RunForTheHills

Rant. Sorry. Continue. :P

Wow, this hasn't been praised enough IMO! Great job man.

Well, I decided to listen to it, and after 3 listens I'd rate it a 6. EDIT: Maybe a 6.5, actually :P The thing that brings this song down for me is the repetitiveness. I sort of get where the Bon Iver comparison comes from, but I think even for a stripped down song, this is pretty sparse. For me it's one of those songs that you've pretty much figured out one minute into it. To be honest I'm not even sure if this is that much better than ETIAW overall, but I do prefer the overall "feel" of Up In Flames to how overblown the former sounds. So far I'd definitely rate it above Paradise, and maybe a touch above ETIAW. But pretty much everything else we've heard so far beats this out IMO (including Moving To Mars). And as one of the more quiet songs of this era, Us Against The World is definitely superior to this (better lyrics, less monotonous, feels more 'complete' / 'finished' as a song). Having said all that, hearing a better live recording of Up In Flames may improve my opinion of it, though a rating of 6 still seems pretty accurate to me.

Yeah, I'm not sure if that's likely to happen. :shrug:

Because the band shouldn't be relying on 'shallow' music to advertise their album in the first place. We know they are capable of quality and this is exactly what we should expect from them, especially since a lot of us here have literally invested in this band and enabled their continuing existence by buying their music and going to see their shows.

The reactions so far have generally been a fair bit worse than what I can remember from the weeks / months leading up to the release of Viva. Bear in mind though that most of the criticism is being aimed at ETIAW and Paradise - Charlie Brown, Hurts Like Heaven, Princess of China and UATW are generally liked, while Major Minus and Moving to Mars are somewhere in between. The main criticism this time around seems to be the lack of depth and emotion in the lyrics, along with the lackluster synth-pop style that a lot of people are disappointed with (mostly aimed at the two singles). The reason why there wasn't this much of a backlash when Violet Hill and Viva La Vida (song) were released was because there was simply more depth to those songs than either of the two current singles from the MX era. Violet Hill's lyrics actually had something to say, and Viva La Vida was catchy as hell with a decent narrative. Unfortunately it seems that with both ETIAW and particularly Paradise, Coldplay are consciously trying to recreate Viva La Vida-type anthems for this new era, but both come across as songs with neither the substance nor the creativity of the former. For some, this also puts into question the motives of the band, and why they have chosen this approach to songwriting. There's always going to be some criticism surrounding the unveiling of each release, and unfortunately for many of us here, the quality of the MX-era singles so far haven't really measured up to the hype, or the quality of previous releases as of yet.

That was a fantastic post.

The irony is that in their desperate attempt to please as many people as possible, they've done pretty much the opposite. Their best work came when they were being themselves, and now they're trying way too hard to be something that they're not. Easier to accept than the possibility they could be selling out, but to be honest, that's not looking so inconceivable right now.

The most disappointing thing about all of this (at least for me) is how they thought both this and ETIAW were more worthy of being album tracks than something like Moving To Mars, which showcases a heck of a lot more maturity than both of those songs combined, IMO. It's one thing wanting to have a go at cheesy pop songs (hopefully Chris got it all out of his system), but it's another thing entirely when they start to actually BELIEVE that stuff like this should displace what is simply more worthwhile music. This might be 'experimentation' for the band, but this certainly doesn't have any of the hallmarks of 'progression' or 'evolution'. Seriously, what happened to the quality control? Viva La Vida - heck even Rainy Day - are examples of pop songs done to much better effect. All Paradise showcases is a lack of inspiration and a desperate attempt to write catchy 'hooks' (like that should actually be their top priority). If they actually think this is anywhere close to being impressive in any way in comparison to their back catalogue, I'm guessing their best days are long behind them now. Every artist puts out duds, but if you can't recognise them and filter them out, that's a much bigger issue than just being capable of writing a bad tune. Even worse is the fact that Chris seems to be more confident than ever about the new music. Basically, I'm just disappointed that their standards have slipped like this, when I KNOW they can still write good music. If this happened to be released as a b-side, I wouldn't care nearly as much. But seieng it being treated as a flagship single (alongside ETIAW) just makes me cringe. It's extremely frustrating, and I'm not looking forward to the copious amounts of airplay this will inevitably be receiving. It just kinda feels like they're selling out... I don't know. :\

Ugh, this was a massive let down. I can't believe how lazy the lyrics are. Add to that how soulless it all sounds... I'm not a fan of ETIAW, but it's actually a lot more listenable than this IMO, which I wasn't expecting. Got to admit, I'm really not expecting a whole lot from this album now, which is a bummer. :\ I just listened again, and noticed the lyric "every tear a waterfall"... seriously? I don't even know what to say.

I almost never buy digital releases, so no.

Nah it's cool. I think it's just a matter of realising that just because an opinion happens to be critical, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a hateful one. Very few people actually post those kind of comments to intentionally piss people off... it's important to remember not to take these things personally. They're just opinions! Most of the negative comments here are posted out of frustration anyway - nothing to do with vindictiveness.

Those are pretty big assumptions you're making, and I think you'll find that very few people who come here to share their opinions actually 'hate' everything about this new era. Nearly all of the criticism I've seen has been directed to specific songs and / or specific aspects of a song. To generalise everyone who dislikes one thing or another about any of these songs as someone who 'hates the new Coldplay' is completely disingenuous, distorting what is actually going on here, which is simply that people are coming here to express their opinions. And a sub-section of those opinions happen to be critical in some way. Exactly what you'd expect on a forum like this - or am I missing something here? I quite like the 30 second sample, others may not. I'm not a fan of ETIAW, but plenty of people love it. Simple as that - there really is no 'lovers vs haters' situation going on here.

I understand what you're saying, but you're making the assumption that it's pointless to share your view on something if it happens to be negative. Which is exactly what the OP is saying. Adding to that the fact that he's labeling everyone with something critical to say a 'hater', I'd say my interpretation of what the OP is saying isn't as far off the mark as you think.

People have a right to their opinion as you do to yours. Not everyone is going to like everything the band does - that goes for every fanbase for every band out there. Everyone's opinion has validity when it comes to music and criticism arises when someone is less than happy with something. "Go with the flow"? Right, never question, never criticise, and don't you dare deviate from the opinion of the majority. Coldplay isn't a religion - stop acting like it is one.

Could just be the quality, but when he sings 'world' and 'sleep', it sounds autotuned to me. Not in your face, but there IMO. I'm really liking this though, either way.

AUTOTUNE :shocked2: Great melody though!

^No I understand, I was just checking is all.

The thing is, they've already released an EP, and it only included one song which didn't make it onto the album. Which seems to imply that they wouldn't really have enough quality material to put together another EP anytime soon. So if we're going to hear any more new material, it's going to be in the form of B-sides IMO.

So will you be paying for Paradise on Monday?

The solution is not to buy singles in the first place, especially when we were pretty sure that ETIAW was going to be included on the album regardless of people's varying opinions of it. I guess the EP was a little harder to avoid if you pay for your music, but if you take issue with the way the band are putting out their material, don't buy it. Paying for the same song three times is ridiculous, and by doing that you're pretty much voting to keep that trend going in the industry. Just for future reference I guess :P

Yeah I agree, seems a bit overkill to me. Seems like they've gone a bit nuts with the promotion side of things this time around, which I'm not a huge a fan of, but heh :P

I kinda wish they just left ETIAW off, never really understood why they thought that song was so special. I'm also not convinced that putting it next to Major Minus was the best place for it, but then I thought the same about Violet Hill / Viva La Vida. Don't get me wrong though, got pretty excited when I saw this posted on their Facebook page! The symbols at the bottom are coolest part of the tracklisting IMO.

Will you be abstaining from listening to anymore new material until the album is eventually leaked / released? I personally will probably listen to Paradise when it comes out on Monday, after that though I'll be making every effort to avoid the rest of the songs they plan to play live between now and late October. Usually I'd be all over any leaks before a big release like this one, but I can't help but think - at least for what is supposed to be a concept album - that debuting most of the album live like this will lessen the impact of the final product a little. Not having a dig - it just means that I'll have to exercise a little bit more self-control this time round :P What about you guys?

Fantastic work, opens perfectly in CS4 too BTW! Best thing about it is the customisable background, I'm sure we'll be seeing quite a few variations of this soon :smiley: