🌙 Coldplay: Moon Music 🎵 | Out October 4th | Discussion

[Famous Old Painter]

SCORCHING HOT TAKE ALERT - post Viva Jonny mimics The Edge a bit much for my liking, so I don't mind him not being featured as much

[edupoint]

10 hours ago, Famous Old Painter said:

SCORCHING HOT TAKE ALERT - post Viva Jonny mimics The Edge a bit much for my liking, so I don't mind him not being featured as much

Post Viva? What do you think he was doing on AROBTTH and X&Y?

[Famous Old Painter]

He does it a lot on X&Y, true. AROBTTH has a lot more creative stuff going on, it sounds more uniquely Coldplay to my ears. I'd love to have that Jonny back. The U2ness is probably more noticeable post Viva as their music got a lot more poppy and stadium friendly in general. 

Edited April 29 by Famous Old Painter

[edupoint]

8 hours ago, Famous Old Painter said:

He does it a lot on X&Y, true. AROBTTH has a lot more creative stuff going on, it sounds more uniquely Coldplay to my ears. I'd love to have that Jonny back. The U2ness is probably more noticeable post Viva as their music got a lot more poppy and stadium friendly in general. 

I agree with you, maybe AROBTTH offers the step between the intimate touch of Parachutes and the search for grandiosity of X&Y, and that´s the key, the right place for lots of us.

But Edge has never ever done things like what Jonny has helped to do this last 10 years, I´m sorry but there is no comparison. In my opinion, the most stadium friendly U2 has ever been is nowhere close to what Coldplay has become, not even a bit.

[The Jordanator]

I think he means that Jonny’s guitar tone has become very the edge-like which I tend to agree with not necessarily playing style. 
Jonny’s guitar style tends to go more ambient/atmospheric since GS and if he does get any real action it is middle-low end of the mix. 
Interestingly, Guy’s bass playing since MX era to me seems to have progressively gotten more pronounced and spotlighted way more. To me he seems to be getting better with each era. 
 

 

[Benjod25]

On 4/29/2025 at 6:16 AM, Famous Old Painter said:

He does it a lot on X&Y, true. AROBTTH has a lot more creative stuff going on, it sounds more uniquely Coldplay to my ears. I'd love to have that Jonny back. The U2ness is probably more noticeable post Viva as their music got a lot more poppy and stadium friendly in general. 

That's insane cause nothing Coldplay has done since Viva has sounded like U2 apart from maybe the AHFOD title track

[Benjod25]

17 hours ago, edupoint said:

I agree with you, maybe AROBTTH offers the step between the intimate touch of Parachutes and the search for grandiosity of X&Y, and that´s the key, the right place for lots of us.

But Edge has never ever done things like what Jonny has helped to do this last 10 years, I´m sorry but there is no comparison. In my opinion, the most stadium friendly U2 has ever been is nowhere close to what Coldplay has become, not even a bit.

U2 were very inventive in the 90s sadly for the last 25 years they have been stale rock 

[Famous Old Painter]

We’ll agree on that. Coldplay could learn a lot from 90s U2 right now

[lennyrott1]

Generally I agree Jonny's guitar since Viva is way more Edge-like, but it does bother me he's missing. Every recent single: Higher Power, MU, We Pray, Let Somebody Go, FLIFL stand out to me as songs that are mid to fine, but they could have been great if they had a more prominent guitar moment. Like on Moon Music we basically have two really great guitar moments: IAAM solo and All My Love solo. On MOTS, we get the amazing solo on Coloratura but everything else is incredibly mid. During the tour I loved when they had HER do a solo on LSG, it elevated the song from boring 80's cheese to fun 80's cheese. Pretty much every guitar cover of Higher Power on YouTube has a cooler riff imitating the melody. 

I will say Guy has largely been a trade-off in this, though. I like his bass for a lot of the MOTS era. But why not have those great bass moments AND guitar? That is what a four-piece band is supposed to sound like after all. It doesn't have to be every song but at least on half of the songs would be nice.

[Benjod25]

20 hours ago, Famous Old Painter said:

We’ll agree on that. Coldplay could learn a lot from 90s U2 right now

I mean it's a bit late considering we are only getting 2 albums 

[Famous Old Painter]

1 hour ago, Benjod25 said:

I mean it's a bit late considering we are only getting 2 albums 

Not if Eno comes back for one!

Viva is Jonny's best work by the way. The fact he came up with the midsection of 42 by himself in an hour blows my mind (unless Chris lied about that but either way, props to Jonny). 

Edited May 1 by Famous Old Painter

[Benjod25]

42 minutes ago, Famous Old Painter said:

Not if Eno comes back for one!

Viva is Jonny's best work by the way. The fact he came up with the midsection of 42 by himself in an hour blows my mind (unless Chris lied about that but either way, props to Jonny). 

Eno came back for One World 

[edupoint]

8 hours ago, Famous Old Painter said:

Not if Eno comes back for one!

Viva is Jonny's best work by the way. The fact he came up with the midsection of 42 by himself in an hour blows my mind (unless Chris lied about that but either way, props to Jonny). 

Brian Eno is not exactly a fan of rock music, he helps looking for something different, making the borders wider, experimenting... So I would not really put that on him, but on a great inspirational time and the will of using the guitar with a big role, not like they´ve done lately.

[edupoint]

On 4/30/2025 at 9:58 AM, Benjod25 said:

U2 were very inventive in the 90s sadly for the last 25 years they have been stale rock 

Well, it´s not fair to compare both bands, but if we´re talking about guitar songs, there´s no comparison even with U2 on their last steps  of the road.

[Gideon_Mx]

On 4/30/2025 at 6:56 PM, lennyrott1 said:

Generally I agree Jonny's guitar since Viva is way more Edge-like, but it does bother me he's missing. Every recent single: Higher Power, MU, We Pray, Let Somebody Go, FLIFL stand out to me as songs that are mid to fine, but they could have been great if they had a more prominent guitar moment. Like on Moon Music we basically have two really great guitar moments: IAAM solo and All My Love solo. On MOTS, we get the amazing solo on Coloratura but everything else is incredibly mid. During the tour I loved when they had HER do a solo on LSG, it elevated the song from boring 80's cheese to fun 80's cheese. Pretty much every guitar cover of Higher Power on YouTube has a cooler riff imitating the melody. 

I will say Guy has largely been a trade-off in this, though. I like his bass for a lot of the MOTS era. But why not have those great bass moments AND guitar? That is what a four-piece band is supposed to sound like after all. It doesn't have to be every song but at least on half of the songs would be nice.

Thank you.... Excellent point. I agree with everything you just pointed out there. For the last years in general it feels like Jonny's missing out in general on the recent albums (apart from specific songs such as Coloratura etc.). It's great that Guy gets the opportunity to shine more.

It's just, like you said, why can't it be more bass AND guitar? It's a choice we'd never understand. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that Jonny is that member that adds that distinctive sound, that unique touch, to their music. They genuinely need Jonny to make it sound like Coldplay. 

[Benjod25]

On 4/30/2025 at 5:56 PM, lennyrott1 said:

Generally I agree Jonny's guitar since Viva is way more Edge-like, but it does bother me he's missing. Every recent single: Higher Power, MU, We Pray, Let Somebody Go, FLIFL stand out to me as songs that are mid to fine, but they could have been great if they had a more prominent guitar moment. Like on Moon Music we basically have two really great guitar moments: IAAM solo and All My Love solo. On MOTS, we get the amazing solo on Coloratura but everything else is incredibly mid. During the tour I loved when they had HER do a solo on LSG, it elevated the song from boring 80's cheese to fun 80's cheese. Pretty much every guitar cover of Higher Power on YouTube has a cooler riff imitating the melody. 

I will say Guy has largely been a trade-off in this, though. I like his bass for a lot of the MOTS era. But why not have those great bass moments AND guitar? That is what a four-piece band is supposed to sound like after all. It doesn't have to be every song but at least on half of the songs would be nice.

How is Jonny more edge like though? Like only the title song on AHFOD uses Edge signature delay 

[Benjod25]

On 5/1/2025 at 6:04 PM, edupoint said:

Well, it´s not fair to compare both bands, but if we´re talking about guitar songs, there´s no comparison even with U2 on their last steps  of the road.

U2 maybe more guitar but they have still become stale 

[lennyrott1]

On 5/2/2025 at 1:56 PM, Benjod25 said:

How is Jonny more edge like though? Like only the title song on AHFOD uses Edge signature delay 

I'm generalizing of course. There's been plenty of great Jonny moments where he's sounded like other musicians, such as on Up&Up (Oasis) or Coloratura (David Gilmour). I'd say its not necessarily the guitar tone but the execution of how is guitar is utilized as more of a texture and backdrop to the larger song and less of a stand out instrument driving the melody. 

I think X&Y and Viva are arguably their most guitar-forward albums, but after that we started seeing the "Big" tracks like ASFOS, Army of One, SJLT, Higher Power, MU, FLIFL, We Pray where's really just a backdrop. Even on Everyday Life he sounds more like The Edge than ever on Trouble in Town. 

[edupoint]

On 5/6/2025 at 9:24 PM, lennyrott1 said:

I'm generalizing of course. There's been plenty of great Jonny moments where he's sounded like other musicians, such as on Up&Up (Oasis) or Coloratura (David Gilmour).

Are you sure you´re not talking about "Up&Up" Noel´s part?

[m4racide]

honestly, after sitting with Moon Music for a bit, i think a lot of the mixes are very bad. 

 

here's a bit of a man in the moon mix i'm working on as part of a remaster project.

[lennyrott1]

The mixing is def inconsistent. I'm not sure if its the final mix working with Max Martin and his crew, but it's very popified Sometimes pretty compressed, other times the bass and guitar are super drowned out. MOTS had it bad too. I don't know how they downgraded so much after the really excellent mixing on Everyday Life.

This Man in the Moon remaster is sounding awesome. 

[m4racide]

i was also toying around while mixing jupiter and kind of just... made this.

it was very quickly put together so i apologize if it sounds absolutely terrible lol it's just a proof of concept more than anything that the song could've been solo/chris only. the only part that really sounds empty is the chorus.

[m4racide]

9 hours ago, lennyrott1 said:

The mixing is def inconsistent. I'm not sure if its the final mix working with Max Martin and his crew, but it's very popified Sometimes pretty compressed, other times the bass and guitar are super drowned out. MOTS had it bad too. I don't know how they downgraded so much after the really excellent mixing on Everyday Life.

This Man in the Moon remaster is sounding awesome. 

Spike Stent is the man who we gotta glaze more... maybe the band'll work with him more if they realise we love him! (just kidding, our opinions don't matter lol)

[CP-EST]

I would say Moon Music is mixed alright considering what their focus with that "product" was - very pop oriented and comfortable listen, playing with billion of different styles throughout the album, but keeping it very even, not letting any instrumental shine too much to not break the balance of the whole album. So, I think they have done quite good job with making each song sound like Moon Music song. But does each individual song sound good? - That depends on taste haha. I don't think there is anyone here to blame doing poor job with anything, if anything we can blame the band's (mostly Chris' of course) intentions of going very polished pop direction with MOTS era.

I think the best example is iAAM, which most of the fans want to compare to VLV era, but as a product to me iAAM sounds almost incomparably different to any VLV stuff. VLV sound was very rich and colorful and letting all of the instrumental to be alive and rock, while Moon Music implementation takes the idea of VLV era sound, makes it very compressed and puts it as a background of Chris' vocals. To me iAAM sounds very claustrophobic, that kind of song deserved more breathing and richness, not just with mixing, but everything about it.

Yeah, Everyday Life's mixing was different, but the whole focus of with those songs and album and was different. Hopefully the "Coldplay" album goes back to that way, where every millisecond of production and mixing/mastering is about making the record sound like classic Coldplay without any compromises.

[edupoint]

On 5/21/2025 at 9:13 PM, CP-EST said:

I think the best example is iAAM, which most of the fans want to compare to VLV era, but as a product to me iAAM sounds almost incomparably different to any VLV stuff. VLV sound was very rich and colorful and letting all of the instrumental to be alive and rock, while Moon Music implementation takes the idea of VLV era sound, makes it very compressed and puts it as a background of Chris' vocals. To me iAAM sounds very claustrophobic, that kind of song deserved more breathing and richness, not just with mixing, but everything about it.

I can stand iAAM verses, but the chorus ruins everything for me, too easy and non-inspired. Could have been something else completely...