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Track 02 - Higher Power | Music of the Spheres


gai

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I take back everything I previously said, I should remember to give songs a few listens before I judge them!

This song is absolutely glorious and I honestly haven't listened to another song since Saturday. Putting headphones on and getting the full bass effect is just phenomenal. It's going to go down as one of Coldplay's best, I'm sure of it.

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After hearing the official studio version of Higher Power for about, let's say...., 20-30 times or so, I can really say that this is currently my favourite studio version of any Coldplay song to listen to these days. It's really been a long time since I actually love a studio version THAT much (so thanks Max!). To begin with, as we've all seen it everywhere many people were (and still are) quite sceptical about the studio version of HP and there's so much negativity about it since its release which is a shame. Because the studio version is NOT bad, the studio version is actually freaking GOOD. In my opinion, it's awesome!

The synths and the 80s vibe of Higher Power is something that makes the song kind of unique. The American Idol and BRITs performances were great. But there's something I really miss in those promo performances of HP is the fact that the synths during the choruses are pretty much gone. The synths are obviously still there but Jonny's guitar (as much as I love it) is so loud that it steals the show and it makes the synths barely audible. You can feel the 80s vibe.... just fading away. It's really disappointing, if you ask me!

A good thing about these 2 performances is that we now have a much better idea of what Jonny is actually plays throughout the entire song! With that being said, now it's a lot easier to hear J's guitar work if you listen to the studio version. By the way, I get the frustration many have. The first times I listened to the song I was like ''where is Jonny?''. Especially when you listen through speakers and not using headphones. There are lots of other noises that catch our attention (especially when hearing it for the 1st time). The studio version would not really benefit from the heavy guitar and the band made the right choice to go with synths and with Jonny's guitar more in the background. As mentioned before by CP-EST, the ''heavy'' guitar (like the BRITs / American Idol) is actually a bit overwhelming to listen to being a synth pop song, for radio play.

 

If we go back and listen to the studio version, there is actually quite a lot of Jonny's electric guitar, completely blended between all those different sounds, in the background. Here is a short summary of some bits that contain Jonny's work. :earmuffs:

I - 1st verse: knowing what J plays live then just listen to this.... Jonny's guitar is actually quite noticeable, BUT very well blended. Coming from the right, those one-note-riffs.

II - 2nd verse: this is the only part that literally got rid of the electric guitar, you might say. Especially during the first few lines of this part, you can clearly hear the huge difference between the studio version and 2 live versions.

III - 2nd chorus: In the 2nd chorus there's a bit of soft strumming. Don't want to make it sound difficult, so J's guitar is coming from right(not left) side. Not only was his guitar turned up live, he also plays different from the studio version. Same notes but much louder strumming (live).

IV - Bridge: exactly at 2:30; when Chris sings the lines ''got my hands up shaking just to let you know now'' right before the 3rd chorus kicks in, there is clearly Jonny's same echo sound but more ambient in the studio version, coming from the left side in your headphones.

These are just some examples of guitar bits that we might not notice (if we didn't have more stuff like those (American Idol and BRITs) performances) or don't even recognize as guitar at all.

Edited by Gideon_Mx
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6 minutes ago, Gideon_Mx said:

After hearing the official studio version of Higher Power for about, let's say...., 20-30 times or so, I can really say that this is currently my favourite studio version any Coldplay song to listen to these days. It's really been a long time since I actually love a studio version THAT much (so thanks Max!). To begin with, as we've all seen it everywhere many people were (and still are) quite sceptical about the studio version of HP and there's so much negativity about it since its release which is a shame. Because the studio version is NOT bad, the studio version is actually freaking GOOD. In my opinion, it's awesome!

The synths and the 80s vibe of Higher Power is something that makes the song kind of unique. The American Idol and BRITs performances were great. But there's something I really miss in those promo performances of HP is the fact that the synths during the choruses are pretty much gone. The synths are obviously still there but Jonny's guitar (as much as I love it) is so loud that it steals the show and it makes the synths barely audible. You can feel the 80s vibe.... just fading away. It's really disappointing, if you ask me!

A good thing about these 2 performances is that we now have a much better idea of what Jonny is actually plays throughout the entire song! With that being said, now it's a lot easier to hear J's guitar work if you listen to the studio version. By the way, I get the frustration many have. The first times I listened to the song I was like ''where is Jonny?''. Especially when you're not using headphones. There are lots of other noises that catch our attention (especially when hearing it for the 1st time). The studio version would not really benefit from the heavy guitar and the band really made the right choice to go with synths and with Jonny's guitar in the background. As mentioned before by CP-EST, the ''heavy'' guitar (like the BRITs / American Idol) is actually a bit overwhelming to listen to being a synth pop song, for radio play. If we go back and listen to the studio version, there is actually quite a lot of Jonny's electric guitar but often blended between all those different sounds!

Here is a short summary.

1st verse: knowing what J plays live then just listen to this.... Jonny's guitar is actually quite noticeable, BUT very well mixed. It's really there, it's harder to hear when not using headphones (as always)

2nd verse: Especially during the first half of the 2nd verse you can clearly hear a huge difference between the studio version and 2 live versions.

2nd chorus: In the 2nd chorus there's a bit of soft strumming. Don't want to make it sound difficult, so J's guitar is coming from right(not left) side. Not only was his guitar turned up live, he also plays different from the studio version. Same notes but much louder strumming.

Bridge: exactly at 2:30; when Chris sings the lines ''got my hands up shaking just to let you know now'' right before the 3rd chorus kicks in, there is clearly Jonny's same echo sound but more ambient in the studio version, coming from the left side in your headphones. These are examples of guitar parts that we didn't even notice because we didn't even know if that was guitar.

in the 5.1 rip, you can hear Jonny's guitar isolated along with a couple of drum effects on the centre channel. They're very quiet in the mix if you look at the waveform but by increasing the gain a bit, you can actually hear what he plays durring the song. (mostly just rhythm). 

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I thoroughly enjoyed their Brit performance and I've grown to like the live version. I still think Orphans is their best recent pop song because it feels like the four of them just playing in their backyard and at the same time it has a "worldly" quality to it. But then again everything on that record is a fucking masterpiece! 

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On 5/13/2021 at 4:29 AM, GamingForeverAUS said:

in the 5.1 rip, you can hear Jonny's guitar isolated along with a couple of drum effects on the centre channel. They're very quiet in the mix if you look at the waveform but by increasing the gain a bit, you can actually hear what he plays durring the song. (mostly just rhythm). 

Hello GamingForeverAUS, where do you find 5.1 rip ? 

Edited by dom62400
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2 hours ago, dom62400 said:

Hello GamingForeverAUS, where do you find 5.1 rip ? 

I have uploaded it here! Please read the breakdown below. It would also be preferable if you have any software that can view and handle mutiple audio tracks but that is not required.

FILE BREAKDOWN - "C" refers to channel / speaker that you would hear the audio out of in an actual real life 5.1 setup:

  • 5.1 Mix = The full mix, everything is all together.
  • C1&C2 = The mix that appears in the front two channels. Basically the left and rights.
  • C3 = The centre channel that has Jonny's guitar and some other effects.
  • C4 (subwoofer) = LFE effects.
  • C5&C6 = Reverbs, synths, the love choir.

Note that some of the audio files don't have any sound until specific parts of the song so if it sounds like there is no sound, skip ahead or just wait. Remember that this is all meant to be played together at the same time.

*link removed by moderator*

 

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2 hours ago, nvdmm said:

I thoroughly enjoyed their Brit performance and I've grown to like the live version. I still think Orphans is their best recent pop song because it feels like the four of them just playing in their backyard and at the same time it has a "worldly" quality to it. But then again everything on that record is a fucking masterpiece! 

Agreed! There's not a single bad song on EL. My least favorite is probably Bani Adam or BrokEn but even those have so much heart and soul! Orphans is one of the less good songs on the record but beats almost everything on AHFOD. Even the small songs like Eko, Guns, Old Friends, and WOTW/POTP are not at all bad.

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57 minutes ago, GamingForeverAUS said:

I have uploaded it here! Please read the breakdown below. It would also be preferable if you have any software that can view and handle mutiple audio tracks but that is not required.

FILE BREAKDOWN - "C" refers to channel / speaker that you would hear the audio out of in an actual real life 5.1 setup:

  • 5.1 Mix = The full mix, everything is all together.
  • C1&C2 = The mix that appears in the front two channels. Basically the left and rights.
  • C3 = The centre channel that has Jonny's guitar and some other effects.
  • C4 (subwoofer) = LFE effects.
  • C5&C6 = Reverbs, synths, the love choir.

Note that some of the audio files don't have any sound until specific parts of the song so if it sounds like there is no sound, skip ahead or just wait. Remember that this is all meant to be played together at the same time.

*link removed by moderator*

 

Sorry, removed that link here since it's technically the studio version of the song, so an official release. It's better to keep these things in the PMs ?

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2 hours ago, GamingForeverAUS said:

I have uploaded it here! Please read the breakdown below. It would also be preferable if you have any software that can view and handle mutiple audio tracks but that is not required.

FILE BREAKDOWN - "C" refers to channel / speaker that you would hear the audio out of in an actual real life 5.1 setup:

  • 5.1 Mix = The full mix, everything is all together.
  • C1&C2 = The mix that appears in the front two channels. Basically the left and rights.
  • C3 = The centre channel that has Jonny's guitar and some other effects.
  • C4 (subwoofer) = LFE effects.
  • C5&C6 = Reverbs, synths, the love choir.

Note that some of the audio files don't have any sound until specific parts of the song so if it sounds like there is no sound, skip ahead or just wait. Remember that this is all meant to be played together at the same time.

*link removed by moderator*

 

Can you share it via PM please? Thanks ?

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4 hours ago, TheBigBadBono said:

Agreed! There's not a single bad song on EL. My least favorite is probably Bani Adam or BrokEn but even those have so much heart and soul! Orphans is one of the less good songs on the record but beats almost everything on AHFOD. Even the small songs like Eko, Guns, Old Friends, and WOTW/POTP are not at all bad.

Oh it was glorious! I genuinely felt I was gifted the pleasure of having my favorite band doing exactly what I had wanted of them for many many years. If they had toured that album I would have gone bankrupt from trying to attend every single show possible. I find it extremely bizarre when people say they couldn't have toured EL. As if every great rock band's concert is a Disney fest! 

Edited by nvdmm
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On 5/13/2021 at 4:29 AM, GamingForeverAUS said:

in the 5.1 rip, you can hear Jonny's guitar isolated along with a couple of drum effects on the centre channel. They're very quiet in the mix if you look at the waveform but by increasing the gain a bit, you can actually hear what he plays durring the song. (mostly just rhythm). 

Can you share it by PM please ? 

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Hace 12 horas, nvdmm dijo:

Disfruté mucho su actuación en Brit y me ha gustado la versión en vivo. Sigo pensando que Orphans es su mejor canción pop reciente porque se siente como si los cuatro estuvieran tocando en su patio trasero y al mismo tiempo tiene una cualidad "mundana". Pero, de nuevo, ¡todo en ese disco es una maldita obra maestra! 

Huérfanos, Esa canción está arruinada por Martin y su uh uh uooh y el coro UH UH ohoh ... Es uno de los peores pero no tan malo como EJÉRCITO DE UNO, DIVERSIÓN, PRINCESA DE CHINA, OVNI, CALEIDOSCOPIO, AMOR VERDADERO Y ALGO COMO ESTO (SOLO PARA LAS LIRYCS), MILAGROS ALGUNOS ESPECIALES ..

 

Edited by Dherlax
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1 hour ago, Dherlax said:

Huérfanos, Esa canción está arruinada por Martin y su uh uh uooh y el coro UH UH ohoh ... Es uno de los peores pero no tan malo como EJÉRCITO DE UNO, DIVERSIÓN, PRINCESA DE CHINA, OVNI, CALEIDOSCOPIO, AMOR VERDADERO Y ALGO COMO ESTO (SOLO PARA LAS LIRYCS), MILAGROS ALGUNOS ESPECIALES ..

 

De acuerdo contigo, es la que menos me gusto de EL. Alguien de la banda le tiene que decir a Chris que ya perdio el rumbo. PERO YA! Y no lo digo para salvar el LP9. Lo digo para salvar lo poco que les queda de reputacion. 

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I notice that coldplay with each new album you gain more followers but at the same time it loses many others and thus each year its fans are renewed. It is sad why at the cost of making music that does not go beyond radio, Coldplay at a time with his music transcended beyond an era but was something else. and that is important because the idea is to be able to become a legend. And to be gaining fans but without losing people.

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7 hours ago, Eskapist said:

One week has passed and I just can't stop listening to this song... Real banger. 

It's a great single, but I make sure to not hear it 42 times a day or so and not being able to listen to it anymore 'cause you go crazy :freak: so I just try to not listen to it for about half a day, then stream the studio version and/or live version and be able to enjoy it a lot!

Edited by Gideon_Mx
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10 hours ago, I ran away said:

...a bit too much, I would say. Generally not a fan of Jonny playing electric rhythm guitar, it's the riffs and single note melodies where he shines!

Have to agree with that! It's indeed the single riffs and melodies (and solos xD) what makes him shine and that's where he's really at his best!!!

Edited by Gideon_Mx
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On 5/15/2021 at 7:16 AM, GamingForeverAUS said:

Interesting what you can hear besides Johnny's Guitar on this track...

Is this from the live Brits recording?

If so, hearing this snippet of just a couple of high notes of Chris would mean that his singing performance isn't entirely live, but either backing track at some critical points (high notes) as this, or at least doubled by backing track

 

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1 hour ago, tallerolder said:

Interesting what you can hear besides Johnny's Guitar on this track...

Is this from the live Brits recording?

If so, hearing this snippet of just a couple of high notes of Chris would mean that his singing performance isn't entirely live, but either backing track at some critical points (high notes) as this, or at least doubled by backing track

 

No it's from the 5.1. mix of the studio version

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