This post may be even longer. :D
Glad I'm back at my computer this time.. it may not take so long!
That Chinese Sleep Chant style would also be a good direction to explore in. I don't like it as much as most songs on Viva but it's still a cool thing they tried and I'm glad for that. (It's shoegaze BTW :D)
But why not explore both of the styles for the next album? Or better yet try to make content that somehow mixes some of the elements of both of the styles, and even other styles as well? The possibilities are endless. I really do wish Coldplay would explore them. I liked the pop phase but it would be much more interesting to see them explore truly diverse styles yet again as they did in Viva era.
I think there is a fair amount of Guy in Coldplay's older content. More of a subtle addition, as @I ran away stated. But stuff like Sparks and Everything's Not Lost I think has a very good amount of Guy, but just really slower compared to today. Things I Don't Understand is the most blatantly obvious exception here, it probably has one of the most unique, amazing, and beautiful basslines I've ever heard, it really takes the spotlight and drives the song forward. That song would be massively incomplete without his work, really any song would be :D The best bassline from Coldplay, that's for sure!!
Don't quite see what you're meaning there. Are you trying to say Coldplay took a break from how they usually are picky over what goes on the album but never did stop working? Or something like that? Took a break from working as hard as they usually do? Something like that? Don't quite understand.
That's interesting isn't it? Not a lot of songs for GS were made either and that album is one of their most disliked. But also Parachutes is generally enjoyed by fans but we never got a lot of B-sides from that album either, it's almost like the newer eras in the sense that we got Careful Where You Stand, For You, and Help Is Around The Corner as non album songs from that era. And a cover of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Not a lot is known on that era about how many songs were actually worked on was there? I don't think it was a lot...
There's split opinions on X&Y generally, maybe not as much as Coldplay's newer albums but it seems to get the most hate out of the Oldplay albums and they wrote a ton of songs for that album, they made the album like 5 times before they got it right didn't they? I would really love to hear all of the songs that went unreleased during that era. It is one of the most interesting eras for Coldplay to me.
Viva Era is pretty much universally loved and they did write a ton for that era, and like 40+ songs in general that came from that era we have in one form or another that's available...
Mylo Xyloto had quite a few songs written too, there was going to be an acoustic LP5 but that got scrapped save for a few songs... and there seems to be split opinions on that album as well.
AHFOD we have no info on either. I bet some masterpieces were written during this era that got thrown away because of Stargate. So sad that Coldplay needs these big name producers like that and come and ruin everything, and that they actually like that sound enough to have it on an album... smh. Hopefully the next era has better producers!
Agree with this part. I think it's time for another Viva type era again, not necesarily to sound like the Viva era but just them experimenting with different styles to make something revolutionary in their sound. It would be amazing. :D
If we need to wait that long for another CP album it better be the best thing to ever exist, and yes they should be there for that. I would rather wait that long for a masterpiece than wait 2 years for another pop release, that's for sure!
***Yes!!! At the end of the relationship. After Mylo. :D
(I'm sorry my bias for this album is showing through in this thread... please ignore it! :D)
Even though I like GS too. And AHFOD to an extent. But not as much as their older albums...
I believe if they were brought in again they would once again explore numerous styles of music and possibly make another Viva. (Again, not in terms of the sound but trying things new. :D)
I agree, those songs are all really interesting!
I'll likely do this in the future too when I don't really have anything to say about one of the sections of your post. :)
Thank you, I appreciate the time you're taking to go through my massive post and reply to some of it. :D
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I see what you mean. In that sense I completely agree with you. And that's why I like the Mylo era so much. To my ears at least it doesn't sound overproduced, and that for me is meaning when everything is edited to sound so clean and polished, I don't get that in my ears in the Mylo era, something about it just makes it feel much more genuine than AHFOD's production... after all they did still have Eno on board in that era, that probably helped wonders with making those really atmospheric intros like M.M.I.X! A lot of "enoxification" is mentioned throughout the songs, I bet that's why these songs are great in the first place. An MX with Stargate would have been much much worse, oh wait that was pretty much AHFOD in a nutshell...
Okay, on to what I was going to say, MX does sound the biggest and brightest of all Coldplay albums in my opinion. And that's why I like it so much. If you're going to make an album that wants to explode just make it explode!!!!!! That's what they did with MX. And that's why I like a lot of the music from the 2011-12 mainstream scene in general, the songs do not hold back and sound larger than life just like they should. Honest. And no holding back. I actually like EDM from this era. Meanwhile a few months ago hip hop was more of the thing in the mainstream and as a result the songs sounded absolutely horrendus. EDM made a bit of a comeback recently and it sounds nowhere near as good as what it once was, it just has this production sound that for some reason just doesn't click with me as much as songs from a few years back did. For some reason I can't explain... And here you have AHFOD. A version of MX that does not explode as much and as a result isn't as good to my ears. I like songs like AOAL and HFTW but compare those with Paradise, Charlie Brown, and ETIAW.. which group of songs explode more? The MX songs. They really get you energetic. AOAL and HFTW are fine to me but they just don't have that same explosive quality... and that's why I am more disappointed in this era than MX. In MX they did the perfect job of making songs explode and here in AHFOD it's just not as much... that's why I say that MX is generally a much happier album than AHFOD, even though someone said earlier that the happiness in AHFOD comes from a more genuine place which is true to an extent MX just sounds so much happier, it's almost like the music should be switched if that's the case since instrumentally MX sounds much more explosive and happy. But I think there's just something about that whole concept album thing that adds something to it. Yes, real life is fun too and is more genuine but it's almost one of the reasons why I love MX so much, it has the story behind it and everything and I find it fascinating. Just fun. <3
I can see what you mean when you prefer the "subtler" anthems like you mentioned. I do like MX more but you know that's just me, we have different opinions and that's the reason why Coldplay games work, if we all thought the same way it would be incredibly boring, and the world as a whole would be incredibly boring so thanks for differing opinions! :D
Overall though I do like Oldplay more, don't get me wrong there :)
Once again I can see what you're getting at here. Just like you I much much prefer the mainstream music from 2011 and such more than this current era we have now. I would argue though that EDM has actually faded in recent years in favor of a calmer sound that's not necessarily calm but only gets you to minorly dance a bit, not jump up and down with total excitement like EDM does for me. Just this really bland kind of sounds that more music has today. Then recently it got replaced with these absolutely obnoxious sounding hip hop songs (thanks a lot Worth It and Hotline Bling, smh :() which is really where it's bad. I like today's music a little better now since EDM has made a bit of a comeback, but it is still much worse than 2011 style stuff and previous. Feels really watered down, just like AHFOD in comparison to MX.
As for AOAL using the same tricks I can agree with you, and it does use the same tricks, but for some reason it doesn't sound nearly as overproduced as most dancepop tracks nowadays, and actually has a fair bit of elements in it that make it different from dance pop. In today's dancepop you simply don't have electric guitar riffs that sound as awesome as it does in AOAL anymore. I got so excited the first time I heard that riff. I loved it! There's something about the bass in this song that resembles mainstream pop but once again Coldplay does it far better. The beat sounds more organic than most electropop as well, even though a bit of it may not be organic drums some of it kind of sounds like it, and where it doesn't it has this kind of diverse flavor and feel to it that doesn't sound boried and copied from mainstream music nowadays. To sum it up a lot of electropop has this overtly really awful sounding electronic soundscape to it while AOAL has it a bit but not su much, hence why I think it does not resemble mainstream pop as much as your ears hear it!
Thank you. :D
Fair enough, Eno is a bigger name, I wouldn't say "big" but a bigger name. Which I don't mind, it doesn't take away from the fact that he is a legend. Hopkins wasn't such a big name in the beginning but he has grown a little bit now, his recent tracks have more of a techno flavor to them which resonates with more people than what he once did. His latest album is my least favorite but it's only him exploring different styles that don't resonate with me as much as his older stuff. He is still very valid though, he made the album mainly from actual recordings of real objects, than twisted them into something much more abstract to paraphrase what he said and I find that so fascinating! He isn't using premade loops like most people do, he makes his own from what he wants the sounds to sound like and I applaud him for taking that extra step to make it his own original kind of deal. Takes more time? Yes. But it's about the craftmanship which is why I can enjoy his latest release even more. His way of making electronic music is awesome, aside from the part that it actually does sound nice to me. I like his latest remix of Magnets or whatever it was called again, it sounds even better than the majority of what's on Immunity, it sounds so epic and has this otherworldly unique feel to it. Recently he's been getting into these really long elaborate almost repetitve remixes that build wayyy up over time, Midnight is another example and Magnets is a more recent version showcasing this. If this is what his next album is going to sound like which I really hope comes out soon then I am going to be pleased.
Lol it's okay. I realize the blatant bias I'm showing for MX here, sorry about that. It's just that I love it so much that it shines through, I almost can't help myself to say something when I see someone say something bad about it. :P But I realize you're not a fan as much as the subtler things is and that's okay. At least you like it more than the other Newplay albums, really I'm thankful for AHFOD because it opened up what MX had to offer to more Oldplayers. I wonder how many people at the time who despised MX thought that one day it would actually start to recieve a little bit of respect from Oldplayers...
I agree, after MX though they've been declining, in terms of the mainstream kind of value AHFOD is worse than GS, because even GS wasn't such a mainstream album, well it was poppy but just in the melancholic sense... a few songs on it thought I definitely wouldn't call "mainstream". More of AHFOD is mainstream-ier unfortunately, and I didn't want that to happen necessarily... I'm still not sure what I like more, once it was AHFOD but since the "new" bias from the album has gone away and it's started to sink in (can anyone believe Amazing Day has had a year for us to listen to already?!!?) I think I might actually like GS more. To view AHFOD as my least favorite album is deffiniely possible, I have a top 3 for Coldplay albums but I still for some reason I can't explain figure out for the life of me these other 4 albums, other than the fact that Viva is probably more near the top and AHFOD the bottom.
The excuses definitely are running out, and I agree that from Coldplay we don't expect an average output but the best. And in my opinion AHFOD when compared to other mainstream albums shines brightly. Amongst the other Coldplay albums though it fades..
True, Oldplay isn't pure misery and despair and I'm glad for that, if it were it wouldn't have been as enjoyable. Especially X&Y. The lyrical themes seem to contrast with the instrumentation, it's darker and sadder while the songs themselves seem to have a happier tone to them. Not like MX or AHFOD happy but you know what I mean? In general though it is more melancholic which I do like.since some of my favorite songs are very melancholic, really in my top 10 Coldplay songs the only "happy" songs are Paradise, U.F.O, and Up With The Birds to an extent, that really isn't happy, but the ending is hopeful sounding. It is enough to make me cry every time I hear it though, especially on a day like today that marks 2 months since someone I love went up with the birds... :cry:
Yesssssssssssssss!!!! Finally, someone who realizes Mylo Xyloto isn't all lollipops and rainbows!!!! It honestly makes me so mad when I see someone bashing Mylo Xyloto because "ohhhhhhhhh myy sounds soooooooo poppy and happy all. the. timeeeeeee. ouchhh I hate that" for one, Mylo is not a pop album, it's a pop-rock album if anything, and the rockier side of that since some pop-rock really leans toward the pop bland side of things. And it defintely isn't all lollipops and rainbows, there's an actual story behind it that is not all lollipops and rainbows, and that's why I love Mylo so much. A perfect mixture of extreme happiness and sadness IMO. That's one out of the many reasons why Mylo Xyloto remains my favorite albumn of all time! It's like when someone says that: "nononononono, that's AHFOD you're thinking of!!!!" And even that is a strech, contrary to the album cover even AHFOD isn't complete happiness. See: Everglow, Fun, Kaleidoscope, heck even XMTS as bad as it is, you got to admit it's not a happy song. Arguably it might even have more "low" moments than MX. What we have in MX... Us Against The World lyrically is a bit sad but instrumentally very hopeful. Major Minus isn't really "sad" but not "happy" either... U.F.O sounds very happy but once again lyrically not so much... contrary to popular belief PoC is not happy at all, the ending gets really melancholic and is my favorite part I love to turn up to in that song, it feels like the second the piano ends is the second that the drumbeat from UiF should play which is easily the saddest song of the album. Up With The Birds is just all emotions at the same time so yeah... I actually think AHFOD has more "low" moments interestingly enough, hmm contrasts what I said earlier.. oh well Mylo will still be my fav :D
Sorry in advance if I am thinking of the wrong thing here. Yes, you can also care about artistic quality while being happy which is precisely what they did during the Viva era. But once again, what does that create? Tension. Which is honestly vital to a really really good sounding record. Once again in AHFOD I think with their earlier releases they'd earned a break from tension and just made an album filled with joy. A celebration record. With massive live performances. Woo! Time to party down :D Yes, you could care about artistic quality and I'd do that but they were just more focused on being happy and in my mind they've well deserved that after their great work previously. Even though AHFOD may not sound as good as what once was... it's a sound of a band having pure fun. And I like that. They needed that moment to just not care and do whatever... as silly as it may sound. :D
Yes, but he's jumping around while he can. Soon he simply will not have the energy too. Once again, reflected in the slower songs they've been playing recently when they're not dancing all around blasting anthems. He might also be doing it just for the theme of what this tour is all about: having as much fun as possible. But you do know what, I find that annoying in Fix You too. They really do seem to play wayyyy too many backing tracks nowadays I've noticed just so Chris Martin can jump around and dance. It's almost like he can do that better then he can actually play the music... and it does have a massive impact on the vocals. he already lips Clocks. Which I find incredibly troubling... that Life on Mars cover he recently did proves that if only he tried more and stayed still he could make the show live off of how good he can sing. He still has it in him. Yes, after all of these massive shows and tours his voice may be damaged forever and never be able to sing like he once would... (let's face it, he's still better than me by light years and light years :lol) But he can still sing very very very well as demonstrated in that Life on Mars cover, I was blown away! He don't need none of that Autotune or Lip syncing. This proves it...
LOLLLLLLLLLLLL "and acts like a holiday resort entertainer when he asks people to get low and jump in AOAL" this is just TOO FUNNY!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: I've gotta say, you're my favorite member of this forum by far in terms of how good you are at making fun of what Coldplay does today. Cracks me up everyyyy time. Keep it up, this is great. You made my day brighter when I needed it... :D
Once again I agree with what you're saying with the vocals and how the shows now are more about how much he can jump and dance around rather than his actual true musical talent... it's a bummer that his vocals keep getting damaged and that he's not using them to their full potential. I myself if I were blessed with such a great voice would do my all to preserve it... :(
Don't you worry, my post is a million times longer than probably any other post on the site here other than that one time I went over the character limit (anyone remember that? During the pre AHFOD era. Broke the character limit and went like 2 times over the pic limit... :lol) This time it may actually take you a month to get through this all.... :D
Took much shorter than my other post thankfully. Only cause I'm on computer though... so thankful. This post would have been impossible on mobile to have all the information here it does have...