ApproximatelyInfinite

True, but I don't know, I just feel like they wouldn't have it all over everything if it was something that they were no longer using. Then again, I guess they didn't decide the final tracklist until much after they painted all the gear and costumes, but I still just think that it's likely that it'll fit into the album somewhere, like in lyrics, even though it's not a song title anymore. It is weird that it's the symbol for UATW, but who knows :shrug: Or maybe a B-side later :D

Am I understanding that some people have already been charged? Mine still says preordered and I'd love for them to just take the money out of my account now so I don't have to worry so much about keeping it above a certain level :P.

Chris ALWAYS says it's going to be their last album, though. Will recently explained that he thinks Chris means that once they've just finished a record, the tank is empty and the idea of putting out another ever is so daunting that they can't even think about it. I think that often times, releasing music is an intricate balance of pleasing yourself vs. pleasing the fans. I guess my "point" in expressing my thoughts on this board isn't in that I hope they or someone from their team finds it and takes it into consideration, it's more just about discussing music with other like-minded people for me. But at the same time, I really do find this trend of a lot of fans, specifically older fans, expressing this much doubt to be interesting, and because I think the team is aware of it (unfortunately, I think they're aware of the most disrespectful end of it), if I were them I might be interested in evaluating that discontent a bit, whether or not it influenced my later work.

This is a great thread and I'm sad it took me this long to realize it existed. Most people have said what I would have said earlier, but that's never stopped me before :P The bottom line for me is that I'm actually very interested in the board reaction to this era/album, warts and all. I lurked around X&Y's release and was here for Viva's, and there were certainly dissatisfied customers then too, but what interests me is the sheer amount of displeasure this time around. How people have expressed that displeasure aside, I think there's definitely something to be said about that--it's not like it's just coincidence that so many fans aren't feeling what they're doing these days (and moreover, started to feel inklings of these feelings in 2008). Something has definitely changed, and I refuse to believe the people that say that what Coldplay are doing now is a wholly "natural progression" for the band, or that the new stuff sounds like "classic Coldplay." I feel that somewhere along the line, there was a somewhat-conscious change in direction, for better or for worse depending on your tastes. But the thing that gets me about this era is the level of tact of the fans. Despite the fact that we know people like Debs, and at least formerly maybe Phil and the guys themselves check in on here, I don't think that means we should just make it rainbows and smiles all the time--we should say what we actually feel in a constructive way. But we should say it FAIRLY and with RESPECT, the lack of which is really blowing me away this time around. And that's what's unfortunate to me. There are certainly a few things that I've said on here in the past few months that I wish I'd worded better, but I think we all just need to think a bit longer before hitting "post" sometimes. Everyone's perfectly within their rights to say that they don't like something, no matter who's reading it. The key is in how you say it. It makes me horribly sad that the band and their team feel less than positively about Coldplaying in the past few years (really, I think that probably was helped along by the display of ungratefulness last Christmas after the boat party episode), but I don't think that's simply because some parties are less than in love with things, I think it's because some parties don't know how to give a constructive, respectful take on their thoughts, especially in relation to other peoples' thoughts.

Wow, I really like this post. I feel almost exactly the same way--I love the new stuff, but it has nothing to do with their roots to me, and I liked the roots "better," in a lot of ways (though the difference is more qualitative than quantitative to me). No matter how much I like their new work and no matter how much I know they cannot and should not go back to making music exactly like their first two albums, I'm always going to kind of mourn the loss of those types of songs from back then. My other wishes would have to be business-related. I think they'd creatively benefit from getting off a label and taking much more control over their own promotion and business dealings, which could also lead to things like lower ticket prices, fewer chances for scalpers to rule tickets (if they made that a focus of theirs)...the possibilities would be endless. I also think they need an official fanclub in that mix, with a moderate membership fee but outstanding benefits, like ticket incentives and exclusive content. Oh, and I wish they'd shake up their setlists live, especially at their own concerts. I wish they'd stop playing just the hits night after night and throw in a few more obscure songs from their catalog that are big-fan favorites. They can keep the same core of popular songs, most bands do that, but save a few slots on the setlist each night to throw out a rotating cluster of different songs to wow the more knowledgeable members of the audience. They're good enough musicians and performers to be able to keep a few more songs in rotation than they do.

I'm kind of uncomfortable with the idea of rating something without hearing the whole product, but I'll do it to see how my prediction stands up, which I guess is the point :P Parachutes: 9.5 AROBTTH: 10 (I hesitate to give anything a perfect 10 ever, but I think this is one of two albums in the world that gets that rating from me) X&Y: 6.5 VLV: 7.5 MX: 6 I think Viva's a great album, just not in the ways I was hoping for it to be great. Even though X&Y is so far their weakest work to me, I also think it can be underrated, and does some things very well, if it does others weakly. MX, I'm confident I won't hate it as a whole, and I'm confident I'm probably going to like it for what it is. The thing I struggle with is that it's going to be a pop album, a consciously-pop album meant to be a smash hit with the radio crowd, whereas I feel like their first two albums were more "we're going to make this thing, and, wow, that got to be a huge record-breaking single? That's not what I expected at all, but that's fabulous," and the second two were "we know how to write a huge single now, let's see if we can do it again, and if not there's more alternative stuff on the record too." I guess I just have a hard time getting over that albums like Viva and potentially MX were created by the same band who did Parachutes and AROBTTH.

I actually wouldn't mind that at all, even though I feel like most of the world would baulk :lol:. I'd rather see her on a show like 30 Rock than Glee. 30 Rock is probably my favorite show in the history of television, or close to it.

My favorite thing about this week's GOOP was this: I love Gwyneth, but Tina Fey is my favorite person in the industry, so to see them both together is awesome :wacky:

That's barely even enough to constitute a bonus track, ugh :sad: I don't know, these guys change their minds every twenty seconds. I think if we were to get original B-sides for the remaining singles on this album, that *could* be one of them because it's a "safe" choice and has already been received pretty well in the manifestations we've heard. Even a lot of non-fanatics have heard that one and seemingly liked it, and I think as long as they have a recording of it that they like enough to show the world, I wouldn't be surprised if they put it out there because it's pretty covetable already. That's a long-winded way of saying "I don't trust a word that comes out of their mouths and wouldn't put it past them to release it someday" :P The fact that "Car Kids" and that "CK" symbol are all over everything onstage, especially their clothes, makes me think that has morphed into a different song, but the phrase "car kids" still is in the lyrics somewhere of something that's on the album.

Yeah, this frustrates me too, and I got a bit annoyed by all those guess the tracklisting threads before the tracks were announced. When they released the tracklisting for VLV, I thought the titles were terrible and despaired over how I thought that would affect the quality of the music--turns out a lot of my least favorite titles, like "Strawberry Swing," became my favorite songs. That's happened to me with albums from other artists as well. I just like the sound of "A Hopeful Transmission" as a phrase, so I was kind of hoping it would be a full song with lyrics saying that somewhere in there, but in the end, we don't know anything til we hear it.

Oof, I really have to make sure I keep enough money in my account now. I should have charged it rather than paying by debit. As for the length of time it's going to take to receive the thing: I know it's annoying, but quality things take time to produce, and I don't think they want to produce sub-par products. I also think "limited edition" is translated as "however many people order within a certain time period." If they were only making 2,000 pop-up editions or something, they probably would have told us upfront. I think now they're going to see how many orders they get by November or something and then create about that many to ship to us, then stop producing them for good. That's often what "limited edition" means nowadays, versus them just creating a finite number in advance and selling them til they're gone.

This article got me really excited, I have to say :wacky: (but there are two threads for it?) "A Hopeful Transmission" is actually my favorite song title of them all, so in some ways I'm kind of sad it only seems like it's going to be a short instrumental rather than a full song, but in the end I know it doesn't matter. However, I do have to say that I'm glad this whole movie thing didn't work out...as awesome as that might have been, it's just so gimmicky. I know Coldplay's veering towards gimmicky these days anyway, but that would have taken the cake. They should just stick to what they do best, and if they want to do a film, release a really kick-ass documentary.

I don't get the appeal of Glee whatsoever, but I wouldn't really care one way or another if Coldplay's music was used for the show. It would be a huge publicity stunt for them to use their music, and it wouldn't be my choice, but other artists I like and respect have done it, so I don't see too too much harm in allowing others to cover a popular song, whether I like it or not. However, if Coldplay was going to BE ON the show, or any show like it...that I would be massively annoyed by. I don't think they would, but originally when Dave Holmes said that they were going to be on "different kinds of TV shows this fall" or something like that, I got worried :sick:

Oh wow...:surprised: This actually makes me really, really excited. Not that I haven't been before this, but I've had a bit of a rollercoaster ride anticipating this album. I'm happy that the first whole-picture thing I'm reading has incited excitement rather than worry :dance:

I think if they don't stream it, which I agree is the smart thing to do, they'll just leak it themselves :P. Not that we'll ever know the source (usually), but...I can see them figuring out how to make that work for them commercially. They seem to be able to turn everything into money these days.

I hope they bring their prices down, too, because this is insane. I feel like I could wait the extra week if only their prices were comparable. I'll just download the inevitable leak in the meantime if it really is the 22nd.

The Jools Holland performances are up on YouTube now for those asking! I thought they were great :wacky: COITD: This Isn't Everything You Are: Questions, however: I know the UK release date is Nov. 14. However, does anyone know the US release date? I would assume Nov. 15, the Tuesday like usual, but Amazon is saying Nov. 22 (and also charging a BOATLOAD more for all formats of the CD right now :uhoh:). I think I'm just going to order the CD/DVD edition (I was at one of the Royal Albert Hall Reworked gigs, so I have to have that on DVD :P) from the official site and hope they ship to the US.

The audience was terrible, but what do you want from a bunch of executives handed tickets to something they don't know a lot about and a group of people who had enough dumb luck to win contests? The improved UATW was the absolute best part. That was probably the most beautiful as they sounded in years (and probably some of the most charming they’ve seemed live in years, when things aren’t polished to a overly-rehearsed routine). This is when they’re at their best to me—when it’s four instruments and voice, and when they do things on whims without it needing to be perfect and contributing to a larger promo campaign.

Actually maybe slightly less than a full concert, I think it's supposed to be an hour vs an hour and a half like usual?

It's supposed to be a full concert ;)

Jamie...Jamie...stop being so critical! :P On that boat, the first time we heard Christmas Lights before they replayed it, I barely heard it because I was so excited, both by the song and the idea of hearing a top-secret Coldplay release. After that first play, if you had asked me to give any sort of opinion of it, I would have said "duhhhhh...ummm...it's pretty? :dunce:" And that's just one song! The same thing happened when "ETIAW" premiered on the radio, along with another radio-premiered single by The Strokes that I was pants-wetting excited for earlier this year--after the first run-through, I could barely recall a thing about the songs. A whole album worth of material that no one's heard before, or not heard in that manifestation? If I hadn't been able to write down my thoughts as I was listening that first time, which according to her they weren't allowed to do, I doubt I'd be able to reproduce any sort of opinion of worth that another person would get much out of. I'd probably subconsciously rely heavily on the sorts of things other people had written about the songs so far, and remember the songs I'd heard before (ETIAW, Paradise, Charlie Brown, etc) best, and therefore be able to write about them best. THAT'S the main reason I believe her, because if you asked me to describe ETIAW, Paradise, Christmas Lights, or Under Cover of Darkness (by The Strokes), all from this year, based on one listen, I couldn't do it if you paid me. That and the fact I see absolutely no evidence why we shouldn't, or why anything she's said is fishy.

OK, if everyone's waving it around, can someone show the actual Oracle post where she says MX is a "full track"? I've never seen it, and I just went looking for it for like 20 minutes. All I could find were these: ------------------ August 23, 2011 - submitted by Jon, United States of America Q. Hi Oracle, I was wondering if the song played before Hurts Like Heaven during the festival circuit is actually called Mylo Xyloto and was just shortened to MX to avoid spoiling the title of LP5 before the title was officially announced. Thanks! The Oracle replies: Ta-da! I wondered when someone would pick up on that after what I had said about it in a couple of answers. MX did indeed mean Mylo Xyloto but at the festivals, as I did mention, it wasn't a full song, just a prelude/introduction to Hurts Like Heaven. ------------------ June 27, 2011 - submitted by Leah, Australia Q. Is the new song with the lyrics 'You use your heart as a weapon / and it hurts like heaven' titled MX or Hurts Like Heaven? Hurts Like Heaven was mentioned as a song title by Chris in an interview, but on broadcasts of the song live, the title has been given as MX. So, which is it? Or is MX the intro to the song? The Oracle replies: It's kinda the final thing you said; Hurts Like Heaven with the intro MX. ------------------ To me, that says nothing about the length of MX on the actual album, necessarily, and if that's the only time she's mentioned anything about that song (I can't find any others, but someone else can help me out), it's definitely not "confirmed" that MX is anything more than a short instrumental like this girl says. I have no reason to want or need to believe the original poster any more than I want to not believe her, as I feel fairly patient for this album to come out, but I just find everyones' reasons for not believing her to be pretty ridiculous, especially after all the clamoring for her to come back and write her review and wondering why she was taking so long...and then she posts something pretty viable and it's suddenly not good enough. We know there was a listening party in Austin, we know she's a music blogger from Austin, we know she wasn't allowed to take notes in the actual listening room, we know she was writing for a wider audience than just Coldplayers...I don't get why everyone's so quick to disbelieve, especially when evidence contradicting what she's said isn't easy to come by. :shrug:

Thank you so much for your review! :nice: It's nice to read something by someone not working for a major publication who may or may not have to say certain things about it. And can everyone just be grateful for five minutes? Just because there's nothing "unexpected" in the review doesn't automatically mean it's a fraud either. The things that have been said about unknown songs so far have been said for a reason. I think everyone's perfectly aware that everything on the internet should be taken with a grain of salt, yet her website, interests, and location all point to the fact that she's not playing us. Let's just not be rude to someone who's being very nice to us by sharing.

Yeah, if it's anything like last time, none of that is going to happen. They didn't do anything in the crowd at all or talk to fans outside of a wave or something like that, think of that aspect of it being like a normal concert. Last time, Ian had VIP tickets from NBC that he gave out to members on here, but it doesn't sound like that's going to happen this time. The only other way to do it is probably via radio station contests or to know someone at NBC. VIP tickets only meant that we got to be in the very front section of the crowd without waiting in line, it didn't mean more than that. Without VIP tickets, if the setup is the same as last time, the closest you're going to get is about 15-20 rows back, and that's if you sleep out on the street the night before. I don't mean that to sound like a downer, though--it's still really REALLY fun, and to see how TV performances are put together is really cool (I've done it a few times now, and it's fascinating to me every time). And between songs and takes and warmups, the guys would kind of joke with each other and to the crowd a bit through microphones, so it's more special than a concert in that respect because not everything is planned out and scripted.

It's true it's missing out on those two songs, but I don't see why so few people are willing to give this girl, who's doing us a favor, the benefit of the doubt when really nothing she's said has seemed at all fishy. I know if I got that chance, I'd have been so excited that I think some things could have blurred together, or that I wouldn't have been able to remember every little thing enough to give that much of a review of it after one listen. I'm big on cutting people slack in the first place, but I just feel like more of us should be grateful for what we're getting before acting like we're owed something we're not.