utdoug

ahh coldplay... always trying so hard to be radiohead.

i agree with you in everything except that viva is the better album. i agree it flows a lot better, and though it isnt conceptual... it definitely has a good feel. the reason i prefer the one over the other is simply the use of more traditional instruments (im a bit of a purist). i completely agree with your take on how they will interpret these songs live. what makes radiohead such a great band is that they can somehow reproduce or rework their songs for a live environment... i wonder if coldplay is talented enough to accomplish the same. PS the only reason i said will is trying so hard not to be a drummer is just because all those pictures of him in the album art playing the acoustic... a bit of a low blow i realize :)

as per starskay's request... jonny is a crap guitarist because the accompaniment/lead that, i assume, he writes is simplistic and bland. i understand there is beauty in simplicity (that's my original argument to why I love AROBTTH), but there is also an element of musicianship that should express itself in the form of technical difficulty. think of it this way... chris could sit down and make mary had a little lamb sound beautiful... but he could also play Beethoven's 9th and it would blow us all off our feet. get my drift with jonny? simple parts. appropriate at times. but is not "helping the cause" if coldplay are trying to be a forward thinking band.

x&y blows.

disappointed with the new CD? I think AROBTTH is one of the best CDs of all time, and I absolutely adored Coldplay before X&Y. After X&Y's release I began to lose faith fast, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt... it was their 3rd CD and only bad one of the bunch (we wont go into why X&Y sucked so much because if you don't know then I'm not really interested in discussing music with you anyway). Now with VLV etc. I think they have gone the wrong direction again. The new CD will be their most popular obviously, but because it is undoubtedly pop, and over-produced. Not to mention, Chris' lyrics are atrocious in this album "you might be a big fish in a little pond/ doesn't mean you've won/ because along may come a bigger one" "those who are dead are not dead/ they're just living in my head" (wow that was painful to type even) I think Chris does an amazing job, but his bad just isn't talented enough to interpret the songs he writes. Jonny is a crap guitarist, and Will is trying so desperately trying not to be a drummer (but he is and needs to accept it), and Guy is just... Guy. The CD comes off sounding like they've just tried too hard. With the unneeded "bonus track" in the middle and end and the incredibly annoying fact they decided to call it Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, it seems as if Coldplay is trying really hard to be innovative, but have sold out to be just another brit pop band. I've written this here because I used to be THE BIGGEST coldplay fan of them all... you all are my bretheren so dont flame me just because I have a differing opinion... Discuss.

are you guys kidding me? jonny buckland's guitar parts are simple at best, and he is NOT a good guitarist. i dont understand why he can't sit down, listen to these songs chris martin comes up with, and offer a decent accompaniment or lead. i want to think he's a decent musician, but does anyone have any any proof? only superstition? please. i just watched these guys on the daily show and it really annoyed the hell out of me to watch him bob his head and move all around, and then play like 4 notes. when i first heard violet hill i thought "hey jonny learned how to play the guitar a bit"... but there is absolutely nothing impressive on the new album. *sigh* chris needs a new band. end of story.

i agree with you... but for instance Sleeping Sun... great song, a true testament to chris's song writing ability. its a simple, beautiful and parachutesesque, and it was kind of a side note b-side thrown on the talk single. its these kind of songs that chris martin excels in writing. songs like fog (again) live, how i made my millions and gagging order by radiohead i dont think can compare to songs like sleeping sun, help is just around the corner, I bloom blaum... so why not release some more EPs!! LP's should take a while to perfect i agree.

i think you guys are completely right about the comparison to radiohead. sound-wise i realize that coldplay and radiohead are worlds apart and have been for quite some time. coldplay needs to release that DVD, because live 2003 was really well done. i went and saw them twice this year and both the concerts i thought were better performances than in 2003 (even with the X&Y songs). on one hand i want them to come out with something new really fast... but i think what they really need is to actually take a good long break, come back, and just go on a releasing extravaganza for 2 solid years... no tour. but it seems like EMI is all over coldplay and what they are allowed to do.

i guess im going to take this silence to mean you all agree with me.

So I dont have any other real outlet for this so I decided to waste some people's time with this thread. Recently I have been steadily decreasing the amount of time I listen to Coldplay. I have really gotten into Radiohead this last year and I cant help but compare the two every time I listen to one of them (something I used to despise when people would come on here and talk about Radiohead vs. Coldplay). But a few things have occurred to me when I listen to both. The first thing is that on average, Radiohead's songs are overall more intricate in instrumentals and musical depth. Not always I realize, but with Greenwood's guitar parts and a 5 member dynamic, songs become more interesting for the most part. Also, one thing that really bothers me is that at this point in Radiohead's career (3rd album) they had released their best album, OK Computer celebrated as "The Best Rock Album of the Last 20 years." X&Y hardly is Coldplay's best, their worst I would say. X&Y was rushed out of production (by EMI, hardly Coldplay's fault most likely) and seemed to be full of filler love songs that are not nearly what A Rush of Blood to the Head accomplished lyrically or musically. The last major thing I noticed is that Coldplay has been together for over 10 years now and have only produced 3 LP's and a handful of EP's. It seems like Coldplay (Chris Martin) simply hasn't written enough music to keep long term fans, like me going on 4.5 years, interested. My reason for posting this is that I am disheartened that I was once such a hardcore, download every live/acoustic/rare song by Coldplay, fan and now I am at a point where I struggle to say that they are my favorite band anymore. Now dont get me wrong, I still love these guys. I'll always consider Chris Martin's voice the best in Rock and I consider A Rush of Blood to the Head the best album I have ever listened to. But I think the pressure is on Coldplay now. I dont think they were happy with X&Y (EMI and Capitol were) and neither were the majority of the older fans. I think they want to produce something truely amazing. I hope hope hope we can expect the 4th LP to blow our minds and I hope just as much that we get it soon. So the real question... what do you guys think?

i dont think there will be much of a break... chris made the comment in an interview i heard about a month ago that "weve been together for over ten years and weve only released 3 albums...." lp4's gonna be good. i can feel it, much better than x&y lets hope

whatever coldplay can play whoever they want because they are coldplay. and if lou reed doesnt like it he can cry about it and go eat some ice cream :)

nice one ugadawg

clocks... then soon after my physics teacher played yellow... and ive been hooked ever since

master_place_forever, well put. whew!