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Review: Coldplay - A Head Full of Dreams ***

 

Obama, Beyoncé and daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow and Noel Gallagher join Coldplay for their “farewell” album. It’s star-studded for sure but it's also pop painting by numbers with all the hallmarks of typical - if not classic - Coldplay

 

With uncommon haste for a massive rock/pop act, Coldplay follow up last year’s crestfallen Ghost Stories with an album fit to burst with happiness, vitality and joie de vivre. Rock’s new man Chris Martin has emerged from the wreckage of his break-up with Gwyneth Paltrow as an even newer man - reborn in the light of self-determination and moving ever forward, a bit like a sensitive pop shark.

 

What this means lyrically - and lyrics were never Martin’s strong point - is that A Head Full of Dreams is all about “miracles at work”; there are imprecations to “c’mon! Start over”; and there are joyful exclamations that “life is a dream and love is a drug.”

 

In fact, just in case you were in any doubt about just how damn happy Chris baby really is these days, there is a song called Fun and another song called Up & Up, which features Noel Gallagher, a man who once might have excoriated Coldplay as posh boy rockers, dusting off the old riff from Champagne Supernova.

 

So Martin still sounds like a trendy Vicar in a Tory stronghold or an over-excited leader in a zany jumper at an eighties youth club. Musically, Coldplay take no real leaps of imagination either: the production, from Norwegian duo Stargate and regular collaborator Rik Simpson, is bejewelled and glittering. The default setting of widescreen exotic shimmers and waves of mass euphoria are all here. As are Jonny Buckland’s Edge on Benylin guitar chimes and chirps.

 

 

The jump out songs are Hymn for the Weekend, featuring Beyoncé’s honeyed vocals, and the propulsive new single Adventure of a Lifetime, which pulses with a real dance floor rush and includes one of Buckland's finest guitar figures in an album full of spiralling riffs and short solo bursts. This being Coldplay, there is also bit of silly affectation on the otherwise perfectly serviceable Birds and Chris still uses his elongated falsetto “ooohhh-ooohhhs” and “ahhh-ahhhhs” a lot and, yes, he also still sounds like he has a head cold.

 

Martin is at his best on the album’s most tender moment, Army of One, a lovely electro dream of a song echoing with hand claps and subtle drumming. We are, however, brought straight back down to earth with the dreary piano plod of Afterglow, which features lyrics from Gwyneth Paltrow and sounds like a leftover from Ghost Stories.Kaleidoscope is a real curio - essentially a two-minute sound collage featuring a line from Afghani poet Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi and a snippet of President Obama singingAmazing Grace at the funeral of a Charleston shooting victim, Clementa Pinckney. Kaleidoscope is a thought-provoking and moving moment on an album of platitudes and half-formed aspirations.

 

Along with Obama, and Gwyneth’s lyrical input, Martin has invited just about everyone to party with Coldplay on A Head Full of Dreams. His current girlfriend, English actress Annabelle Wallis, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s kid, Blue Ivy, crop up for backing vocals onUp & Up and it’s one of the best songs here, locking into a very decent groove before gospel harmonies a la Primal Scream push Coldplay into something that may even pass for genuine euphoria.

 

As the title suggests, A Head Full of Dreams is an explosion of Technicolor-drenched fantasy and possibility but gauche sentiments and a hidebound refusal to change the musical script means Coldplay rarely do anything to truly surprise or delight. It sounds like this is as far as Martin’s choir can go without some kind of radical rethink.

 

Like their avowed heroes U2 back in 1989, maybe they’re off “to dream it all up all over again”. Not a bad idea because if this is, indeed, their last album Coldplay do not offer either a sense of an ending or a new beginning.

 

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Is Coldplay’s seventh album their last and best?

A Head Full Of Dreams is our seventh thing and the way we look at it is like the last Harry Potter book or something. Not to say there might not be another thing one day but this is the completion of something.” These are the words with which Chris Martin, the face of the still incredibly popular band Coldplay, announced the release of their new album. Not surprisingly, immediately after the interview the rumors about the end of the band started. Whether it is their last album (for a while) or not, is it their best so far?

 

 

Coldplay is without a doubt one of the most iconic acts in the world of popular music over the last ten years. Their albums always sell millions and tracks like ‘Yellow’, ‘Fix You’, ‘Clocks’, ‘Viva La Vida’ and ‘Paradise’ have definitely become modern day classics. Of course it is a hard task to top their previous work again and again and this showed when the subdued album Ghost Storieswas met by a lukewarm reception. The good news is that A Head Full of Dreams is a lot livelier and instantly catchy, but at the same time it seems unlikely that any of the brand new songs will become as universally praised as the above mentioned.

 

Coldplay kicked of the promotion for this era with the single ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’, one of their lightest, most poppy and catchy efforts to date. Nothing wrong with that of course, but not very memorable at the same time. The album is opened by the title track which sees Coldplay return to what they do best: the big pop band sound that will fill arenas and will be played on radio over and over again. Chris Martin and his men have a real chance at a big hit with the tune ‘Hymn For the Weekend’ though. They described it as their take on Flo-Rida like party tracks and they asked Beyoncé to sing with them. The result is a hypnotic and irrestibly catchy song with an ‘oh-ah’ chorus. Beyoncé sounds heavenly and the result is way more interesting than anything Flo-Rida ever released.

 

Coldplay goes back to their roots on the gorgeous ballad ‘Everglow’ which is performed from the heart like only Chris Martin can. Definitely one to please the fans who have been following the band for years. The Tove Lo duet ‘Fun’ is a strong pop tune with a relatable story about the end of a relationship, but they could have definitely done more with the Swedish pop star’s raw vocals than just use her as a background. Overall the second part of the record is weaker with some interludes and hidden tracks (‘Kaleidoscope’, ‘X Marks The Spot’ and ‘Colour Spectrum’) that seem a bit out of place as they do not really add something to the whole bunch. Luckily the album (and therefore maybe their career as a band, at least for now) ends on a high with the epic and anthemic closer ‘Up&Up’ where Noel Gallagher comes in for a guitar solo as well. It shows they still have it in them to create a unique sound with potential classics. A Head Full of Dreams is a solid effort and probably their most poppy to date, but it lacks the uniqueness and anthems that made them one of the biggest bands in the world.

 

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ROCKOL RATING: 3.0 / 5

 

Without a doubt, “A head full of dreams” is walking a completely different path compared to previous Coldplay's album "Ghost stories". The band is basically the same and it still has its own imprint, but if the previous release was an exercise in minimalism and darkness, this one is a noisy, witty, paty-loving affair.

 

Basically, “A head full of dreams” is Coldplay's poppiest record ever - even more than “Mylo Xyloto”, which in comparison sounds like a rock album (even if it wasn't one!).

“A head full of dreams” is pop from already the sleeve - a kaleidoscope full of colours. And the concept behind it is pop too: if “Ghost stories” was Chris Martin's sombre “break-up album” (about the end of his relationship with Gwineth Paltrow), this new release is about going back to life, starting to love and to enjoy peace again. The chronicle of a rebirth.

Actually there are only four tracks that can be defined pure pop: the title track, “Hymn for the weekend”, “Adventure of a lifetime” and the closing number “Up&Up”. But, together, they shape the mood of the whole album.

 

Does this work? Well, actually, it's up to you and your taste, really. Coldplay are still great songwriters and musicians, for sure. Even if the album, after a couple of listens, still tastes weird... the main thought is that “A head full of dreams” sounds a bit unfocused and a bit sparse.

 

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There's no shortage of shine on Coldplay's seventh studio effort. In case you couldn't tell from the kaleidoscopic, technicolour album cover, it's heavy on happiness. It's consistently uplifting and bright, and its best moments feature powerful orchestral sweeps, a surprisingly adept disco hook and even some gospel. But the lyrics are often so cringe-worthy that A Head Full Of Dreams comes off like that one friend of yours who's so positive you want to punch him.

 

For example, the line "Oh, angel sent from up above / You know you make my world light up" opens Hymn For The Weekend, primed with a Beyoncé guest vocal and head-nodding piano line. While Army Of One harkens back to the streamlined Britpop that made Coldplay huge, with soaring, organ-fuelled pop that ends too soon, after a short silence it becomes "hidden" track X Marks The Spot, all ill-advised hip-hop/R&B hybrid. Noel Gallagher's phoned-in guitar solo on closer Up & Up only contributes to the album's bloated-ness, but the song also sounds grand and beautiful.

 

Everyone loves a great smile, but A Head Full Of Dreams doesn't have any teeth.

 

3/5

 

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COLDPLAY’S LATEST LP FALLS SHORT OF ITS GRAND ASPIRATIONS

 

Coldplay’s biggest hits have tended to fall into the categories of surging rock tunes or earnest piano ballads, and the band’s seventh studio album has no shortage of either. “Everglow” finds frontman Chris Martin showing off a deeper and more nuanced vocal range, as he seemingly comes to terms with his divorce, while the title track highlights Edge-like, reverb-coated guitar jangle.

 

But the U.K. quartet’s most interesting moments, historically, have explored the intersection of modern pop sounds and cerebral electronic music. That’s also the case on A Head Full of Dreams, which retains the adventurous spirit of 2011’s Mylo Xyloto while possessing a contemporary production sheen, thanks to co-producer Stargate (Rihanna, Katy Perry). The somber piano instrumental “Kaleidoscope” andViva La Vida-esque “Colour Spectrum” sample Barack Obama singing “Amazing Grace;” “Army of One” features some slick retro electro-pop production before seguing to the grooving hip-hop jam “X Marks the Spot;” and the measured “Fun” is an ’80s Euro-pop throwback featuring wistful vocal harmonies from Tove Lo.

 

Highlight “Up & Up” has equally huge guest stars—vocals from Merry Clayton and guitars from Noel Gallagher—though their contributions are barely discernible between the mincing orchestral samples, clattering ice-drop rhythms and burbling electronic touches. Even more disappointing is “Hymn for the Weekend”: Not only are Beyoncé’s vocals buried and thin-sounding, but the song’s analogies between love and debauchery are cringeworthy. It highlights the album’s main downfall: Coldplay’s new music doesn’t measure up to its sonic ambitions and marquee collaborations. A Head Full of Dreams overflows with good intentions and intriguing ideas, but lacks focus and cohesion.

 

3/5

 

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Only Coldplay could get Blue Ivy and Brian Eno as guest vocalists. Their seventh album may be their boldest - working with Rihanna's producers Stargate. That's why the joyous title track sounds like 1985 U2 meets 2015 Max Martin. After the gloomy Ghost Stories, this is Coldplay's poppiest album yet, without becoming Maroon 5. That's Blue Ivy's mum Beyonce on Hymn For the Weekend(with added Avicii) as Chris Martin sings "I'm feeling drunk and high, so high" on a radio-ready hit. Gwyneth Paltrow sings on ballad Everglow, because it's about how she and Chris Martin remain close while Tove-Lo elevates Fun. And the stoner R&B vibes of hidden track X Marks the Spot could actually be a Rihanna song.

 

3.5/4

 

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digital spy track by track review is here. won't add the track reviews here.

 

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Chris Martin goes from heartbreak to hippie to... S Club Party? 3/5 *

 

The verdict

 

Coldplay have gone from the saddest album of their career with Ghost Stories to the happiest with A Head Full of Dreams; they work better as part one and two. And though the final mantra of optimism is what this band have been spreading since the early days of

, Martin means it now more than ever. He needs this sequel as much as anyone.

 

It is preachy in parts, and no-one should have to hear Martin rapping through a vocoder, let alone 'Conscious Uncoupling: The Single'. But Coldplay don't get enough credit for their adventurous nature; their ongoing evolution is one reason why, 15 years later, a new album is still such a big deal. With Stargate, things prosper when both band and producer just go for it - giant pop hooks and vows of joy.

 

It's not quite, as Martin suggested, the peak of their journey, but when it comes to delivering the buzz that's won over so many millions of adoring fans, A Head Full of Dreams does it better than any of them.

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Whipping boys for those people who consider them the epitome of ill-considered, vapid rock music, Coldplay may not tick many boxes for fans of Grimes or Chvrches.

 

A Head Full of Dreams arrives just over a year after singer Chris Martin’s marriage break-up album Ghost Stories and wouldn’t you know but rock music’s nicest frontman has invited not just his current partner to sing on the album but also his ex-wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) and all the band member’s children. Added to this list are appearances from Beyoncé, Noel Gallagher, Tove Lo, and even a vocal sample of US president Barack Obama singing Amazing Grace.

 

It’s really all too much – or it would be if it weren’t for the fact that, typically, some of the songs are very good (we’ll get to these soon). Quite a few aren’t, of course, and the reasons for this are that the strengths that make Coldplay good (thinking very seriously about Big Topics, being unashamedly emotional) are also weaknesses that make Coldplay very weak, indeed. It’s all about the balance, isn’t it?

 

A particularly poor song is closer, Up & Up, a kind of bedsit sing-along transferred to an arena-sized stage with backing vocals by Beyoncé and Brian Eno, and a guitar solo by Noel Gallagher. Another low point is feel-good break-up ballad, Everglow (featuring Paltrow on backing vocals), which wrings out all manner of emotion without nailing any meaning. Similarly, the disco-house enabled Adventure of a Lifetime – a damp squib when it could have been the proverbial cracker.

 

The good songs include the rather lovely Hymn for the Weekend (which features Martin and Beyoncé trade lyrics over glinting piano) and Fun (which features Tove Lo, and which is as eye-brimming a tune as you’ll hear outside the new Adele album). Equal parts lifeless and lofty, heart-wrenching and emotionally guilt-free – the shaky countdown to a Coldplay Christmas starts here.

 

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Coldplay's new album A Head Full of Dreams: Our track-by-track review

Chris Martin goes from heartbreak to hippie to... S Club Party?

 

It might have taken them seven albums to do it - but Chris Martin has declared that Coldplay finally sound like they always hoped they would.

 

Weird to think, therefore, that the Jeff Buckley-obsessed student who conceived 2000's soft rock masterpiece Parachutes was ultimately meaning to unite with Stargate - the Norwegian mega-producers behind pop hits like 'S Club Party'. But Martin is an evolved being - and nothing quite changed him like his conscious uncoupling.

 

Throwing in inspirations from 13th century Persian poet Rumi to Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, the Coldplay frontman has gone from heartbroken to full-blown hippie. But how good are the results? Here's our track-by-track review toA Head Full of Dreams:

 

1. 'A Head Full of Dreams'

 

Before Martin's split from Gwyneth and the emotional Ghost Stories that followed, Coldplay were on their way to a poppier place with 2011's Mylo Xyloto. 'A Head Full of Dreams' gladly re-conjures those bright and shiny colours again, while also spinning a guitar line that could have fallen off U2'sJoshua Tree. It's the first sign that Martin is ready to move on, joyfully hatching a world where dreams come to life. Welcome back, Chris - we missed you.

 

2. 'Birds'

 

Another one that conjures up the Mylo era, the twinkling 'Birds' carries on with the lovefest. It's Martin's bandmates, however, who steal the show: drummer Will Champion pulls off a beat not far from The Cure's

, before guitarist Jonny Buckland puts on his cowboy boots and wangles something out of a Wild West hoedown. The surging final seconds even bring to mind
classic 'Under Cover of Darkness'… Glastonbury was built for blowouts like this.

 

3. 'Hymn for the Weekend'

 

No beating around: it is a bit weird to suddenly hear Beyoncé doing her thing on a Coldplay album. This isn't like Rihanna's supporting role on

; Queen Bey opens and closes 'Hymn for the Weekend', in which she also trades verses with Martin about being high on love (FYI, Jay Z). Stargate's glossy production is crystal clear, and although such sparkly territory is new for the band, there's no denying this is a definite pop win.

 

4. 'Everglow'

 

In what might be the only break-up song in history to feature both members of a failed relationship, the reinvigorated Martin seemingly uses 'Everglow' to reveal the positive lasting impression Paltrow has left on him. "I know that you're with me, in a way that won't show," he coos in the thick of tender, laid-back piano - accompanied by Paltrow herself on backing vocals. 'Conscious Uncoupling: The Single'? Yeah, it really is as wet as it sounds.

 

5. 'Adventure of a Lifetime'

 

It may be a month since the single debuted but be honest - that catchy, high-pitched squeal is still stuck in your head, isn't it? This is Coldplay at their most disco and, with a helping hand from Stargate, the band who've never made the same album twice are once again attempting a new direction. Martin,

by the growing shift towards gender equality, is all-embracing ("If we've only got this life, then I want to share it with you"). The force of YOLO is with him; it's bliss.

 

6. 'Fun'

 

Just when we were getting the sense that Martin is totally healed from his split, 'Fun' hears him admit: "I know it's over before she says, now someone else has taken your place." But then ask "Didn't we have fun? Don't say it was all a waste." And then wonder: "Maybe we could again..." But whether it's the mopey vocals of Swedish singer Tove Lo, or the wishy-washy blend of electronic and acoustic guitar, these four-and-a-half minutes feel like an hour. 'Fun'? Not really.

 

7. 'Kaleidoscope'

 

That moment when you realise Chris Martin has turned hippie, 'Kaleidoscope' takes an extract from poem The Guest House by the 13th-century philosopher Rumi. It's an encouraging message of optimism in the face of the darkest of powers ("A joy, a depression, a meanness… Welcome and entertain them all!") and amid moving piano, the moment is glorious. It doesn't really need the sample of Barack Obama singing 'Amazing Grace' in the fading background, although it's worth it for bragging rights alone.

8. 'Army of One' (plus hidden track 'X Marks the Spot')

 

Here, things get very un-Coldplay. 'Army of One's fierce, beaming beats could be a platform for any of Stargate's usual lead stars, from Rihanna to Katy Perry. But it works, because only Martin can carry off the sentiment behind its journey of a passionate love affair. As for the hidden 'X Marks the Spot', it has all the right R&B triggers of a fine Weeknd album track; it's just hard to take Martin seriously while he's rapping through a vocoder. Fair play for trying, but this hidden track should probably have been kept that way.

 

9. 'Amazing Day'

 

After all his strife and soul-searching, Martin finally seems to find happiness on 'Amazing Day'. "Oh, thanks God, you must've heard when I prayed, Because now I always want to feel this way," he sings in awe at the beauty of the world. With a lush, composed soundscape and Buckland's guitar twanging way back to the A Rush of Blood to the Head era, it's one of the most Coldplay-sounding songs on here - which, after all the experimentation, is nicely comforting.

 

10. 'Colour Spectrum'

 

If Ghost Stories was the album where Martin had to get some stuff off his chest, A Head Full of Dreams is his reminder to grasp life - and it ups the spiritual stakes even more on 'Colour Spectrum'. Over a brief instrumental of chirping birds and soothing chimes, that all-knowing voice from 'Kaleidoscope' is back to read the conclusion to Rumi's Guest House poem ("Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide"). Touching, though perhaps one preach too many.

 

11. 'Up&Up'

 

The best part on this whole album comes at exactly 4 minutes, 58 seconds into 'Up&Up', when Coldplay's rousing, choir-packed power ballad meets Noel Gallagher and his beefy, Morning Glory guitar riff. Not just a loving tribute to the '90s legends who inspired four uni students to form a band, but Coldplay also demonstrate that if your dream is Noel playing on a song produced by Stargate with Merry Clayton on backing vocals, it can happen. "Don't ever give up," Martin avows for a grand finale. Beautiful.

 

The verdict

 

Coldplay have gone from the saddest album of their career with Ghost Stories to the happiest with A Head Full of Dreams; they work better as part one and two. And though the final mantra of optimism is what this band have been spreading since the early days of

, Martin means it now more than ever. He needs this sequel as much as anyone.

 

It is preachy in parts, and no-one should have to hear Martin rapping through a vocoder, let alone 'Conscious Uncoupling: The Single'. But Coldplay don't get enough credit for their adventurous nature; their ongoing evolution is one reason why, 15 years later, a new album is still such a big deal. With Stargate, things prosper when both band and producer just go for it - giant pop hooks and vows of joy.

 

It's not quite, as Martin suggested, the peak of their journey, but when it comes to delivering the buzz that's won over so many millions of adoring fans, A Head Full of Dreams does it better than any of them.

 

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exclaim.ca - 6/10

 

If you subscribe to the idea that Coldplay are heirs to U2's throne, then A Head Full of Dreams is their Pop. On that record, Bono and company hooked up with Howie B, immersed themselves in club culture and produced their most dance floor-friendly record at a time when the music industry was trying to sell dance music to America under the guise of "electronica." Efforts on both fronts were a bit of a washout.

 

Eighteen years later, Coldplay are trying to walk a similar line, merging their stadium-sized soft rock with the EDM (the industry's most recent and far more successful dance music pitch) zeitgeist. It also marks a return to the pop maximalism of Mylo Xyloto, following last year's muted Ghost Stories, aided and abetted by Norwegian songwriting duo Stargate, best known for penning dance-infused R&B hits for Rihanna.

 

On paper, this sounds like an intriguing combination. But, as with their work with Brian Eno, Coldplay are reluctant to let their collaborators voices overshadow their own. The record's best tracks, "Adventure of a Lifetime" and the swinging "Hymn for the Weekend," featuring vocals from Beyoncé and programming from Avicii, provide a clue as to what might have been. But they seem more interested in borrowing EDM's aesthetic of oversized uplift than crafting memorable grooves. Coldplay-isms — Chris Martin's piano ballads, Jonny Buckland's bland single-note guitar riffs — continue to abound, and any substantive contributions co-producers Stargate or guests like Noel Gallagher make are relegated to the background.

 

Coldplay have the distinction of being music's safest band, but that wasn't always the case. Although they always rocked listeners gently, there was a distinct sense of yearning and tension at play on debut Parachutes and its blockbuster follow-up, A Rush of Blood to the Head. Over the years, the band descended into a complacency they've tried to mask with experimentation. Despite a rolodex of A-list producers and guests, they've never embraced the role of sonic innovators the way U2 did. Pop was a failure in the eyes of many, but no one could accuse the group of half measures.

 

Despite pretensions both arty (Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends) and populist (this record), Coldplay remain steadfast in their unwillingness to mess with their (very successful) formula. A Head Full of Dreams might have been a poptimist masterpiece. Instead, it's just another Coldplay album, with all the baggage — both positive and negative — that entails.

 

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I originally said this album would better received then the last few albums... imma eat my crow now :( these mediocre 3/5 reviews, along with only 150,000 to 200,000 projected sales, I'd say will end pop coldplay. They will take a five years hiatus, like U2, and then come back with fresh ideas without the mainstream audience in mind.

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I originally said this album would better received then the last few albums... imma eat my crow now :( these mediocre 3/5 reviews, along with only 150,000 to 200,000 projected sales, I'd say will end pop coldplay. They will take a five years hiatus, like U2, and then come back with fresh ideas without the mainstream audience in mind.

Hm interesting theory... I kinda want that to happen

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Hm interesting theory... I kinda want that to happen

 

Same... I mean, freaking Ghost Stories sold more then that and it was supposed to be the "low key" album. I really like the new album, but the mainstream audience wants an edgier sound. I happen to be a Weeknd fan, and I know there is a lot of hate for him, but if you really listen to his pop songs, they are far edgier then most pop songs. Coldplay's songs are too light and happy to appeal in a RnB-heavy mainstream audience. Perhaps why Ghost Stories sold so much is because there was a lot of buzz over a darker sound... Not to mention, they had horrific promotion in America. Ghost Stories was heavily promoted states side, whereas this album was more directed at the UK.

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Guest howyousawtheworld
I originally said this album would better received then the last few albums... imma eat my crow now :( these mediocre 3/5 reviews, along with only 150,000 to 200,000 projected sales, I'd say will end pop coldplay. They will take a five years hiatus, like U2, and then come back with fresh ideas without the mainstream audience in mind.

 

Much needed if that's the case. Given their stature and talent they should be doing more than mere 3/5 albums at this rate in their career. They're merely bumping along the bottom and they need an epiphany in the same way U2 or Radiohead had. As Bono said, it's time they dreamt it all up again.

 

Are they capable of doing that? I have my doubts. If you're going to be inspired by some surfer dude saying 'everglow' and citing Justin fucking Bieber as opposed to being inspired by a George Harrison track then there's little hope of Coldplay ever getting back on the pedestal they reached on AROBTTH or VLV let alone exceeding those high water marks.

 

What are Coldplay doing? Trying to convince all their long time fans into submission by siding with the long term detractors and calling them 'beige'? Cos that's what I'm getting from Chris Martin and co.

 

After their first 4 albums we had a band in our hands who we thought were genuinely capable of reaching mass critic acclaim in the form of Joshua Tree/Achtung Baby U2 and Kid A era Radiohead.

 

What we've been given since is mainstream pop tripe with an embarrassing uncle like attitude to 'get down with the kids'. It's so sad for a band I so revered and adored.

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I originally said this album would better received then the last few albums... imma eat my crow now :( these mediocre 3/5 reviews, along with only 150,000 to 200,000 projected sales, I'd say will end pop coldplay. They will take a five years hiatus, like U2, and then come back with fresh ideas without the mainstream audience in mind.

 

Coldplay isn't basing their sound based off critical reviews, though. They have specified 1,000 times now they do it because they want to, and they straight up do not care if people don't like it.

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Critics can say whatever they want! I like to read both positive and negative opinions but since X&Y I only care about MY OPINION. Yes, I'd like them to get critical acclaim again but even if it never happens again that won't change my mind about Coldplay.

 

P.S.: I'm really looking forward Pitchfork review :rolleyes:;)

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I remember critics hailing the latest U2 album (or one of the latest, cant remember exactly) and that going to be quite a flop...I honestly dont care for the critics, simply because music is subjective. What matters is that Coldplay play what they want to play and put their 100% and that they connect to enough people to sell enough albums to keep doing their thing hehe Thats really all that matters to me and I think to them too.

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Much needed if that's the case. Given their stature and talent they should be doing more than mere 3/5 albums at this rate in their career. They're merely bumping along the bottom and they need an epiphany in the same way U2 or Radiohead had. As Bono said, it's time they dreamt it all up again.

 

Are they capable of doing that? I have my doubts. If you're going to be inspired by some surfer dude saying 'everglow' and citing Justin fucking Bieber as opposed to being inspired by a George Harrison track then there's little hope of Coldplay ever getting back on the pedestal they reached on AROBTTH or VLV let alone exceeding those high water marks.

 

What are Coldplay doing? Trying to convince all their long time fans into submission by siding with the long term detractors and calling them 'beige'? Cos that's what I'm getting from Chris Martin and co.

 

After their first 4 albums we had a band in our hands who we thought were genuinely capable of reaching mass critic acclaim in the form of Joshua Tree/Achtung Baby U2 and Kid A era Radiohead.

 

What we've been given since is mainstream pop tripe with an embarrassing uncle like attitude to 'get down with the kids'. It's so sad for a band I so revered and adored.

 

*nods* I would rather get one album on par with Viva or ARoBttH after a few-years-long hiatus than 2-3 mediocre albums in that same timeframe.

 

 

Here's an idea . . . go on a 5-6 year hiatus, and to keep us ravenous fans satisfied, give us an album of old songs like Deserter and Famous Old Painters that didn't quite make their albums :P

 

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ok people the pitchfork review is here! and the score is......

 

 

4.8/10

 

On the

on their very first album, Coldplay introduced themselves with a heartfelt declaration: "We live in a beautiful world." Fifteen years and some 80 million albums sold later, the British quartet haven’t elaborated on that philosophy—they’ve just amplified it. Where massive success has a tendency to make bands more jaded and aloof, Coldplay only seem more gobsmacked and in awe of life itself. Their songs aren’t just designed to uplift, they’re often about the very sensation of being uplifted. But on the band’s seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams, the band’s relentless campaign to raise our spirits is liable to induce altitude sickness.

 

Of course, there’s a perfectly logical reason for the album’s oversold optimism—A Head Full of Dreams is a reactionary retort to 2014’s Ghost Stories, a low-key response to a high-profile split that literally wore its (broken) heart on its sleeve. The new album, by contrast, is Martin’s unconscious recoupling record, the sound of a freshly single man stepping out onto the dancefloor to lose his mind and find new love. "You make me feel like I’m alive again," he sings atop the slinky disco of lead single "Adventure of a Lifetime", a lyric that succinctly sums up the spirit of the record like a movie poster tagline.

 

A Head Full of Dreams is Coldplay’s chance to reassert the eager-to-please exuberance thatGhost Stories deliberately downplayed, and prove that Adele isn’t the only artist who can mobilize a monoculture in 2015. Though written off by detractors as middle of the road, Coldplay’s centrist position is what ultimately makes them so singular—they’re the only rock band that could (and would want to) wrangle Beyoncé, Noel Gallagher, Tove Lo, Norwegian Top 40 architects Stargate, Kendrick Lamar producer Daniel Green, alt-rock lifer Nik Simpson, and

Merry Clayton on the same record. A Head Full of Dreams is emblematic of Coldplay’s burning desire to be all things to all people, rolling up symphonic Britpop bluster, club-thumping bangers, dentist-office soft rock, finger-snapping R&B, and even some trippy touches that remind you of a time when this band just wanted to be as popular as Mercury Rev.

 

But the album has bigger ambitions. By weaving a spoken-word reading of an inspirational 13th-century Persian poem and a sample of Barack Obama reciting "Amazing Grace" into the mix, the album essentially conflates Martin’s post-rebound optimism with an all-encompassing, heal-the-world mission. His relentless need to take us higher feels most genuine when we get a sense of what got him so low in the first place. "Everglow" and the Tove Lo collab "Fun" bring ultimate closure to the Gwyneth saga with a pledge to enduring friendship (and, to prove it, the former track features Martin’s ex on backing vocals). And despite bearing a title that

their poor-man’s U2 rep, "Amazing Day" is a sweet ode to blossoming, post-divorce romance that channels the winsome charm of early singles like "Shiver". Best of all is "Birds", a shot of taut, Phoenix-styled motorik pop that provides a rare moment of intensity on an album that’s all about arm-swaying, Super Bowl-crashing bombast.

 

Even when A Head Full of Dreams hints at experimentation, it inevitably drifts back onto predictable paths. The title track eases us into the album on a glistening groove but halts its momentum for a now-obligatory "woah oh oh oh" breakdown that sounds like it was focus-grouped into the song. When Martin sings "I feel my heart beating" on "Adventure of a Lifetime", the arrangement drops out, save for a throbbing bassline that mimics the sound of, well, take a guess. And the readymade, gospelized charidee-anthem-in-waiting "Up&Up" sees many of the aforementioned guests get together to sing, "we’re gonna get it together," before Gallagher delivers a send-off guitar solo that essentially turns the track into Coldplay’s Perrier Supernova. At one point in the song, Martin asks, "How can people suffer/ How can people part/ How can people struggle/ How can people break your heart?" He doesn’t profess to understand the root of all our problems, but he’ll do his damnedest to provide a cure anyway.

 

For all the record's eclecticism, Coldplay remain a band that put the "us" in "obvious," blowing up the simplest sentiments for maximum appeal. Nearly every song is about ascension and transcendence, be it through intoxicants (the Beyoncé-assisted "Hymn for the Weekend"), rocket ships (the unlisted, listless slow jam "X Marks the Spot"), out-of-body experiences (bonus track "Miracles"), large ocean waves ("Fun"), rooftop stargazing ("Amazing Day"), winged creatures ("Birds"), or just sheer force of will ("Up&Up"—and this from a band that’s already written a song called

). But Martin has a tendency to sing of extraordinary, mind-expanding experiences in muddled metaphors ("My army of one is going to fight for you … my heart is my gun") and rote "high"/"sky" rhymes. And with his many wide-eyed ruminations on stars and moons and hearts and diamonds, it can sound like he gets his lyrical inspiration from a spoonful of Lucky Charms. Martinrecently told the Wall Street Journal that he wanted "Hymn for the Weekend" to be the sort of single that would soundtrack a bottle-service bender at a nightclub and, essentially, that spirit of bonhomie permeates the entirety of A Head Full of Dreams. Except too often, the album’s pat platitudes place us on the other side of the velvet rope, left to ponder the sight of some self-satisfied people having the time of their lives.

 

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pitchfork says daniel green is a kendrick lamar producer. but isn't this the dan green who has been with coldplay since their 2nd gig or something???? he is 99.999% coldplay than kendrick lamar!

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There is one thing that has always made me laugh at Coldplay album reviews no matter which album they have been for...

 

They always seem very positive for the most part. You're reading along thinking ok that's good, uh huh that's good, wow it seems like they really liked it, only to get to the bottom and see a 3/5 or a 6/10 or something. It's almost if these professional critics just can't pull the trigger on giving a Coldplay album an excellent review. As if they will lose their professional credibility in doing so. Even in the body of that pitchfork review I see nothing that would warrant that low of an actual score. I wasn't reading it expecting a 10/10 or anything but oh well... I'm loving it and that's all that matters.

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