Choldplayer

The first time i saw them was 2002 (I think) the AROBTTH tour and they were amazing, saw them twice then. I then saw them twice on the X&Y tour when I met Chris and again they were amazing, then again on the VLV tour. On the MX tour when I saw them I started to feel more disenfranchised and wasn't as impressed the show was spectacular but I felt less into it. Now I haven't even bought tickets and don't really have any wish to go.

How do correlate being a fan of their old music and being a fan of the band and the direction they have now? If this was any other band and this was their first or second album, I'd dismiss it and say I wasn't a fan and say it was rubbish, yet they've produced earlier in their career some of the best music in the past 20 years. I even feel like I have no interest in going to see them live as I can imagine what it will be like, bright colors, happy, happy, happy and crazy recorded synth sounds everywhere urghhh. I long for 10years ago when I saw them live 4 times and they were a brilliant pure band without all the gimmicks.

Nursery rhymes although to be honest, some of the stuff on AHFOD is nursery rhyme like.

I think Stargate are 2 people but yeah I don't know why they're producing it.

Lol.

What have Stargate done to get them to produce Coldplay? They sound like complete amateurs the way they've produced and mixed this record. In the Ryan Seacress interview, Chris said they had to audition songs for them?!?! Wow!

If you look at the albums that have stood up over the years, VLV for example, it very much has a theme and sound to it,it flows amazingly well and sticks to the experimentation for that particular album. Another example would be U2 going from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby, two totally different amazing albums but each sticking to their own experimentation and sound. Bowie also comes to mind, he's the master of reinvention, experimentation and themes, Ziggy Stardust etc. Having all these different genres on AHFOD, R&B, Pop, (almost) Britpop, Soft Rock Ballads all on the one album just sounds like a mush of nothing overall.

Jumping from HFTW to Fun to AD to XMTS to U&U for example doesn't flow well on AHFOD it sounds all over the place and schizophrenic. You need some sort of coherent flow for an album to work.

Spot on about the "Better not bigger" comment. With this album, it sounds like they're trying to please everyone and be the biggest band by being everything to everyone and ultimately completely losing creativity. The albums also schizophrenic and jumps from one genre to another and it doesn't work. Have a theme and stick to it. I think they really need to strip back and get rid of terrible production sounds also, the mix is just awful on this album and most of the time it's a mess of nothing sound,no proper guitar, bass and drums just "noise",it almost sounds like a Chris Martin solo album, are the others even in it? I'd like to see a heavier, almost Politik sound on the next album, strip back,lighter production with almost only the 4 of them and get heavier, grittier and more interesting than the guff we've been served with AHFOD.

If this album bombs then they might have a rethink. Bands have successfully reinvented themselves in the past, I just hope Coldplay have the ability and insight to realise they're not heading in a good direction.

I do. The band I repeatedly played 10 years ago are dead and the songwriter who crafted such amazing, delicate melodies seems to have been taken over by the spirit of Justin Bieber(and gained Justin Biebers songwriting talents at the same time). :-(

Hate to tell you this, but once the excitement of the new album is over, you'll realise the songs really aren't very good and it's not just the "pop/R&B" sound and poor production you're worrying about. Go back and listen to all the classic "rock" or indie albums then listen to AHFOD, the songs just aren't there on AHFOD. This is the true Oldplayers pain :-(

This review made me chuckle and (apart from the hate) is spot on. http://www.stereogum.com/1846312/premature-evaluation-coldplay-a-head-full-of-dreams/franchises/premature-evaluation/ "But A Head Full Of Dreams does none of those things, offering all the hammy grandiosity with none of the quiet power. It’s like a parody of a Coldplay album, and its the easiest-to-hate thing they’ve ever recorded."

I dunno, maybe I've just totally grown out of Coldplay now.

It's an ok song but it's really nothing special. It's been done a hundred times before and it just an average song built around an average riff. You're dreaming if you think it's something novel and special.

It's still a dull lifeless track.

I don't mind Army of One, it's at least listenable. Unlike XMTS, HFTW and the absolutely horrible Amazing Day which almost makes me vomit it's so bad and cheesy, what was Chris thinking?! On a positive note I don't hate Everglow as much now. In general though this album is just so forgettable and dull.

This album doesn't get any better with repeated listens does it? So bad.

Amazing Day is very Christmassy.

Who's bashing the band? We're saying their music has gone downhill. They've still produced some of the best music in the last 20-30years. Just because they're struggling creatively at the moment doesn't mean to say they won't be amazing again in the future. All songwriters go through dry spells.

I really think "Newplayers" or people praising this album are getting lost in the hype and are blinded by their love of the band. It's baffling to me how anyone could not think there has been a downward spiral in quality since VLV culminating in AHFOD. I think time (and album sales) will show this. Not to be aggressive or trying to put people's opinion down.