Square One:

Probable first single. Built around a subtle electronic drum beat reminiscent of Brian Eno or Berlin-period Bowie, the song builds into a huge chorus featuring massive guitars and organ. Like Radioheads Paranoid Android it's perplexing on the first listen and appears to go off on different tangents, but after a few spins it sounds like their most ambitious and possibly best song yet.

What If:

Starting with a simple piano, a fragile-sounding Chris sings, " What if you decide/You dont want me there by your side..in your life ". Realising that he cant completely control everything in life, he concludes " Every step you take could be your biggest mistake.../But that's the risk you take ". This albums The Scientist.

Talk:

Another future single, 'Talk' takes the riff from electronic music legends Kraftwerk's Computer Love and builds a completely new song. It keeps the mechanical beat of the original but adds a huge guitar and dancefloor filling bass-line. Stadiums wont be big enough to contain it.

'Til Kingdom Come:

This was written for Johnny Cash but he died before he could record it. Coldplays version is a sweet Dylan-esque folk song on acoustic guitar. " For you I'd wait til kingdom come/Until my days, my days are done." Chris vows.

X&Y:

The dreamy, synth heavy song features the chorus, " You and me are floating on a tidal wave together/You and me are drifting into outer space ." Beatles style strings suddenly appear towards the end, and the anthemic singalong " woo-hoo-hoo " outro is set to become the sound of next summers festivals.

The Hardest Part:

A classic Coldplay love song about loss and heartbreak, in which Chris sings, "The hardest part was letting go, not taking part."

[thanks PolitikClocks]

Insanely bad covers have been commonplace around popular bands of all genres. Coldplay are no different.

A dodgy cover of The Scientist has been recorded by Johnette Napolitano and Danny Lohner - you can download/listen to it here [right click - save target as..]

Let us know what you think of the cover - if you have any other covers you want to put up here please email me the links!

Chris Martin has warned Coldplay fans their 2005 album could be their last - because his quest for perfection is threatening the band's latest recordings.

The group have taken months longer than originally planned to record the follow-up to their critically acclaimed disc, A Rush Of Blood To The Head, admitting the arduous process pushed their sanity to the limit.

But despite Martin's confidence in the tracks, he admits his self-critical group may ditch all their hard work if they deem it unfit for record store shelves - as they previously did after early sessions.

He says, "Bear in mind you're talking to a group of people who are on the 25th mile of a race and we might just collapse or we might win. Similarly we could be in here for another year. I still say that this may be our last album."

Source: ContactMusic

Glastonbury Festival has teamed up with EMI to create the first Glastonbury DVD compilation, to be released on Monday 21st March.

Called "Glastonbury Anthems – The Best Of 1994 to 2004", it contains performances from the last ten years, voted for inclusion via the Festival's website. Included are Coldplay, Blur, Radiohead, Robbie Williams, Basement Jaxx, The Manic Street Preachers, Franz Ferdinand, and Paul McCartney.

Also included is a short film showing some other aspects of the Festival, including a short clip from the 1971 film "Glastonbury Fayre", and interviews with Michael and Jean Eavis (filmed in 1995), a photo gallery, and an ariel tour of the site from 2004.

Source: eFestivals

Both Coldplay’s singer Chris Martin and drummer Will Champion have been talking about the hugely anticipated follow up album to ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’, and the band's plans to play series of low key intimate dates later this year.

While the rumour mill has already gone into overdrive about the contents and release date of the new album, Chris Martin has been speaking about how the recording process (a traditionally fraught time for Coldplay – the pressure or recording AROBTTH almost drove them to spilt) has been progressing.

"Writing is what we’ve been doing all day, every day” he explained to NME, “It’s been quite turbulent. We’ve been through a lot of songs and a lot of sounds, a lot of studios. It took us a long time to realise the four of us should go into a rehearsal room again and play together rather than rely on technological assistance."

"We’ve got some fucking good songs. That’s one

thing we are sure of. I don’t think we’ll top this. I always say that, but this time I really mean it. I really don’t think we’ll top it."

Tracks which are expected to appear on the record include ‘Square One’, ‘Talk’, ‘Till Kingdom Come’, ‘X&Y’, ‘The Hardest Part’. Drummer Will Champion has also touted a new track enetitled ‘What If?’ as a possible single, telling the BBC, “I think it’s one to watch out for in my opinion".

Champion also discussed the number of songs on the record, saying “We’ve got about 14 or 15 to chose from, but we want to try for 10, or 11 would be perfect. The first song has got to be a statement of intent. We don’t want to dilute anything of this hopefully brilliant album.”

He went on to explain that while no tour dates had been booked as yet, the band intended to play some low key concerts as a warm up for a proper tour in 2005, saying, “We’ve got to rehearse first. We’ll start off with some small gigs and then go to America for some of what they call ‘buzz gigs’. We’ve got some great plans to play some interesting places though. I don’t know when and where yet.”

As for the album’s title, the drummer simply said the band were “Not sure yet. We’ve got a few things to choose from.”

Could this be the best evidence yet of a new album release on 29th March?

Meanwhile, Amazon have released information that may indicate a May release, here

Chris Martin rang Radio 1 this morning (Monday) from Ghana where he's spent the last five days with Oxfam travelling around the country.

He's been on the road in the back of a van in a dust storm highlighting their campaign Make Trade Fair. Chris has been talking to local farmers about how their lives have been affected by unfair trade deals with other countries and told us no one has a clue who he is over there:

"I think it's much better that they don't know what I do musically, otherwise they'd like me as little as everybody else does! Me and Make Trade Fair are like Beyonce and L'Oreal."

"I felt like I'd been banging on about making trade fair for two years - putting it on my hands and what have you, but it had started to become a bit hollow because I started to forget what I was really talking about. It took twenty minutes of driving in a truck through farm land in Ghana to remind me why I'm doing it."

And Chris told us he's really looking forward to getting back in the loop when Coldplay's new album is released. He said, "I can't wait now to tour, and do interviews and to promote our record - partly because I'm musically excited about and partly because I'm really passionate to talk about trade again." [Thanks Alessandra]

The management of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is inching ever closer to confirming a massive live-aid style Tsunami Relief show to be held on the weekend of January 22nd and 23rd, which is hoped to raise over £1M for the DEC charity.

Strong rumours suggest that U2, Coldplay, The Darkness, Franz Ferdinand & Stereophonics may be making appearances at the show. Rupert Moon, the stadium's business manager, said things were "falling into place," and that an announcement should be made regarding the show within the next 48 hours.

"We've been working very hard with band managers, agents and so on, and we're working on getting a cross-section of acts: British, European and international bands," Moon said. "What we need now is for one of them to step out of the shadows and say, 'OK, we'll put our names to this.' And that will sway a lot of people."

Coldplay are being lined up for two massive outdoor gigs on the banks of Loch Lomond.

West Dunbartonshire Council is in discussions with promoters about bringing the world-famous band — to Balloch Park on July 2 and 3 next year. The gigs would attract around 80,000 music fans over the weekend and would take place just a fortnight after another supergroup, REM, perform on the Bonnie Banks.

Talks are understood to be at an advanced stage — but the plans could be scuppered by the police. Forces from across Scotland will provide security at the G8 summit at Gleneagles on July 5 and 6, and Strathclyde Police chiefs fear that could create problems with staff asking for leave on the weekend of the concert.

But the council is confident it will get the green light for the Coldplay gigs. A spokesman said: “The council’s events team have been in talks for time to bring Coldplay to Balloch Country Park. “We are pleased that these discussions have been positive and the band have indicated that they would like to perform at the park on July 2 and 3, 2005. However, Strathclyde Police has indicated that it may not be able to service the event owing to other commitments. We are negotiating with all parties concerned to hopefully reach a suitable compromise.”

The gigs would complete a sensational summer of music at Loch Lomond with REM already scheduled to play before 40,000 fans at Balloch Park on June 17. Every hotel and guest house in the village is already fully booked for that event and tourist bosses expect another stampede for accommodation as soon as the Coldplay concerts are confirmed.

In 2005, to celebrate the greatest albums ever made, Channel 4 will be bringing a four-hour celebration of these classic recordings.

There's not much in life more personal, more capable of bringing out emotions, than your favourite album - that good companion, that fantastic collection of songs that seems to sum up a particular part of your life.

Coldplay's Parachutes is nominated, to vote for it please go here

Coldplay drummer Will Champion will be on UK Radio 1 this Thursday [6th]. He'll be on the Jo Whiley Show between 10am and 12.45pm to talk about the new album. [thanks fifi].

Coldplay, David Bowie and the Bee Gees are among a list of 25 musicians doing battle for a new best song award at the Brits, Radio 2 has announced.

Presenter Davina McCall unveiled the nominees on her Monday afternoon show and then asked listeners to vote for their top five hits. All of the singles have been performed by a British act since 1977.

The five will be named at the Brits nominations on 10 January and the winner at the awards on 10 February. The award has been introduced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Brit awards. The longlist has been chosen by a panel made up of members of the music industry and media and it includes a wide range of musical genres. Bowie made the list of 25 for his hit Heroes, Coldplay is on the list for Yellow and the Bee Gees were chosen for Night Fever.

Listeners to Radio 2's Ken Bruce show will be able to hear the top five songs between Monday 17 January and Friday 21 January. Voting will be open via the internet, text and telephone from 21-30 January to decide on the best song.Also on the longlist are True by Spandau Ballet, Careless Whisper by George Michael, Angels by Robbie Williams and Dry Your Eyes by The Streets. Colin Martin, editor of BBC Radio 2 Music, who sat on the panel, added: "Distilling over a quarter century of hits to a list of 25 to be voted on by Radio 2 listeners has been one of the most difficult tasks I have ever shared in."

The awards also added another category recently - best British live act is to replace the dance music category.

The songs are:

1. Heroes by David Bowie

2. We Are The Champions by Queen

3. Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush

4. Night Fever by Bee Gees

5. London Calling by The Clash

6. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division

7. That's Entertainment by The Jam

8. I Don't Want To Talk About It by Rod Stewart

9. Look of Love by ABC

10. Golden Brown by The Stranglers

11. True by Spandau Ballet

12. Careless Whisper by George Michael

13. Holding Back The Years by Simply Red

14. Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel

15. Sacrifice by Elton John

16. Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack

17. Why by Annie Lennox

18. Fields of Gold by Sting

19. Kiss From A Rose by Seal

20. Wonderwall by Oasis

21. Angels by Robbie Williams

22. Yellow by Coldplay

23. Babylon by David Gray

24. Leave Right Now by Will Young

25. Dry Your Eyes by The Streets

Source: BBC

Bosses of a major British stadium are calling on bands like Coldplay, U2 and The Darkness to help raise millions for the victims of the Asian tsunami - by performing at a Live Aid-style extravaganza.

Chiefs at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, are frantically trying to gain the support of their country's politicians in their quest to stage a fundraising concert for the men, women and children left homeless, starving and at risk from disease in the aftermath of the 26 December 2004 disaster.

Organisers are hoping an "event of international proportions" will take place on 22 January 2005 - before the stadium is used for sporting events - but bosses appreciate they are working against an almost impossible deadline. Stadium manager Paul Sergeant says, "It's going to be tight. The pitch comes back into the stadium on the 24th of January. We won't be able to stage anything after that until the summer."

Sergeant insists talks are currently in place with a host of "A-list acts", reportedly including U2, Coldplay, The Darkness and Franz Ferdinand.

More on this story here

You may remember a short while ago we posted a story about voting for Coldplay in Virgin Radio's Top 500 songs of all time.

Well true to form, Coldplay has featured in the top 500 list numerous times, with many singles hits appearing - including 'Trouble' appearing in the top 10.

Here are the Coldplay selections:

10) Coldplay - Trouble

41) Coldplay - Yellow

207) Coldplay - Clocks

410) Coldplay - The Scientist

460) Coldplay - In My Place

Virgin have played out every song in the top 500 over the past few days - the finale is today. You can listen to the final 20 songs NOW live at Virgin Radio

More on this countdown here

It’s a beautiful scene: a slurring Shane McGowan lying in an NYPD drunk tank on Christmas Eve, calling out for his love — a punky Kirsty MacColl — who’s sitting at home, busy regretting their entire dream-crushing relationship.

At turns glum and rowdy (and ultimately kind of sweet), The Pogues’ duet with MacColl, "Fairytale Of New York," is definitely one of the most vivid modern yuletide standards, and it turns out it’s the favourite for British VH1 viewers. The music channel polled its U.K. audience recently and of the whopping 10,000 online votes, the inebriated Christmas classic earned almost a quarter.

The Pogues beat out the much-hyped charity 1984 hit "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" performed by a who’s-who of Brit superstars under the moniker Band Aid. While the recent redux, Band Aid 20 featuring Chris Martin, pushed the song back into the spotlight, it may also have split the vote — after all, both the remake and the 1984 original made the Top 10. If there had only been one Band Aid to vote for then who knows how the snowflakes might have fallen?

Read the full top 10 Xmas songs >>The other songs that made the list are pretty much all over the map. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" only hit #9, though it is a little hard to buy that particular refrain while Iraq’s still plastered all over the news. Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas" made it to #8 some 62 years after its release, but Bing's cheesarific duet with David Bowie is nowhere to be seen.

The remaining songs are all your basic modern fluff: Mariah Carey’s "All I Want For Christmas Is You" came in at #6 (even though she was out-performed on that song by the crazy-good 11-year-old who sang it in last year’s holiday flick Love, Actually), '80s duo Wham! hit the #3 spot with "Last Christmas," and British glam rockers Slade and Wizzard, with their competing 1973 singles, also both made the list.

Those last two were actually sampled in one of my own favourite Christmas tracks — the 1989 U.K. mash-up "Let’s Party," from a certain cartoon rabbit-fronted group named Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers. Unfortunately, Jive was tragically excluded from the VH1 list.

VH1’s Top 10 Christmas Songs in U.K.:

1. ‘Fairytale Of New York’ The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl (1987)

2. ‘Do They Know It's Christmas?’ Band Aid (1984)

3. ‘Last Christmas’ Wham! (1984)

4. ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ Slade (1973)

5. ‘Do They Know It's Christmas’ Band Aid 20 (2004)

6. ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ Mariah Carey (1994)

7. ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ Wizzard (1973)

8. ‘White Christmas’ Bing Crosby (1977)

9. ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ John Lennon (1972)

10. ‘Stay Another Day’ East 17 (1994)

11. ‘Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)’ The Darkness (2003)

12. ‘Mistletoe And Wine’ Cliff Richard (1988)

13. ‘Step Into Christmas’ Elton John (1973)

14. ‘Lonely This Christmas’ MUD (1974)

15. ‘Power Of Love’ Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1984)

16. ‘Little Drummer Boy’ David Bowie / Bing Crosby (1982)

17. ‘Do They know It's Christmas’ Band Aid 20 (1989)

18. ‘Wonderful Christmas Time’ Paul McCartney (1979)

19. ‘Walking In The Air’ Aled Jones (1985)

20. ‘Please Come Home For Christmas’ Bon Jovi (1994)

Band Aid 20's charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? has claimed Britain's Christmas number one slot after topping the UK singles chart for a third week.

The track - featuring stars including Chris Martin, Robbie Williams, Dido and Bono - has sold more than 600,000 copies in just three weeks - giving the charity single its THIRD Christmas no.1 in its history. The track was released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1984 original, which sold 3.5 million copies, while this year's version is expected to sell one million copies, which would raise almost $6 million (GBP3 million) for charity projects in Africa.

Q Magazine (Jan 2005 edition) revealed their number 1 anticipated album of 2005 is Coldplay's 3rd LP. Here's what they had to say:

The biggest albums and brightest new stars of the next 12 months revealed... Number 1 - Coldplay. The most anticipated album of this coming year.

"We came off tour thinking that we were the dog's bollocks," says guitarist Jonny Buckland. "We quickly realised that wasn't the case."

After spending the best part of a year working on the follow-up to 2002's A Rush Of Blood To The Head, the band recently ditched everything - including long-time producer Ken Nelson - to make a fresh start. Despite the upheaval, the album is set to see the light of day early this year. One thing they won't be doing, though, is playing a gig on Mount Everest - the band have denied reports that they were set to headline a charity gig there in June.

They say: "It will be the best thing that anyone's ever heard." - Chris Martin

We say: 2005 is there for the taking. Assuming they can overcome their perfectionism.

Expected: March

More on this story here

Spiderman actress Kirsten Dunst has admitted that she uses Coldplay songs to help her cry when filming.

Dunst revealed that music is a big part of her acting career, especially when she is filming emotional scenes. "I listen to Coldplay songs to help me cry during a scene," she said. "Music definitely helps me in my acting."

More on this story here

Band Aid 20 held off a strong challenge from X Factor winner Steve Brookstein to hold onto the number one spot in the UK charts.

The reworked version of Do They Know It's Christmas?, featuring Chris Martin of Coldplay and Robbie Williams as well as Bono and others, notched up a fourth week at the top of the charts yesterday.

Meanwhile, if you missed it, there is an unofficial alternative version of the charity single called "Banned Aid 20".

You can see it / hear it here

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow are reportedly eager to expand the size of their family, and are already trying for another baby.

The celebrity couple welcomed daughter Apple into the world in May 2004, but are desperate to give her a younger sibling, reports pagesix.com.

According to the New York website, Paltrow was recently overheard telling friends, "We're working on it." A close pal adds, "It wouldn't surprise me if she had another baby by next Christmas."

More on this story here

Quiet possibly the biggest music-related event that occured in 2004, has to be the recording and release of the Band Aid 20 single featuring Thom Yorke, Chris Martin, Bono, The Darkness, Keane, Travis and pretty much everyone.

While the rumour had been circulating for weeks, it all started to come together with an article in The Sun, saying that Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Jamelia and The Darkness had all been approached to play on a new version of the Band Aid charity single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’

Read the full review here

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her singer husband Chris Martin's baby daughter Apple prefers Irish rockers U2's songs to her 'Coldplay' father's music.

Martin, however, is very happy with Apple's taste in music, as he was the one who had introduced her to Bono's singing before Apple was born in May 2004. "U2's The Unforgettable Fire is one of the first songs I played to my unborn baby," ratethemusic quoted Martin as saying.

Martin further said that the 'Shakespeare In Love' star and he are big fans of Bono's charity work as well as his music. "While everyone else is swearing at George W Bush, Bono is the one who rubs Bush's back and gets a billion dollars for Africa," he added.

More on this story here

Coldplay were among the artists being reported as possibly playing the 2005 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. But the festival promoter says the media are falling victim to a giant hoax.

"That’s all wrong online," said Paul Tollett, managing partner of the Los Angeles-based Goldenvoice company. "Some kid did that to be funny."

Filter magazine, which has been a major presence at past Coachella festivals, even passing out free compilation CDs to festivalgoers, reported on its Web site Friday that New York City alternative radio station K-ROCK has said Nine Inch Nails is "rumored" to headline the festival.

The venerable British music magazine NME "projected" headliners to include Bowie, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and R.E.M. The festival has been rumored to be scheduled for the weekend of April 30 through May 1.Filter said the Australian Web site Undercover "alleged" the festival would take place that weekend with a lineup including The Streets, P.J. Harvey, Polyphonic Spree, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Tears for Fears. But the Undercover Web site was under construction Friday.

Mark Graves, director of communications for the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Conventions & Visitors Authority, said in November he heard the festival was going to happen April 29 through May 1 at the Empire Polo Field. He said one hotelier was inquiring about the dates. Last year, hotels within 25 miles of the polo field sold out on the Coachella date months in advance.

The festival eventually drew more than 50,000 people a day for acts including The Pixies, Radiohead and The Cure. But Gary Sherwin, vice president of market development for the CVA, said his agency has heard "three or four different dates" and its member hotels haven’t reported any unusual activity related to the Coachella.

Tollett said the dates have not been confirmed and probably won’t be announced until the beginning of the year. He said he’s not sure when Goldenvoice will announce the first acts. The festival Web site, www.coachella.com, still contains last year’s information.

Sherwin said the online rumors are evidence that the Coachella has arrived as a major annual tourism event. "The event last year passed from interesting and unusual to a legitimate, big-time event -- one of those major events that comes to the valley each year," he said. "Hotels now begin to anticipate it and hold rooms and also begin to adjust rates for it."