Zero Theory

The Stargate effect. 'Church' and the AHFOD title track are both some seriously great opening tracks that have been pulverized by Stargate, the use of a cheap Yamaha keyboard drumbeat demo, and making Jonny (arguably the highlight of each song) almost non existent in the recording. It boggles my mind how Coldplay continue to work with Stargate. (Maybe Church was leftover from the AHFOD era, but they still wish they'd never been working with them in the first place) Imagine if Eno had produced either of those tracks...

MBDTF is an all-timer. Kanye's magnum opus. 10.0 is justified imo.

This guy does a lot of Coldplay reviews and has a pretty large following for a YT music critic channel. I agree with a lot of his sentiments and disagree with some others. Worth a watch (will spoil album if you haven't listened yet)

I agree about the Grammy's point- this is their best shot since MX to win an award or 2. This won't fall into any of the mainstream categories, but definitely can see it making a run at best alternative album(?) I do think some critics will find the album a bit all over the place. The weird thing is that the album is all over the place musically, but has a pretty coherent lyrical message. In that way, it kind of works. I normally don't care about awards and that stuff, but there is something very satisfying about Coldplay getting critical recognition. I think it's because they get slagged off and they deserve so so so much more respect than that.

I don't get it either. There are quite a few musicians that I don't like or music that I really can't stand, and I can't see myself ever having the desire or time to bash them on random articles and video lol

Which is exactly why I think it has a chance to be Coldplay's highest rated Pitchfork album- because it's the least mainstream of any album they've done. But since it's Pitchfork, and they fancy themselves quite a bit as having musical superiority to the rest of the planet, it could totally backfire and they could give it a 2 or something for some very specific reason that they deem important.

The first several times I heard this song, I legitimately thought Chris was saying "but I'll stand before conquistadors till I'm jackin' off the world"

*waits anxiously for Pitchfork to chime in* This is an album where I feel they could either give it a 7.8/10 or a 2.8/10. I think on the shear idea that Coldplay pushed themselves and tried something (mostly) drastically different on this album while making a coherent politically-charged statement, that Pitchfork will like it much better than GS and AHFOD (so higher than 4.8/10). If they don't take offence to how eclectic/diverse/self-indulgent the genre of songs are on the album, then surely they will see this higher as Mylo Xyloto, which they gave a 7.0 and still bashed as being generic arena poprock. I'll go Pitchfork give a 7.2/10.

It's very possible Jonny does some of the acoustic work (and I'm guessing he will have no choice but to be doing a lot of acoustic live for this album?) But I think it's pretty clear that Chris wrote the acoustic for WOTP/POTP, since it sounds like Chris felt a song "come through him" (as he would word it) and pulled out his cellphone to record a demo of it and that's what we hear on the album. Also pretty clear that Guns and Old Friends is just Chris on acoustic I would think... Jonny definitely has quite a few good electric guitar bits on the album that are clearly him, like Church, Trouble in Town, Orphans, and Champion of the World. Maybe that little acoustic riff in Eko was written by Jonny? And then Chris mirrors the riff on the piano? I'm not sure. But again, a song like Eko is so minimalist that it really seems it's mostly Chris, especially since he writes the melody and lyrics 95% of the time. But if Jonny plays some of those songs live on acoustic, that doesn't necessarily mean he wrote it instead of Chris. I'm curious to know.. would be a good question for the band.

1. AROBTTH 2. VLV ... 3. X&Y 4. Parachutes 5. MX 6. Everyday Life .... 7. GS ... 8. AHFOD I will say, it takes Coldplay songs/albums a LONG time to grow on me. A lot of it depends on how good the live performances are. Since this album has so many good musical bits and is unique, there's a chance it could move into 3/4/5 for me. But I don't see it touching AROBTTH or VLV. The album feels a little disjointed at the moment to me, and undeveloped. We went from way way too overproduced on AHFOD to a bit underproduced on EL. Having said that, Church, Trouble in Town, Arabesque, Eko, Daddy, COTW, Old Friends, and Cry Cry Cry are really good. I wish When I Need a Friend was a bit longer and fleshed out because it's so good. (On second thought, there is something to the shortness and simplicity of it) But WOTP/POTP should be a fully recorded song with the whole band, like wtf. It sounds good but it's like I'm trying to hear my mom over the phone. Like what is he saying, it sounds good but I want to HEAR the song. The acoustic guitar is so good on this album. Unbelievable work from Chris, that we've never really seen before. I really admire how much Chris pushed himself on this album. And Guy too. I just wish it had a little more flow and more Jonny.

First impressions of Sunrise- Sunrise -Beautiful instrumental, really epic classical/Viva vibes. Great opening Church -I'm surprised to see mixed reviews on this one, because I think it's absolutely brilliant. I'm unsure yet about the drum production if I really like it or not. But Chris' vocals I think are outstanding and unique. It gives me some floaty X&Y vibes with a modern twist. Trouble in Town So so so cool and unique. The only song on the album that has a true standard rock feel (at the end after the police interaction sample thing?). Jonny and Guy really stand out on this song. BrokEn -Obviously very different from anything they've ever done. It's basically a standard gospel song, which is not necessarily my type of music. But Chris manages to make a catchy tune out of it. I dig it. It's very interesting that Chris would do a song like this that is obviously very based in the Christian religion. I think he just appreciates all religions and cultures, and is inspired by beautiful music, and gospel music is certainly beautiful. I see this song as Chris acknowledging and appreciating Christianity, and specially traditional black gospel music, as a way people cope with the troubles of the world. Daddy -An absolute treat for Oldplayers. This has like pre-Parachutes vibes, and is better than anything they released pre-Parachutes. It's on par with the sound and quality of For You/Gravity. Extraordinarily sad song, but beautiful. WOTP/POTP -First let me say I like the melody and overall tune. But this one frustrates me a bit. I appreciate the attempt to be organic and obviously this was recorded not with the intention of being a studio recording. Did Chris record this outside and just kind of mumble along? It's almost as if the studio recording of this song was of Chris trying to write the song and figure out the lyrics. The song has great potential, I just wish they had fleshed it out with a little more clarity and actual production. They could still make it sound organic and raw (which was clearly the intention), but put a little more production into it. It's like a combination of Jack Johnson, Bob Marley and gospel? Arabesque -As some critic said, it's probably the most interesting thing Coldplay has done in a decade (not so coincidentally, the bass/guitar/percussion is from Viva sessions with Eno). It continues to grow on me and I can't wait to hear the live performance of it. Really powerful lyrics from Chris. When I Need A Friend -Love it. I remember reading a few weeks back that Jacob Collier worked with the band on this album, and I started to get into his music a little bit recently, and if you listen to his music, it was immediately noticeable that he's very prominent on this song. Very cool stuff. Only complaint is I wish the song was a little more fleshed out. The bones of the song are so good that I'm left wanting more.

Nice to see you as well! I'd love to be as active as I was a couple years back, but my time has been swallowed up by a new job. . . . I wonder, will this be a full 20+ song set? I certainly hope so. But we are a long ways away haha. It's very likely that they play even newer songs beyond LP8 by the time that gig rolls around, and sort of brush LP8 to the wayside by then. It really depends what the other dozen songs sound like on Everyday Life (some are quite short and some are not really suited for a big live show, like Guns). But at the very least they will play Orphans. I wish Arabesque too, but I'm curious how that song will work live (guess we'll find out in a little over a week!). And I'm sure there will be another 1-2 songs on the album that emerge as hits that will be staples at live shows for the foreseeable future.

I didn't say it was boring, I think you are misconstruing what I said. I'm just saying the typical argument from people who hate on Coldplay, or are indifferent to the band, is referencing their slower songs as being boring, and their upbeat songs to be mainstream sellout pop. (To which I disagree with both points, I'm just saying how those people feel). And the title track (although I find it beautiful, especially the studio version) is certainly an expected Coldplay sound from a neutral point of view/someone who is aware of Coldplay but doesn't actively listen to or love them. And I think Arabesque on SNL would've been a cool opportunity to do something different and kind of catch the eyes and ears of non-Coldplayers in a great way. As we all know on here, Coldplay are incredibly talented and have the ability to spit out a standard pop rock hit, as well as write deeply moving and creative music. But the mainstream doesn't see that, so it's like my life goal for everyone to know that oh wait, Coldplay are actually one of the greatest bands of all time.

I think there will be many more Coldplay shows before this and possibly even another album in the works come this gig :rolleyes:

1. AROBTTH 2. VLV 3. MX 4. X&Y 5. Parachutes 6. GS 7. AHFOD At the very least, I expect EL will be above GS and AHFOD. I have a hard time seeing it having a chance to go above 3 for me. VLV and AROBTTH are too special. I think EL will fall somewhere between the 3rd and 6th spot, for me. But let's hear the other 13-14 songs first :joy: