think that Chris Martin is not wanting to jump around as much any more as evident by their playing of older calmer songs. Funny, I had exactly the opposite impression ! Have you seen some AHFOD shows on Youtube ? Chris has never been jumping around as much as in this tour. He is even running around during the verses of Fix You these days (which I find particularly annoying, he should be playing the piano instead of having this new string backing track from the Superbowl). He runs around rather pointlessly to a backing track in the Paradise remix as well, and acts like a holiday resort entertainer when he asks people to get low and jump in AOAL. And the way he "plunges" into that whirl to some remixed "world...world" vocals at the end of VLV...sorry, no offence to anyone here, but sometimes it is more of a circus show to me. All this activity has been shown time and time again to reduce his vocals' quality, but I think they care more about the showmanship rather than the purity of the music itself... Aw, that answer got longer than I intended to. Oops :D 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp3176 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 This post may be even longer. :D Glad I'm back at my computer this time.. it may not take so long! great thoughts, my friend. personally, i think Markus Dravs was really great with them, though I have little idea of what his influence was exactly vs. Eno. it's more of just a feeling i have :P ambient stuff is cool, but i think maybe the Chinese Sleep Chant style (i forget what it's called, sorry :embarrassed:) is more interesting and would be cool to hear them explore more. That Chinese Sleep Chant style would also be a good direction to explore in. I don't like it as much as most songs on Viva but it's still a cool thing they tried and I'm glad for that. (It's shoegaze BTW :D) But why not explore both of the styles for the next album? Or better yet try to make content that somehow mixes some of the elements of both of the styles, and even other styles as well? The possibilities are endless. I really do wish Coldplay would explore them. I liked the pop phase but it would be much more interesting to see them explore truly diverse styles yet again as they did in Viva era. i also really love Guy's work on AHFOD... i always felt like there wasn't enough of him in early Coldplay songs, even with great songs like Sparks and Everything's Not Lost. but i also really love Apparatjik, and i feel like they make (made? :cry:) music more like what Coldplay is putting out now. so that's why i think Chris is not the only one to blame for the shift in style :lol: I think there is a fair amount of Guy in Coldplay's older content. More of a subtle addition, as @I ran away stated. But stuff like Sparks and Everything's Not Lost I think has a very good amount of Guy, but just really slower compared to today. Things I Don't Understand is the most blatantly obvious exception here, it probably has one of the most unique, amazing, and beautiful basslines I've ever heard, it really takes the spotlight and drives the song forward. That song would be massively incomplete without his work, really any song would be :D The best bassline from Coldplay, that's for sure!! in terms of AHFOD being the easiest for them to make, trying to focus more on enjoying the process... it's almost like they did take a break but didn't actually stop working, if that makes sense :P Don't quite see what you're meaning there. Are you trying to say Coldplay took a break from how they usually are picky over what goes on the album but never did stop working? Or something like that? Took a break from working as hard as they usually do? Something like that? Don't quite understand. something i just thought about, which relates to the lack of B-sides as well... Coldplay have never been exactly prolific, especially with 2-3 years between their albums on average, but it seems like their best eras (in terms of what fans seem to favor) are those where they produced tons of music, either as B-sides or with Prospekt's March, for example. i don't know how many songs they wrote for AHFOD that got scrapped, but i could definitely see that if they focused more on just what was going on the album and not much else, it could affect the final product. quality over quantity is what most people will say, but i know some other creative people who believe that quantity often leads to quality. putting out as much content as you can as quickly as you can helps to refine your work and can force you to stretch your imagination when it comes to developing new work because you have to dig deeper for those new ideas. it doesn't mean the first iterations are bad, it just means that you become more inventive as time goes on. That's interesting isn't it? Not a lot of songs for GS were made either and that album is one of their most disliked. But also Parachutes is generally enjoyed by fans but we never got a lot of B-sides from that album either, it's almost like the newer eras in the sense that we got Careful Where You Stand, For You, and Help Is Around The Corner as non album songs from that era. And a cover of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Not a lot is known on that era about how many songs were actually worked on was there? I don't think it was a lot... There's split opinions on X&Y generally, maybe not as much as Coldplay's newer albums but it seems to get the most hate out of the Oldplay albums and they wrote a ton of songs for that album, they made the album like 5 times before they got it right didn't they? I would really love to hear all of the songs that went unreleased during that era. It is one of the most interesting eras for Coldplay to me. Viva Era is pretty much universally loved and they did write a ton for that era, and like 40+ songs in general that came from that era we have in one form or another that's available... Mylo Xyloto had quite a few songs written too, there was going to be an acoustic LP5 but that got scrapped save for a few songs... and there seems to be split opinions on that album as well. AHFOD we have no info on either. I bet some masterpieces were written during this era that got thrown away because of Stargate. So sad that Coldplay needs these big name producers like that and come and ruin everything, and that they actually like that sound enough to have it on an album... smh. Hopefully the next era has better producers! i think i might have said it before in this thread, but it seems like they really hit that groove with VLV and have been riding on that since then. they just need another VIVA-type era where they throw out what their current processes are and start fresh again. especially since they are very different people from who they were back then, with a lot of life changes and the fact that i'm pretty sure i heard in one interview that Jonny's the only one who lives in London (i.e. by their headquarters) anymore. as an Allplayer, i'm still pleased with what they've released lately, but even i can see it's time for them to shake things up a little :D Agree with this part. I think it's time for another Viva type era again, not necesarily to sound like the Viva era but just them experimenting with different styles to make something revolutionary in their sound. It would be amazing. :D Shoegaze/Dreampop :heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart: If we want to have proper CP back, we have to ask to Robin Guthrie (the musical genius behind the sound of the Cocteau Twins) if he wants to be their producer. I dream of a CP album after a 5 years hiatus with Robin and Jon Hopkins as producers. If we need to wait that long for another CP album it better be the best thing to ever exist, and yes they should be there for that. I would rather wait that long for a masterpiece than wait 2 years for another pop release, that's for sure! @I ran away : I think that it's not Eno/Hopkins fault if thing went the way we know, it's simply Chris that lost his head after the big commercial success of Viva (and the end of the relationship with Gwineth I add). ***Yes!!! At the end of the relationship. After Mylo. :D (I'm sorry my bias for this album is showing through in this thread... please ignore it! :D) Even though I like GS too. And AHFOD to an extent. But not as much as their older albums... I believe if they were brought in again they would once again explore numerous styles of music and possibly make another Viva. (Again, not in terms of the sound but trying things new. :D) Imho, Coldplay made their most interesting pieces of the newplay era when they tried to embrace different styles except for electro-mainstream-pop, like the Bowie-influenced Moving To Mars, Midnight (the best newplay song for me), the indie-pop oriented songs like All Your Friends and Birds, or when they stayed true to themselves (like with Always In My Head, Ghost Story, Atlas) I agree, those songs are all really interesting! So I just finished reading it all and while I mostly agree with many of your points as well, I picked out some for responding specifically (for discussion sakes obviously mostly stuff which i don't entirely agree with, so don't let this bias you - I liked your post ! :)) I'll likely do this in the future too when I don't really have anything to say about one of the sections of your post. :) Oh yes, you are ! Appreciate the time you took. Thank you, I appreciate the time you're taking to go through my massive post and reply to some of it. :D I have to be honest, I think most songs on MX sound "bombastic". By that I mean that they have a heavy, celebratory, larger-than-life sound. This sound started to shape itself during the Viva Era, where songs like VLV and LiTii or GOW already have it, but it is much much much bigger in the MX Era (maybe a bit less even in AHFOD, to be honest). Funnily enough, this sound was exactly what initially grabbed my attention. At a time when I had never heard the word Coldplay in my life (can you believe it ? But as I have explained before, I have been raised in a mostly classical music environment), and I was subjected to mainstream radio at my "workplace" around 2011/2012, the songs Paradise, VLV and Princess Of China stood out for me because of their melodies and their solemn, almost majestic sound. That's what I mean with bombast. And don't get me wrong, I liked it because it sounded so different from everything else at the time, and I still like it, but earlier Coldplay was so good at creating stadium hymns with subtlety, and I slightly prefer those. (In My Place, White Shadows and Speed Of Sound come to mind, for example). Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I see what you mean. In that sense I completely agree with you. And that's why I like the Mylo era so much. To my ears at least it doesn't sound overproduced, and that for me is meaning when everything is edited to sound so clean and polished, I don't get that in my ears in the Mylo era, something about it just makes it feel much more genuine than AHFOD's production... after all they did still have Eno on board in that era, that probably helped wonders with making those really atmospheric intros like M.M.I.X! A lot of "enoxification" is mentioned throughout the songs, I bet that's why these songs are great in the first place. An MX with Stargate would have been much much worse, oh wait that was pretty much AHFOD in a nutshell... Okay, on to what I was going to say, MX does sound the biggest and brightest of all Coldplay albums in my opinion. And that's why I like it so much. If you're going to make an album that wants to explode just make it explode!!!!!! That's what they did with MX. And that's why I like a lot of the music from the 2011-12 mainstream scene in general, the songs do not hold back and sound larger than life just like they should. Honest. And no holding back. I actually like EDM from this era. Meanwhile a few months ago hip hop was more of the thing in the mainstream and as a result the songs sounded absolutely horrendus. EDM made a bit of a comeback recently and it sounds nowhere near as good as what it once was, it just has this production sound that for some reason just doesn't click with me as much as songs from a few years back did. For some reason I can't explain... And here you have AHFOD. A version of MX that does not explode as much and as a result isn't as good to my ears. I like songs like AOAL and HFTW but compare those with Paradise, Charlie Brown, and ETIAW.. which group of songs explode more? The MX songs. They really get you energetic. AOAL and HFTW are fine to me but they just don't have that same explosive quality... and that's why I am more disappointed in this era than MX. In MX they did the perfect job of making songs explode and here in AHFOD it's just not as much... that's why I say that MX is generally a much happier album than AHFOD, even though someone said earlier that the happiness in AHFOD comes from a more genuine place which is true to an extent MX just sounds so much happier, it's almost like the music should be switched if that's the case since instrumentally MX sounds much more explosive and happy. But I think there's just something about that whole concept album thing that adds something to it. Yes, real life is fun too and is more genuine but it's almost one of the reasons why I love MX so much, it has the story behind it and everything and I find it fascinating. Just fun. <3 I can see what you mean when you prefer the "subtler" anthems like you mentioned. I do like MX more but you know that's just me, we have different opinions and that's the reason why Coldplay games work, if we all thought the same way it would be incredibly boring, and the world as a whole would be incredibly boring so thanks for differing opinions! :D Overall though I do like Oldplay more, don't get me wrong there :) Quite honestly, I was listening in along with other Coldplayers at the world premiere of AOAL on BBC Radio. And while waiting for Chris to appear on radio I heard a lot of other songs by artists popular today, and as you know mainstream has gone rather dancepop/EDM in the last couple years (it was much better a few years ago, imho, around 2011). And as I listened to AOAL for the first time I genuinely thought that if I didn't know it was Chris's voice I would had thought it is by one of those dancepop artists and not by Coldplay. Cause it uses all the tricks everyone else uses - beat drops, vocal loops, disco beat, heavy bass, you name it... Once again I can see what you're getting at here. Just like you I much much prefer the mainstream music from 2011 and such more than this current era we have now. I would argue though that EDM has actually faded in recent years in favor of a calmer sound that's not necessarily calm but only gets you to minorly dance a bit, not jump up and down with total excitement like EDM does for me. Just this really bland kind of sounds that more music has today. Then recently it got replaced with these absolutely obnoxious sounding hip hop songs (thanks a lot Worth It and Hotline Bling, smh :() which is really where it's bad. I like today's music a little better now since EDM has made a bit of a comeback, but it is still much worse than 2011 style stuff and previous. Feels really watered down, just like AHFOD in comparison to MX. As for AOAL using the same tricks I can agree with you, and it does use the same tricks, but for some reason it doesn't sound nearly as overproduced as most dancepop tracks nowadays, and actually has a fair bit of elements in it that make it different from dance pop. In today's dancepop you simply don't have electric guitar riffs that sound as awesome as it does in AOAL anymore. I got so excited the first time I heard that riff. I loved it! There's something about the bass in this song that resembles mainstream pop but once again Coldplay does it far better. The beat sounds more organic than most electropop as well, even though a bit of it may not be organic drums some of it kind of sounds like it, and where it doesn't it has this kind of diverse flavor and feel to it that doesn't sound boried and copied from mainstream music nowadays. To sum it up a lot of electropop has this overtly really awful sounding electronic soundscape to it while AOAL has it a bit but not su much, hence why I think it does not resemble mainstream pop as much as your ears hear it! Will do ! Thank you. :D I think Brian Eno is quite a big name, to be honest. As for Hopkins, you're right, I am not so sure. Fair enough, Eno is a bigger name, I wouldn't say "big" but a bigger name. Which I don't mind, it doesn't take away from the fact that he is a legend. Hopkins wasn't such a big name in the beginning but he has grown a little bit now, his recent tracks have more of a techno flavor to them which resonates with more people than what he once did. His latest album is my least favorite but it's only him exploring different styles that don't resonate with me as much as his older stuff. He is still very valid though, he made the album mainly from actual recordings of real objects, than twisted them into something much more abstract to paraphrase what he said and I find that so fascinating! He isn't using premade loops like most people do, he makes his own from what he wants the sounds to sound like and I applaud him for taking that extra step to make it his own original kind of deal. Takes more time? Yes. But it's about the craftmanship which is why I can enjoy his latest release even more. His way of making electronic music is awesome, aside from the part that it actually does sound nice to me. I like his latest remix of Magnets or whatever it was called again, it sounds even better than the majority of what's on Immunity, it sounds so epic and has this otherworldly unique feel to it. Recently he's been getting into these really long elaborate almost repetitve remixes that build wayyy up over time, Midnight is another example and Magnets is a more recent version showcasing this. If this is what his next album is going to sound like which I really hope comes out soon then I am going to be pleased. If AHFOD was the only album like that, I wouldn't mind. But to me, I can see a decline since MX (I know you like MX a lot, I know...I don't mean to make you unhappy there or to offend you, but to me personally it just doesn't hold up with the previous albums...). From MX it went on to decline to GS and then to AHFOD, that's how I view it. And that means out of seven albums they have made three that were not up to standard and the excuses are running out. Especially since we know they are talented and we expect the very best of them, not an average output. :) Lol it's okay. I realize the blatant bias I'm showing for MX here, sorry about that. It's just that I love it so much that it shines through, I almost can't help myself to say something when I see someone say something bad about it. :P But I realize you're not a fan as much as the subtler things is and that's okay. At least you like it more than the other Newplay albums, really I'm thankful for AHFOD because it opened up what MX had to offer to more Oldplayers. I wonder how many people at the time who despised MX thought that one day it would actually start to recieve a little bit of respect from Oldplayers... I agree, after MX though they've been declining, in terms of the mainstream kind of value AHFOD is worse than GS, because even GS wasn't such a mainstream album, well it was poppy but just in the melancholic sense... a few songs on it thought I definitely wouldn't call "mainstream". More of AHFOD is mainstream-ier unfortunately, and I didn't want that to happen necessarily... I'm still not sure what I like more, once it was AHFOD but since the "new" bias from the album has gone away and it's started to sink in (can anyone believe Amazing Day has had a year for us to listen to already?!!?) I think I might actually like GS more. To view AHFOD as my least favorite album is deffiniely possible, I have a top 3 for Coldplay albums but I still for some reason I can't explain figure out for the life of me these other 4 albums, other than the fact that Viva is probably more near the top and AHFOD the bottom. The excuses definitely are running out, and I agree that from Coldplay we don't expect an average output but the best. And in my opinion AHFOD when compared to other mainstream albums shines brightly. Amongst the other Coldplay albums though it fades.. Well, to me there is plenty of highs also in Oldplay discography :) I think songs like Yellow, WS, COW, Talk, SOS, TIDU, LiTii, VLV, GOW are very uplifting too ! Many people think Oldplay = misery and melancholy and sadness. (I know you don't think that, I know that you know the entire discography well :)) But it is a common stereotype against Oldplay that it is all sadness, which is simply not true. (By the way, I know Newplay (minus GS, which obviously isn't, but I mean MX and AHFOD) is not all happiness either and this is good.) True, Oldplay isn't pure misery and despair and I'm glad for that, if it were it wouldn't have been as enjoyable. Especially X&Y. The lyrical themes seem to contrast with the instrumentation, it's darker and sadder while the songs themselves seem to have a happier tone to them. Not like MX or AHFOD happy but you know what I mean? In general though it is more melancholic which I do like.since some of my favorite songs are very melancholic, really in my top 10 Coldplay songs the only "happy" songs are Paradise, U.F.O, and Up With The Birds to an extent, that really isn't happy, but the ending is hopeful sounding. It is enough to make me cry every time I hear it though, especially on a day like today that marks 2 months since someone I love went up with the birds... :cry: Yesssssssssssssss!!!! Finally, someone who realizes Mylo Xyloto isn't all lollipops and rainbows!!!! It honestly makes me so mad when I see someone bashing Mylo Xyloto because "ohhhhhhhhh myy sounds soooooooo poppy and happy all. the. timeeeeeee. ouchhh I hate that" for one, Mylo is not a pop album, it's a pop-rock album if anything, and the rockier side of that since some pop-rock really leans toward the pop bland side of things. And it defintely isn't all lollipops and rainbows, there's an actual story behind it that is not all lollipops and rainbows, and that's why I love Mylo so much. A perfect mixture of extreme happiness and sadness IMO. That's one out of the many reasons why Mylo Xyloto remains my favorite albumn of all time! It's like when someone says that: "nononononono, that's AHFOD you're thinking of!!!!" And even that is a strech, contrary to the album cover even AHFOD isn't complete happiness. See: Everglow, Fun, Kaleidoscope, heck even XMTS as bad as it is, you got to admit it's not a happy song. Arguably it might even have more "low" moments than MX. What we have in MX... Us Against The World lyrically is a bit sad but instrumentally very hopeful. Major Minus isn't really "sad" but not "happy" either... U.F.O sounds very happy but once again lyrically not so much... contrary to popular belief PoC is not happy at all, the ending gets really melancholic and is my favorite part I love to turn up to in that song, it feels like the second the piano ends is the second that the drumbeat from UiF should play which is easily the saddest song of the album. Up With The Birds is just all emotions at the same time so yeah... I actually think AHFOD has more "low" moments interestingly enough, hmm contrasts what I said earlier.. oh well Mylo will still be my fav :D Hmm, I see what you mean. Fair point, but.. In my opinion you can also care about artistic quality just for yourself. Because you have an ambition inside you not to put out music that is not good or sounds like everybody else's music... Sorry in advance if I am thinking of the wrong thing here. Yes, you can also care about artistic quality while being happy which is precisely what they did during the Viva era. But once again, what does that create? Tension. Which is honestly vital to a really really good sounding record. Once again in AHFOD I think with their earlier releases they'd earned a break from tension and just made an album filled with joy. A celebration record. With massive live performances. Woo! Time to party down :D Yes, you could care about artistic quality and I'd do that but they were just more focused on being happy and in my mind they've well deserved that after their great work previously. Even though AHFOD may not sound as good as what once was... it's a sound of a band having pure fun. And I like that. They needed that moment to just not care and do whatever... as silly as it may sound. :D Funny, I had exactly the opposite impression ! Have you seen some AHFOD shows on Youtube ? Chris has never been jumping around as much as in this tour. He is even running around during the verses of Fix You these days (which I find particularly annoying, he should be playing the piano instead of having this new string backing track from the Superbowl). He runs around rather pointlessly to a backing track in the Paradise remix as well, and acts like a holiday resort entertainer when he asks people to get low and jump in AOAL. And the way he "plunges" into that whirl to some remixed "world...world" vocals at the end of VLV...sorry, no offence to anyone here, but sometimes it is more of a circus show to me. All this activity has been shown time and time again to reduce his vocals' quality, but I think they care more about the showmanship rather than the purity of the music itself... Yes, but he's jumping around while he can. Soon he simply will not have the energy too. Once again, reflected in the slower songs they've been playing recently when they're not dancing all around blasting anthems. He might also be doing it just for the theme of what this tour is all about: having as much fun as possible. But you do know what, I find that annoying in Fix You too. They really do seem to play wayyyy too many backing tracks nowadays I've noticed just so Chris Martin can jump around and dance. It's almost like he can do that better then he can actually play the music... and it does have a massive impact on the vocals. he already lips Clocks. Which I find incredibly troubling... that Life on Mars cover he recently did proves that if only he tried more and stayed still he could make the show live off of how good he can sing. He still has it in him. Yes, after all of these massive shows and tours his voice may be damaged forever and never be able to sing like he once would... (let's face it, he's still better than me by light years and light years :lol) But he can still sing very very very well as demonstrated in that Life on Mars cover, I was blown away! He don't need none of that Autotune or Lip syncing. This proves it... LOLLLLLLLLLLLL "and acts like a holiday resort entertainer when he asks people to get low and jump in AOAL" this is just TOO FUNNY!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: I've gotta say, you're my favorite member of this forum by far in terms of how good you are at making fun of what Coldplay does today. Cracks me up everyyyy time. Keep it up, this is great. You made my day brighter when I needed it... :D Once again I agree with what you're saying with the vocals and how the shows now are more about how much he can jump and dance around rather than his actual true musical talent... it's a bummer that his vocals keep getting damaged and that he's not using them to their full potential. I myself if I were blessed with such a great voice would do my all to preserve it... :( Aw, that answer got longer than I intended to. Oops :D Don't you worry, my post is a million times longer than probably any other post on the site here other than that one time I went over the character limit (anyone remember that? During the pre AHFOD era. Broke the character limit and went like 2 times over the pic limit... :lol) This time it may actually take you a month to get through this all.... :D Took much shorter than my other post thankfully. Only cause I'm on computer though... so thankful. This post would have been impossible on mobile to have all the information here it does have... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvdmm Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 With Coldplay they forgot how bands make rock music. And so have we. It doesn't have to have a theme. It doesn't have to make people happy. It doesn't have to address world issues. It doesn't have to be all-encompassing. It seriously should NOT be for everyone to enjoy. It doesn't have to make people dance. It doesn't need to be crafted for teenagers to cry to. The productions doesn't need to have 64 layers in it. And what the fuck is with the ridiculous costumes? I don't have to remind you how Foo Fighters created Wasting Light. Since VLV making music has become a task for Coldplay. Like a day job. They treat it as a project with a deadline date they have to complete. No doubt they enjoy the process, but their lust for purity and perfection has all but gone. The Verve have a song called "Judas" that I regard as one of the most brilliant pieces of music ever written. Here is Ashcroft describe how the song came about: "The story of Judas started when Richard Ashcroft engineered a small-scale social experiment at a Big Apple coffee shop. He was visiting a bustling NYC coffeehouse and ordering a drink, when a barista asked him for his name; he said the name “Judas” instead of his own Christian name. In his eyes he was choosing a label that was loaded with negative connotations and dark emotions. “There’s not been many Adolf Hitlers born post the Second World War and there’s also not been many Judases, perhaps none. It’s a name that’s been vilified, so when I was in this coffee shop I decided that I was going to order a latte, double shot and she said, ‘What’s your name?’ I said, ‘Judas,’ because it was packed and I wanted to see the reaction…” By pretending to have such a notorious name, he was out to shock; he wanted to see what would happen. When he told the barista his name was Judas, the coffee shop employee’s response became the second line in the following verse: New York, I was Judas She said ‘A latte, double shot for Judas’ Cry for the things that happen, people need to know And for a dream to happen The people in the coffee shop reacted quite strongly to the name Judas – Ashcroft watched their shocked expressions in amazement – he was baffled that the word “Judas” could still pack such a symbolic punch, thousands of years after biblical times…in his eyes, it was time to let go of ancient labels and meanings and move on: You gotta let it go, gotta let it go Gotta let it go, gotta let it go aha Gotta let it go In the track Ashcroft bemoans the things he doesn’t understand; he fights the status quo: But there must be Some answer I keep seeking, cause I gotta know We are numbered, and we are labeled" To complete the song the band all worked together and simultaneously to create this trippy, subtly-layered atmospheric soundscape that just complements the lyrics and elevates it to another level. As simple as all this sounds, that is often how a masterpiece is born. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldplayisawesome Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Funny, I had exactly the opposite impression ! Have you seen some AHFOD shows on Youtube ? Chris has never been jumping around as much as in this tour. He is even running around during the verses of Fix You these days (which I find particularly annoying, he should be playing the piano instead of having this new string backing track from the Superbowl). He runs around rather pointlessly to a backing track in the Paradise remix as well, and acts like a holiday resort entertainer when he asks people to get low and jump in AOAL. And the way he "plunges" into that whirl to some remixed "world...world" vocals at the end of VLV...sorry, no offence to anyone here, but sometimes it is more of a circus show to me. All this activity has been shown time and time again to reduce his vocals' quality, but I think they care more about the showmanship rather than the purity of the music itself... Yes, but he's jumping around while he can. Soon he simply will not have the energy too. Once again, reflected in the slower songs they've been playing recently when they're not dancing all around blasting anthems. He might also be doing it just for the theme of what this tour is all about: having as much fun as possible. But you do know what, I find that annoying in Fix You too. They really do seem to play wayyyy too many backing tracks nowadays I've noticed just so Chris Martin can jump around and dance. It's almost like he can do that better then he can actually play the music... and it does have a massive impact on the vocals. he already lips Clocks. Which I find incredibly troubling... that Life on Mars cover he recently did proves that if only he tried more and stayed still he could make the show live off of how good he can sing. He still has it in him. Yes, after all of these massive shows and tours his voice may be damaged forever and never be able to sing like he once would... (let's face it, he's still better than me by light years and light years :lol) But he can still sing very very very well as demonstrated in that Life on Mars cover, I was blown away! He don't need none of that Autotune or Lip syncing. This proves it... LOLLLLLLLLLLLL "and acts like a holiday resort entertainer when he asks people to get low and jump in AOAL" this is just TOO FUNNY!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: I've gotta say, you're my favorite member of this forum by far in terms of how good you are at making fun of what Coldplay does today. Cracks me up everyyyy time. Keep it up, this is great. You made my day brighter when I needed it... :D Once again I agree with what you're saying with the vocals and how the shows now are more about how much he can jump and dance around rather than his actual true musical talent... it's a bummer that his vocals keep getting damaged and that he's not using them to their full potential. I myself if I were blessed with such a great voice would do my all to preserve it... :( i was going to say: he's like a little kid, you just have to let him run around until he tires himself out :P dude's almost 40!!! he doesn't have much more time for that sort of thing, especially if they take a while to go on tour again... they could be nearly 50 by that time... ok guys, i gotta move on to the next comment before i have an existential crisis :| I think there is a fair amount of Guy in Coldplay's older content. More of a subtle addition, as @I ran away stated. But stuff like Sparks and Everything's Not Lost I think has a very good amount of Guy, but just really slower compared to today. Things I Don't Understand is the most blatantly obvious exception here, it probably has one of the most unique, amazing, and beautiful basslines I've ever heard, it really takes the spotlight and drives the song forward. That song would be massively incomplete without his work, really any song would be :D The best bassline from Coldplay, that's for sure!! Don't quite see what you're meaning there. Are you trying to say Coldplay took a break from how they usually are picky over what goes on the album but never did stop working? Or something like that? Took a break from working as hard as they usually do? Something like that? Don't quite understand. ooh, Things I Don't Understand!!! yes, that is a perfect example of Guy showing off. i think i just have a general preference for really in-your-face bass (that's fun to say :P). and what i meant was something along those lines, like if they were just making music to make music and didn't take it as seriously as they would in the past... i don't know if i'm explaining this right still. :P let's call it "sleeping on the job" :lol: not that i don't think they put effort into the last few albums, but i'm sure others would say not enough effort ;) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftrightleftArchi Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Any Oldplayers here want to participate in the Parachutes Artwork Elimination Game? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prospekt46 Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 https://www.list.co.uk/article/85131-supersonic-director-mat-whitecross-making-coldplay-film/ Looks promising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamsue Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 i was going to say: he's like a little kid, you just have to let him run around until he tires himself out[emoji14] dude's almost 40!!! he doesn't have much more time for that sort of thing, especially if they take a while to go on tour again... they could be nearly 50 by that time... ok guys, i gotta move on to the next comment before i have an existential crisis :| ooh, Things I Don't Understand!!! yes, that is a perfect example of Guy showing off. i think i just have a general preference for really in-your-face bass (that's fun to say :P). and what i meant was something along those lines, like if they were just making music to make music and didn't take it as seriously as they would in the past... i don't know if i'm explaining this right still.[emoji14]let's call it "sleeping on the job"[emoji38]not that i don't think they put effort into the last few albums, but i'm sure others would say not enough effort ;) He reminds me of my Jack Russell terrier. Hey, there are plenty of singers with that much energy who are over 50! Springsteen still plays a three hour show. Sent from my SM-T350 using Coldplaying mobile app 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Adversary Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Something different for the Oldplayers ;) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp3176 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 With Coldplay they forgot how bands make rock music. And so have we. It doesn't have to have a theme. It doesn't have to make people happy. It doesn't have to address world issues. It doesn't have to be all-encompassing. It seriously should NOT be for everyone to enjoy. It doesn't have to make people dance. It doesn't need to be crafted for teenagers to cry to. The productions doesn't need to have 64 layers in it. And what the fuck is with the ridiculous costumes? I don't have to remind you how Foo Fighters created Wasting Light. The first few things are what they've achieved in this album. Then again I agree with more of the later posts. But it's just then having fun! I mean, definitely on a few songs it is at least in part made for a younger population but once again this is their well deserved celebration after they're long years of amazing albums and hard work.. It feels like the perfect closing album to an era, something to round off their discography for now. This is not to say this is their last album, but certainly in this "era" of their life it is. Wonderful in that aspect. It may not be the greatest album and I'd wholeheartedly agree with this view, but I mean they've given us so much. Don't you think it's deserved that they have some fun? (And I know, Mylo did it better and I'd agree with that, but that was more based on a story, AHFOD is their actual celebration even though MX sounds like it should be :P Since VLV making music has become a task for Coldplay. Like a day job. They treat it as a project with a deadline date they have to complete. No doubt they enjoy the process, but their lust for purity and perfection has all but gone True, it does feel more structured than before, and they don't want to be perfect any more. But once again it's a time for them to celebrate and perfection and depth isn't the focus point in this album. It focuses on celebration and is the sound of a band who worked so hard finally having fun. They didn't intend for this to be an artistic masterpiece. They didn't need it to be, either. Before, they had to be perfect to please people. Times are different today. The Verve have a song called "Judas" that I regard as one of the most brilliant pieces of music ever written. Here is Ashcroft describe how the song came about: "The story of Judas started when Richard Ashcroft engineered a small-scale social experiment at a Big Apple coffee shop. He was visiting a bustling NYC coffeehouse and ordering a drink, when a barista asked him for his name; he said the name “Judas” instead of his own Christian name. In his eyes he was choosing a label that was loaded with negative connotations and dark emotions. “There’s not been many Adolf Hitlers born post the Second World War and there’s also not been many Judases, perhaps none. It’s a name that’s been vilified, so when I was in this coffee shop I decided that I was going to order a latte, double shot and she said, ‘What’s your name?’ I said, ‘Judas,’ because it was packed and I wanted to see the reaction…” By pretending to have such a notorious name, he was out to shock; he wanted to see what would happen. When he told the barista his name was Judas, the coffee shop employee’s response became the second line in the following verse: New York, I was Judas She said ‘A latte, double shot for Judas’ Cry for the things that happen, people need to know And for a dream to happen The people in the coffee shop reacted quite strongly to the name Judas – Ashcroft watched their shocked expressions in amazement – he was baffled that the word “Judas” could still pack such a symbolic punch, thousands of years after biblical times…in his eyes, it was time to let go of ancient labels and meanings and move on: You gotta let it go, gotta let it go Gotta let it go, gotta let it go aha Gotta let it go In the track Ashcroft bemoans the things he doesn’t understand; he fights the status quo: But there must be Some answer I keep seeking, cause I gotta know We are numbered, and we are labeled" To complete the song the band all worked together and simultaneously to create this trippy, subtly-layered atmospheric soundscape that just complements the lyrics and elevates it to another level. As simple as all this sounds, that is often how a masterpiece is born. Sounds interesting, agree. Also glad to see yet another person mention The Verve and bring something up other than their one massive hit, even though that is undoubtedly their best song and a masterpiece. Oh how I miss music like this... i was going to say: he's like a little kid, you just have to let him run around until he tires himself out :P dude's almost 40!!! he doesn't have much more time for that sort of thing, especially if they take a while to go on tour again... they could be nearly 50 by that time... ok guys, i gotta move on to the next comment before i have an existential crisis :| Lol ooh, Things I Don't Understand!!! yes, that is a perfect example of Guy showing off. i think i just have a general preference for really in-your-face bass (that's fun to say :P). Same, wish more songs were like this! Things I don't understand is so good. and what i meant was something along those lines, like if they were just making music to make music and didn't take it as seriously as they would in the past... i don't know if i'm explaining this right still. :P let's call it "sleeping on the job" :lol: not that i don't think they put effort into the last few albums, but i'm sure others would say not enough effort ;) True, but as I've said a few times before they are making music to make music. They're celebrating and after the years of hard work they've brought us don't you think they deserve that? Still hooked on recording. But in a much happier and more secure position in their life compared to before. What do you think they're going to make now? Music is shaped based on their life experiences.. And they're in a state of celebration and knowing they can do anything they wanted so that's what they did and that's why AHFOD happened. We should at least be glad that they're not in major stress and see life the way they do now! :) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldplayisawesome Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 True, but as I've said a few times before they are making music to make music. They're celebrating and after the years of hard work they've brought us don't you think they deserve that? Still hooked on recording. But in a much happier and more secure position in their life compared to before. What do you think they're going to make now? Music is shaped based on their life experiences.. And they're in a state of celebration and knowing they can do anything they wanted so that's what they did and that's why AHFOD happened. We should at least be glad that they're not in major stress and see life the way they do now! :) i 100% agree with you. and if i were in their position to take advantage of being able to put on a huge, flashy show, i would probably do the same thing. if you have that opportunity, why not take it? especially when it's something you can share with millions of people around the world and bring those people together, something which at least Chris (though probably all four of them) see as the POINT of music in the first place. but to keep this post in line with the point of the thread, here is a beautiful Oldplay song :heart: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp3176 Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 And everyone else don't get me wrong in general I much prefer Coldplay's old music to their new content and their new direction is starting to cross a little bit into the mainstream side of things for me especially with Hymn and X Marks the Spot but with every album Coldplay will have the "worse" songs and when it's a more commercially accessible album like this one for us it's going to be the ones that seem to cross the line in terms of radio friendliness. And I even like HFTW but lyrically it is not much better than radio music nowadays but instrumentally there are a few elements that set it apart, I don't know for some reason it gives off this exotic flavor to it. Not as obviously as in the Viva era but I mean it does sound like something new for Coldplay regardless, this whole album sounds like a different variation of the popp-ier side of Coldplay for the last three albums.. Just like rock with the early Coldplay. Softer and less obvious in the first album, rockier in the second, and even more yet again in the third. Just like Coldplay's last three albums in pop: the first was barely even pop, like a couple were pop rock and like 1 straight mainstream pop, the rest was upbeat rock with a colorful sound and a teeny bit of pop influence sprinkled over it. Second one was popp-ier, with a really chill atmosphere to it. This third one is by far the poppiest! The album following the trilogy of the first three albums is an exception for obvious reasons and seems to be that transition period. What's to say this time around will be any different? They're saying they felt like they've completed a chapter with this latest release and I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, their discography showcases their evolution as artists from a state of completely not knowing what their future would be and feeling scared, to a state of complete freedom and happiness knowing they could release anything and they would do just fine. Which was exactly what they did. Up&Up finishes the era off very strongly as a song itself looking past the awful overproduction. This world tour has been the biggest, truly visiting a lot of the world and it lasting a very long time to make up for the nothing that was GS era. After will likely be a hiatus to recharge their batteries, and just like after X&Y we might get something completely different from anything they've done before. Starting to wonder and get excited... What could it be? They're surely done with the pop stuff after this, it was a trilogy just like the rock era, heck Mylo doesn't really even fit in but I guess it kinda has to. Probably getting over hyped and it might just be nothing lol. Gotta wait a while anyway... They better make it worth the wait! Signs are pointing to it, I mean they're playing downtempo, old and rare songs much more frequently now. They might be starting to getting tired of playing massive singalong songs all the time now and I could see why, we already seen that they don't want to have the same sound all the time. So who knows what lies in the future? :) That's a really nice song, so warming and nice. :) :heart: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldplayisawesome Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 That's a really nice song, so warming and nice. :) :heart: and that falsetto :dazzled: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prospekt46 Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 Sara if you're reading this we owe you BIG TIME for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvM-PU8cX24 Mobile Link: https://youtu.be/qvM-PU8cX24 JAPAN IN HD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I ran away Posted October 8, 2016 Author Share Posted October 8, 2016 Am I the only one who doesn't like Up&Up ? It's one of my least favorite songs on AHFOD. I dont like Chris's vocals and the refrain sounds very boring and uninventive to me (lyric-wise, it repeats the phrase 'we're gonna get it, get it together' wayyyy too often, and sound-wise I don't think the choir fits...) The only part I like about it are the Oooaaaaahhhs from Chris at the end, they always give me goosebumps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp3176 Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 and that falsetto :dazzled: True that! There are some songs i can do falsetto on, this is not one of them, not because it's high because it's not, but it's hard to actually sound good while singing, Chris Martin does it wonderfully. Am I the only one who doesn't like Up&Up ? It's one of my least favorite songs on AHFOD. I dont like Chris's vocals and the refrain sounds very boring and uninventive to me (lyric-wise, it repeats the phrase 'we're gonna get it, get it together' wayyyy too often, and sound-wise I don't think the choir fits...) The only part I like about it are the Oooaaaaahhhs from Chris at the end, they always give me goosebumps. Your far from alone, I've seen a few other people on here dislike it too. I love the song itself, it's too bad Stargate overproduced it and completely ruined it. The live version was perfect. Hopefully one day we get a studio remake of that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I ran away Posted October 8, 2016 Author Share Posted October 8, 2016 and that falsetto :dazzled: Chris Martin's falsetto is probably the only falsetto in the world that I love ! :) His voice is so beautiful. Normally I don't like it when male singers sing high... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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