amazingsirkg

Yeah, its true that India is predominantly Hindu, but the beautiful thing about the country is that it is a melting pot of so many different cultures. For instance, South India has a sizeable Christian population, and Mumbai (which is where the music video was filmed) has pockets of Muslim and Sikh subcommunities as well. As plus, India was the birth place of Buddhism. I've lived in India for about 3 years, and I have to say that the people there appreciate and encompass the religious diversity that is present. I think the best example of this is in Life of Pi, where the main character considers himself a Hindu, Muslim, and Christian all at once.

I have no idea lol. Probably some religious connection to Beyonce, since she's playing a goddess-like figure in the video.

Yup, it says "Rani" in Hindi which means "Queen." Also for everyone else's information, the Hindi letter on the boat above the Beyonce projection towards the end of the video says "Mother Mary" and the final rainbow Hindi text says "Coldplay."

I wouldn't consider any of those bands rock-bands. Except maybe Imagine Dragons.

Coldplay did say they went in a "full circle" after the completion of this album. So does that mean... they're gonna start from the way, way beginning again lol? That means we get some more Ode to Deodorant in LP8 ;) Haha, I just jest. It's gonna be interesting to see what they do next.

Wow... I didn't know that site existed, but thanks! Either way, songs like High Speed, Daylight, were played on their respective albums' tours, but not much. They don't play those songs anymore which is a shame. The setlist so far looks like Coldplay's greatest radio hits (i.e. Viva, Paradise, Fix You, ASFOS, Yellow, Clocks, etc.) with about 6-8 tracks from AHFOD.

I think you guys misinterpreted what I was trying to say... but whatever. I wasn't forcing anyone to rate AHFOD as anything. I just gave out a suggestion so that the ratings average themselves out a bit more. But then again, if you aren't a fan of the album, rate it whatever you want to.

But it does...

Wasn't saying that AHFOD was worth a 10. All I said was that it doesn't deserve a D- rating on Metacritic (which I think most people can agree too). A 10 rating would balance out some of the worse "critic" ratings that gave the band a 4/10 (i.e. Pitchfork). I think it's worth a solid 7.5/10, but I'm rating it a 10 on metacritic because the math balances out the underwhelming score just a tad bit.

Just wanna start of by saying, this is a good discussion Jedi. It's a lot of fun throwing ideas back and forth. The tracks you mentioned on GS: Another's arms, Always in My Head, True Love, etc. were great for Jonny. But, give me an electronic drum kit and I could have totally played Always in My Head's beat: boom, click, ba-boom, boom, click (repeated throughout the track). I mean, I get that they were going for something sparse on the album, but compared to Will's few shining beacons on tracks like Yes and GPASUYF, it's just not good enough. Once again, it goes back to my personal taste. I love rock music (especially classic rock like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc.) so powerful percussion is a really important factor for me in modern alt-rock songs. It's the reason why I love bands like the Arctic Monkeys so much. Matt Helders, the drummer for AM, is phenomenal when it comes to all kinds of tracks, including ballads. On powerful songs like Brianstorm and Pretty Visitors, he nails the fast-paced poundings, and on slower songs like the infamous 505, he starts off slow, but gradually builds up with crecendos and shimmering cymbals. I'd just love to see Will doing a bit more of that in the future. I don't mind the simple electronic drum beat - it adds a change of pace for sure. But filling an entire album with simple percussion beats (Fun, Army of One, XMTS in AHFOD) and practically the entire GS (minus Ghost Story and the chorus of ASFOS) album doesn't really cut it for me. Especially where there were places on the tracks of both albums where I felt were sparse and could use a lot more complexity on the percussion... even on the ballads.

I feel like everyone should rate AHFOD a 10 on Metacritic, whether the album deserves it or not. It's got an absurdly low score right now (62, I last checked) and whether or not the pop-influences are your thing, Chris and the band seemed to have worked pretty hard on it. Idk, I feel the album deserves better than a D rating.

Hmm... maybe he does. And that's perfectly fine. I think the rhythm was creative on this album (i.e. the glass percussion in HFTW, the *boop* things on Everglow, etc.). It's just that I feel like Will is an incredibly underrated drummer and same with Jonny to an extent on the guitars. I've gotten the feeling on the last few albums that both of 'em (Jonny less so with AHFOD, since I felt he shined on this album) aren't playing to their full potential. I mean, I loved Oceans, ASFOS and Fly On from Ghost Stories, but those tracks could easily come out of a Chris Martin solo album. It was just Chris with his piano/acoustic guitar with maybe a couple synths in the background. Jonny and Will's contributions on those tracks were limited. And Guy was practically nonexistent.

That's true, but he hasn't been really clear with the band's direction in the post-AHFOD era. And yeah, Will's drumming is good on AOAL. It's also pretty good on Amazing Day as well. But compared to the stuff he did on older tracks like God Put a Smile Upon Your Face and Yes, it pales in comparison. I mean, watch these two videos to get an idea of what I'm talking about: 1) 2) (skip to 1:40 to get to the epic drum build up thing). ^This is the stuff I want Will to do more of. He's REALLY GOOD at it, and he should really focus on a larger presence on the tracks rather than simple electronic drum beats.

It's all good. Music is a preferential thing. It's based on your perception and how you interpret the song to be. Most people seem to have felt Birds, but everyone has different musical tastes overall. :)

I hate how Chris has been flip-flopping his answers to interviewers when they ask him whether AHFOD is their last album. He always replies with something like: "I feel like we've come in a complete circle, and everything we've done has led up to this." and "I am so happy to be a part of this band right now," etc. etc. without specifically revealing whether or not Coldplay will split up after the Head Full of Dreams tour. But... If an LP8 ever comes out, the band has given the indication that it's gonna be a while from now. 3,4,5 years maybe? Maybe more. However, I feel like a hiatus that long is gonna produce a pretty interesting sounding LP. I don't think Coldplay is gonna stick in the pop-rock genre for that long. I can definitely see them experimenting with Jazz-rock fusions (which I think they can pull of really well), Classic/Hard Rock with an indie touch (kinda like the Arctic Monkeys/Strokes older albums), stadium rock (Muse meets U2) with electronic influences, or hell... they might just go with a pink-floyd sounding ambient rock record. Whatever it is, I just hope that Will gets of those electronic drums and actually has a presence in LP8. He's a highly underrated drummer for the reason that he gets little opportunity in his songs to show how good he is. Also, I want Jonny to veer away from his ambient playing style and start playing some fast-strumming, catchy, rock riffs. Something like "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" or "Brianstorm"-like guitar work from the Arctic Monkeys. But then again, I'm just thinking out loud. It'll be interesting to see what the band does from here.