Things are moving quickly now... this is another HUGE reminder that new (and as yet unheard) Coldplay track Moving To Mars will be airing today at 11.45am (BST) at the following stations: BBC Radio 1; BBC Radio 2; BBC 6 Music; Absolute Radio; Xfm.. Join the Moving To Mars Listening Party at the Coldplaying messageboard now! We will have another new 1-10 sliding scale poll on what you thought of the song shortly after it airs.
The Coldplaying Toolbar has been updated to include all the stations Moving To Mars will appear on. Not all stations will work for everyone (often due to restrictions) but its a neat way of switching from station to station as you find somehwere to listen to the new song. Download and install the toolbar from: coldplaying.ourtoolbar.com now. (if you are having problems will any aspect of the toolbar let us know in the listening party link above and we will try and help you out).
Major Minus: Please vote out of 10 on how you rate the song in our latest poll. Your reviews have been coming in thick and fast overnight - we appreciate your comments on what you thought of the song at the Major Minus sub-forum. So far we have had some very mixed reviews - mainly centered around the distortion in Chris's voice and how the studio version compares to the good quality versions heard at Rock am Ring and Pinkpop festivals. Here are some of your early thoughts...
Hmmm. I actually like the production on Chris's voice for once. It ain't just a lazy overdubbing like some other Coldplay tracks. It's different I'll give them that and I liked it...a lot! A song that will definitely need to blast through my stereos to wake up the neighbourhood. 8/10. Maybe they're testing us like those food testers they have in some of these lovely food stores! Giving us some samples and wanting our opinions after. The most well received song will go on to the album! Major Minus - Spicy, overpowering but an acquired taste needed perhaps! Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall - tasted sour overpowering and made my eyes water. And I swear there was an olive in there....I hate olives! This one left me spewing over the Coldplay super marketfloor...carrots and all! Mop for aisle 4 please!!! [thanks howyousawtheworld]
Well after SEVERAL listens I'm ready to rate. I gave it a 5/10. Its drastically better than Every tear drop, but its by no means perfect. I'm with most people on the voice distortion thing. Its unnecessary, Chris has an amazing voice and this effect simply adds nothing to the song, resulting in the live version being much more powerful. I enjoy the eerie vibe of the song, but once again heavy handed production gets in the way. And yes Eno's stamp is all over this. Its one thing for a producer to encourage a band to try new things, its another to just flat out make it sound like the producer had a hand in writing the song, and his influence, for me anyway, is getting old. Overall much better than the last song, but really that's not saying too much, so I'm going to have to wait to hear MTM. [thanks majgirl]
Live: 9/10; Studio: 5.5/10. What a disappointment this, they ruined Chris amazing voice and Jonny's guitar skills a bit. I need to listen more and more to get used to it, if I ever will be. I think I will listen the Live version more, which I already did a lot the past weeks. [thanks BobW]
I also preferred the live version but I wouldn't go to the extremes that some people have. I'd say live version 8/10 and studio version 6/10. So about a 7 overall. The vocals don't really bother me that much, but something about the overall production has really sucked the life and energy out of the song. Still a million times better than ETIAW though. [thanks Famous Old Painter]
To be quite frank, I have never found Chris's vocals "stunning" like most of you. In fact, I've always thought his voice was somewhat average (go ahead, lynch me ). That said, the vocal effects/duet on this song are a very nice change. It doesn't sound like anything they've done before, and that's a good thing. As for the instrumental...I would only change two things. In the live version, during the guitar crunches, the rest of the band didn't drop out suddenly like in the studio version. It feels kind of jarring the way they recorded it, I liked it better when Chris did the crunches over the rest of the band's continuous playing. It was far smoother that way. Secondly, during Jonny's solo at the end, I would bring forward his guitar in the mix and put a lot more echo on there. It's a spine-chilling part live, but it gets lost in the mix at the end of the studio version. 7.5 / 10. [thanks Hartroc]
Doesn't really give me the feeling it gives me in the live version, but that's almost always the case with most songs. On the other hand it is once again a superb piece of music and I give them credit for experimenting with their voices and mixing of the sound. I keep looking at it as the artistical freedom they use to explore the borders of their musical abilities and their efforts to keep the music they make interesting (to themselves and the fans). So as far as i am concerned, thumbs up for Coldplay, you did it once again! [thanks PeeJay]
I like the fact that it's, like they say, overproduced. It fits the era, and they're clearly doing something different, something new. And this definitely proves to me that the new era is NOT mainstream music. Whether you like the song or not, you just definitely don't usually hear stuff like this on radio. [thanks Lu'kaa]
I liked the song so much more live to be honest. The sound popped a lot more. The studio version is too muddled. You can barely hear Chris's voice, Johnnys guitar or anything. They also don't give him the same part after the first verses. Maybe they'll do another version of the song (ala Lovers in Japan Osaka Sun Remix) where they add those little bits in. Who knows. Live I'd give the song an 7 or 8. But the studio version is like a 5 or 6 at the highest. It's kind of a boring song...which I haven't felt a Coldplay song was since the X & Y era. [thanks footyfan10]
EPIC Jonnyboy guys.... but if it is the studio version i'm glad to know that it's a b-side..played live, this song was my favourite til now.. but in this version i miss jonny's guitar before the 2nd verse and chris's real voice that is unique...you cant do anything to improve his voice.. is perfect!! (i'm wondering if mr. Eno knows it...) ..i like it but i'm disappointed.. [thanks pipp088]
I like the song more than ETIAW... then again I'd like almost anything more than that. But I really hate that distorted vocals. Also I really don't like the melody of the verses and the lyrics... I find it to be a bit annoying to be honest. I do like the chorus bit somewhat. But to me this song has U2 written all over it. Also his vocals during the bridge is extremely annoying how high up he gets. The song is mediocre. Not a huge fan of it, but it's not horrible. I'd give the song a 4/10. [thanks the_gloaming09]
You know, if this song wasn't about the subject matter it is (always being watched, paranoia, etc), I don't think the filter on Chris' voice throughout most of the song would fit. But, due to what the song's about, I think it fits perfectly within the context of the lyrics. It's a dark song and the muffled voice just contributes to it. Not to mention at least one other person (Will) is singing with him in the verses. So, I think it works and fits (and I like it). But to each his own. I'm just putting perspective on the vocal filter so that it could give you a different angle to think about it from. [thanks Rainy Day]
It was a mess, I love COLDPLAY but when they start messing with the sound of Chris' voice, it changes the whole way I hear them and not in a good way. I am going to have to listen to it a few more times to give a full critique, but on a first listen I can say I am a bit worried of the direction they are going in with this album. When I heard it live, I was really excited to hear the recorded version. I think it's going to make it hard to get excited to hear the rest of the songs if they are all overproduced as much as this one is. [thanks Breakfast_of_CHAMPION]
Well, like I said in the comparison of versions thread: I don't like the production. More Eno trademarks than Coldplay trademarks which is not a producer's job.
Live: 10/10. Studio: don't know yet. 6/10 and that would be one my worst Coldplay ratings. It might grow a little. It's just such a pity because it's such a fantastic song, actually. I think musicians should stick more to what they'd like to do live. They could easily make it sound more like the studio version on their gigs but they don't seem to want to. And I'm glad about it. [thanks r25d01]
I like it . . . . but it sounds really weird. They should NEVER mess with Chris's voice EVER. End of story. But I do like the duet with Will and towards the end there's this cool synth-scream thing. The 'crocodiles' part sounds better live, and Jonny's echoes were flippin' epic at Rock am Ring. So eh, cool song, but I think it's better live. I'm fine with the distortion... as long as they don't use it on every song on LP5 Chris's voice is too beautiful to be messed with, and it's one of the reasons why I love Coldplay so much. To me, distortion just drowns out the emotion that Chris and the others are putting into it. [thanks ColdplayingfromKansas]
This might be one of the only songs in the world where I drastically, drastically prefer the live version. Usually I don't care for live versions much unless I'm physically at the concert, but this live version...God, it saves us from the horrible vocal distortion. Why did they decide to do that? Not even Will's backup vocals can help out. It's so drenched in filters that I actually flinched when the vocals came in on first listen. I'd be a hypocrite if I said I was categorically anti vocal distortion on records, since my other favorite band relied heavily on vocal filters for two straight albums. But I think vocal effects can be used constructively, and this is not one of those times. This just sounds like they were bored so they threw it on, and I can't see where it adds anything. I feel like vocal distortion shouldn't stare you in the face and make you wince, and this definitely did that (and I don't think it was just because I'd heard the clean vocals of the live version before). There's the line on "Life in Technicolor ii," where he sings "every road is a ray of light," which I think is one of the few other times Coldplay's done vocal distortion, and even though that's a very obvious use of a filter, it seems more subtle to me, it seems to fit and add something. Not so with this song. [thanks ApproximatelyInfinite]
Um I like studio... The guitar is the same (except crisper cause it's recorded in a studio...), I love the bass sections that we can hear more clearly now (:40 and such are AWESOME), and I actually don't mind the vocal distortion. It seems to fit the song well. I just really like the studio version, and I wasn't really loving the live version just yet. I think having a studio version helps get a feel for what the song is all about. [thanks icedude2010]
Weak. The live version sounds 1000 times better. What the hell did they do to Chris' voice? Seems like a duet (with Will?), but still, way too reduced and awkwardly distorted. The acoustic guitar in the beginning sounds so weak, live it's way more, well, full. The solo sounds a lot less incredible in this studio version too. Plus the unneeded additional effects at the end make it sound really bad. And do I hear Chris singing out of tune around the falsetto part ("I got my...")? Another disappointment I guess, but unlike ETIAW this is really a good song. The production just kind of ruined it. I don't know what the hell they're playing at. Would the producers know that Coldplay sounds a lot better when they do it the natural way? If they want this to make it to the album, they've still got a lot of work to do. [thanks Tryptophan]
This screams of B-side material. Sounds like the vocals are being played through a crappy clock radio speaker and the instrumentals are being played through a proper speaker. [thanks ysthomas]
I like the studio version for what it is. I was surprised by the sound of his voice like most other people here, but after a few plays I think it works pretty well. Someone in the other thread pointed out that the effect works in context of the subject matter and I agree - makes it sound like Chris is giving out a 'warning' through a megaphone or something, which I think is appropriate. Also I actually really like the atmospheric effects they used in this version, almost sounds like screaming toward the end - gives it a pretty creepy vibe, which I guess is exactly what they were going for. I do like some elements of the live version better, but this is crisp and well produced IMO. Bass sounds awesome, guitar has a nice crunch to it. And the whole song is basically the complete opposite of ETIAW, which is interesting because I thought Coldplay had turned uber-cheesy when that song was revealed! [thanks Zemy101]
Their whole reason for making music is making what THEY want. Not what WE want. I really think this song is great. It's different. It's not Parachutes or A Rush of Blood all over again. And frankly I'm glad because that would be really boring and repetitive and I hate it when bands never change their sound and essentially make the same album 7 times over. Like Creed or AC/DC. People are just closed-minded to change it seems. Then again, that explains why anyone sane would vote for the GOP... But seriously guys c'mon. They can't just keep making the same music. That would get old fast. They're not the same people they were 10 or 5 years ago. They don't listen to only the same music they used to. And they don't have the same ideas they did then. They're broadening their horizons which is a great thing. [thanks Fix42YellowClocks]
I like it, and I like that they don't listen to fans. 'do this and don't do that and I hate you for doing this and you have to make a new parachutes.' They should just make music and make what they want to make and don't limit themselves by what fans think because music can never be good if the artist doesn't believe in it themselves. So I love that they're not afraid to experiment even though a lot of people might not be happy about it. And I really like the song. [thanks 2GreenEyes]
Getting a little pissed off at all these complaints over his voice. Hahaha. But I guess it was the same when Viva la Vida was released, a complaint that I seemed to notice was overproduction. Production can work marvelous wonders. Now, of course, Chris has an excellent voice- one that really doesn't need to be messed with- but I honestly don't believe it ruined the song. At all. I think it's a fantastic track, and if it's a B-side I will have abnormally high expectations for the actual album. Then again, some of my favorite Coldplay songs are B-sides At any rate, I think you need to let the song grow on you. And stop listening to the live version. "Every Teardrop" wasn't very good, I'll admit- and it pains me to admit such things- but this is vastly, totally, completely superior. Sort of a cross between "Cemeteries of London," "Bigger Stronger," and really any song off of X & Y. I personally believe that the fact Coldplay can go from very very organic to colorfully produced is commendable. The vocals, distorted they may be, fit with the music very well. And I'm loving this spacey, quirky, walking-man theme. How do you do something like that without lots of production? [thanks postcardsfromfaraway]
Chris' and Will's vocals were recorded separately and than put together with help of a computer, and I think that what makes this song sound a bit "dead", or not so edgy and epic as it was live. Though it's still cool. Waiting for acoustic version. Just four of them in one room playing this great tune. And no Brian Eno even near. [thanks lafinion]
I do fancy the live version more but the recorded one is cool in its own way too. I miss more of Jonny's guitar scratches?/riffs that we hear in the live version between verses. But I love hearing the other boys sing too!...adds a tint of colour and sprinkle of a different dimension to it all...tho, of course, I adore Chris' singing per usual I agree that it would've been fine or perhaps better without distorting Chris' voice...his natural one sounds absolutely great especially live. The general vibe of the song reminds me of the Parachutes era....i.e. the distortion in Chris' voice. [thanks Lovers in NYC]
I made a graph summarising [your] post... it reflects my own thoughts hahah. I love the song but I don't like what they've done to Chris's voice. His voice is unique and awesome, no effects needed. Don't hide one of your best elements!! I'll stick to the live versions we have. The studio version sounds as if they've forgotten to plug in Chris's microphone properly. If you must use the effect... why so quiet? [thanks SueDeNimes]
Image by SueDeNimes
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