Q mag and Rolling Stone gave the album 4/5 , the Metacritic thing should be updated

This time I have high hopes on NME review. They included A Head full of Dreams into top 50 albums of the year (35) and Adventure of a Lifetime into Best songs of the year (19).

The NME Verdict: Coldplay - 'A Head Full Of Dreams'

Coldplay have hinted this could be their last album. If that turns out to be true, then with a little help from ex-wives and US Presidents, they’re going out on a high

 

BARRY NICOLSON, 7TH DECEMBER 2015

• RELEASE DATE04 Dec, 2015
  
• PRODUCERDigital Divide, Stargate, Rik Simpson, Daniel Green
  
• RECORD LABELParlophone
  

4 / 5The credits of Coldplay’s seventh album say much about the sort of group they’ve become. Duets with Beyonce, guest-spots from Noel Gallagher, sample clearances from Barack Obama - there are few bands who can pull these sorts of strings, and fewer still who’d go so far as to invite their frontman’s ex-wife (the subject of a desperate, disconsolate breakup record released just last year) and his new girlfriend to join on backing vocals. Curiously enough, however, it’s Gallagher whose name sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb: after their EDM-pop pivot and the meek, miserablist balladry of ‘Ghost Stories’, it’s been a while since they seemed bothered about being a ‘rock’ band of the sort the erstwhile Oasis guitarist usually turns out for.

 

From Chris Martin’s god’s-eye vantage, that undoubtedly makes a lot of sense: rock is an empty battlefield but pop is Coldplay’s new frontier, maybe even their final one, depending on how you interpret his claim that ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ represents “the completion of something”. In any case, they’ve met it with a spring in their step and the most satisfying collection of songs they’ve written in years: inclusivity is hardly a new concept for this band, but from the title-track’s ecstatic, starry-eyed expression of wonder to the gargantuan gospel-pop curtain call of ‘Up and Up’, they’ve rarely sounded so open-armed and elated. On ‘Hymn For The Weekend’, the first of two appearances from Beyonce, Martin even sings about “feeling drunk and high,” a line which - in its own totally benign, PG-13 way - may be the first drug reference to ever grace the lyrics of a Coldplay album.

 

The cumulative effect of all that vibrancy and positivity is not unlike that of a sugar-coated pill designed to wash away the bitter taste of ‘Ghost Stories’. Taken together, the, buoyant, disco-fied afro-pop of ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’ and the Tove Lo-featuring ‘Fun’ form a sort of mini-narrative about the breathless beginning and amicable end of a brief, revivifying relationship - a refreshing change, given that Martin’s romantic entanglements usually end in plaintive minor-key torpor. Even the more ruminative ‘Everglow’ - yet another open letter to Gwyneth Paltrow - sounds sung from the light at the end of the tunnel, with Martin vowing to remain, “Brothers in blood, sisters in rhyme/ We swore on that night we’d be friends till we die.” If ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ really is to be Coldplay’s last hurrah, then they’ve gone out with a flashbang of colour and catharsis.

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Amazing.

Yeah and I love how NYT (which is always tough) gave it a glowing review- and they arbitrarily placed that at a 70 rating.

 

I just read the review now. Quite a contrast to the previous review they did back then I think the famous one was the X&Y one? Lovely to see the album is liked.

 

Our big local music magazine in denmark also gave the album 4 out of 6 stars (same rating they gave to Adele btw).

Loved how a review ended like this:

 

A Head Full of Dreams is a triumphant reclaiming of a throne Coldplay so fundamentally deserves. Welcome back.

Phuk yeah NME but I expected that they've been fangirling since the beginning of this era.

 

The metacriticis score is now 61 just like GS's.

Still no Q magazine, Billboard, NME, HuffPost reviews on Metacritic, which were very postice. It's getting better :))

what's up with NME? trying to get back on the band's good graces? they haven't given them an interview in a good 4 years i think.

Dingleberry is a master of his age!

That's all I'm sayin'.

Still no Q magazine, Billboard, NME, HuffPost reviews on Metacritic, which were very postice. It's getting better :))

 

Right? I'd say the album would be around a 70 or so if they included the places that actually liked the album.

Metacritic got updated and the score now is 6.3 :

http://www.metacritic.com/music/a-head-full-of-dreams/coldplay

 

I love to see it going higher because the album deserve it

Q mag and Rolling Stone gave the album 4/5 , the Metacritic thing should be updated

 

Wow, I scrolled through all the music reviews listed on the Rolling Stone site- there were only 2 4 star reviews out of all of them.

And the other was the home recordings of Kurt Cobain. Adele had the only 5 star review.. and there probably 30 other reviews.

what's up with NME? trying to get back on the band's good graces? they haven't given them an interview in a good 4 years i think.

 

I could tell they had a hard-on for this album when they kept pimping the AOAL/HFTW audio. Even their dedicated readers were like wtf why are you promoting Coldplay so much? You'd think they'd reach out for an interview, but I suppose not.

Coldplay have hinted this could be their last album. If that turns out to be true, then with a little help from ex-wives and US Presidents, they’re going out on a high

 

Huh

They always say the latest album could be the last album...dont we know it by now :) They just mean they put all they´ve got in it and dont know whats coming up next. So no, they are not going out on a high or a low or going out at all hehe

Huh

Gwyneth Paltrow on Everglow and Up&Up, Barack Obama on Kaleidoscope

Gwyneth Paltrow on Everglow and Up&Up, Barack Obama on Kaleidoscope

 

I know Coeurli, I just dont really like the way they write it down haha

Ooooh haha i see

I am very surprised that not a lot of publications have reviewed this album yet

I feel like everyone should rate AHFOD a 10 on Metacritic, whether the album deserves it or not. It's got an absurdly low score right now (62, I last checked) and whether or not the pop-influences are your thing, Chris and the band seemed to have worked pretty hard on it.

 

Idk, I feel the album deserves better than a D rating.

Honestly reading some of these critics reviews...I am surprised anyone would even take them seriously! Especially the popmatters one.

 

Coldplay supposedly ("straight-up" even) ripped off Lee Ann Womack in Everglow...uh uh.

 

 

The reward for an artist comes from the public´s reception thankfully and not from some tone deaf reviewer hehe :)

I feel like everyone should rate AHFOD a 10 on Metacritic, whether the album deserves it or not. It's got an absurdly low score right now (62, I last checked) and whether or not the pop-influences are your thing, Chris and the band seemed to have worked pretty hard on it.

 

Idk, I feel the album deserves better than a D rating.

 

Why even have (or care about) a rating if everyone rates it a 10, whether it deserves it or not? And tons of artists work hard on their albums, doesn't mean they're any good.

Why even have (or care about) a rating if everyone rates it a 10, whether it deserves it or not? And tons of artists work hard on their albums, doesn't mean they're any good.

 

Wasn't saying that AHFOD was worth a 10. All I said was that it doesn't deserve a D- rating on Metacritic (which I think most people can agree too). A 10 rating would balance out some of the worse "critic" ratings that gave the band a 4/10 (i.e. Pitchfork).

 

I think it's worth a solid 7.5/10, but I'm rating it a 10 on metacritic because the math balances out the underwhelming score just a tad bit.

Wasn't saying that AHFOD was worth a 10. All I said was that it doesn't deserve a D- rating on Metacritic (which I think most people can agree too). A 10 rating would balance out some of the worse "critic" ratings that gave the band a 4/10 (i.e. Pitchfork).

 

I think it's worth a solid 7.5/10, but I'm rating it a 10 on metacritic because the math balances out the underwhelming score just a tad bit.

 

That doesn't make sense for everyone to give it a 10 if you yourself don't even think it's worth a 10. There doesn't need to be any "balancing out". Those are the ratings it got and those are the ratings Metacritic has posted