Is Everyday Life Underrated? AKA My Recent Epiphany

[HowCouldIForget]

Starting this topic because I didnt see anything about the album itself, besides when it first released.

 

Most people on the forum talk about EL as the best of Coldplay's more recent records but still lesser than the first four and I disagree. 

In terms of experimentation, you have the gorgeous classical piece Sunrise, the Floydian political protest Trouble in Town, the tour-de-force of horns on Arabesque and whatever When I Need a Friend is. Acapella chamber music maybe? Ive heard little like it but it's incredible either way.

The experimentation isnt as obvious as Viva and there are clearly songs that take influence from Coldplay's soft rock past (Daddy, Eko) or some page from incorporating pop music more recently (Orphans, Church) but still. I'd say it was pretty damn impressive at that stage in their career. It was their 8th album, after all. 

EL is not just the best of the second half of their career and I'd say the only song I dont care for on the whole thing is BrokEn, which is pretty stylistically interesting, itself. This has to be Guy's best album and the acoustic guitars and piano playing are incredible, up there with ARoBttH for the best, as well.

 

I had this realization while posting how there are four songs from the album I'd consider for Coldplay's top 10 (Arabesque, Trouble in Town, Daddy and Eko), more than even VlV, about a week ago. Also remembering I had this and MotS rated only 0.3 apart which, while it's a good album as well, does not do EL any justice.

I've spent a lot of time listening to EL recently and Ive had a couple realizations, including how good of a song Cry Cry Cry is (that 50's style music I dont care for otherwise), as well as just how special Arabesque and Trouble in Town are, even for Coldplay's impressive catalogue. I've adjusted this album up about 0.5 and MotS down 0.2, realizing that despite how amazing Coloratura and Infinity Sign are, I find myself less compelled to come back to it vs other albums they have released. It's great but also somewhat flawed in the same way X&Y is. My new rankings, with EL up from 5th

 

VlVoDaAHF (9.7)

ARoBttH (9.5)

Everyday Life (9.4)

 

Parachutes (9.0)

Mylo Xyloto [8.9)

 

Music of the Spheres (8.4)

X&Y (8.3)

 

AHFoD (7.4)

Ghost Stories (5.9)

 

There are kind of "tiers" to my rankings, albums grouped together that I like a similar amount. I've noticed this.

It's funny to be because I remember having this same realization about Viva about a year or two after it released. How compelling it really was and how different it was compared to pretty much anything else at the time, which is unusual for my favorite band.

Some of this is off-topic but Id be curious to hear if anyone agrees/disagrees or if they also had this revelation as well!

Long live Everyday Life~