- Gabriel

If s/he focused on the song instead of the iPod screen, maybe s/he just didn't think to look at the screen. The screen probably went dark after a few seconds anyway, like it does with most iPods. And maybe when s/he said "watch" s/he meant "clock" or "timer"... after all, English isn't their first language. Your point is still cause for reflection, though.

I'll just be a little surprised if they actually have a cover with nudity on it. The Klimt painting is freakishly perfect for the title, though.

So this isn't news? Nevermind.

The review averaging website Metacritic has Coldplay's upcoming album set for a June 17 release. Maybe you guys know this already, but I figured it couldn't hurt to mention. And yes, I know it's not officially from Coldplay, but this a well-kept, reliable site. It includes many other album release dates if you'd like to compare them with official statements from other bands. http://www.metacritic.com/music/upcomingreleases.shtml

A short essay about the experiences and decisions that led to the band's change in sound would be a nice touch... but I'd just like for it to be more than the usual pictures and standard information. Maybe the band will release the CD in a cardboard foldout case instead of a standard jewel case. That seems like a more popular move lately. (Spoon, Nickelback, Iron and Wine, The Eagles, and others did it with their latest)

But Tearfull does like Coldplay... he just knows what they could do to make him like them even more. And I agree with him.

90th post... I'm sure you're all just itching with jealousy right now.

"Plus Gwyneth's making drumsticks." That made me laugh. That and the shameless plugging he was trying to do.

In regards to the live / studio topic, I'm afraid I'm going to mention Spoon again. (I feel like I've brought them up quite a bit already in other threads) Spoon is a weird band live. The singer (Britt Daniel) barks, screams, or growls his vocal parts and barely scrapes out a working falsetto. Virtually none of the band members move around; the keyboardist looks positively robotic. What's more, Britt Daniel is not that good at guitar - when the band played on Saturday Night Live, he actually hit a wrong chord during one of the songs. Here's the weird part: they are both faithful to and wildly different from the recordings during their shows. The early albums were raw, unpolished, and loud, which sounded much like the live performance. Their recent work is the complete opposite. Every detail of every song is fussed over to the extreme, and the vocals are smooth and laid back. The falsetto sounds effortless, and so does the guitar. What does this mean? That at one point, Spoon was no better on record than they were live. They had fans then, and they have fans now, including new fans who dig the studio polish. So whether Spoon sucks or rocks live is a matter of what it is you like about Spoon, not a set fact. This probably applies to Radiohead too. And X&Y is not nothing, even if it's not much.

I don't think anybody here is going to be using the new album to change lightbulbs, if you know what I mean.

I think they might try to renovate their concert experience in a few ways. 1. Naturally, play the new songs from the upcoming album. 2. Whip out some songs that were not often played on previous tours. ("Shiver", "X&Y", B-sides) 3. Play familiar songs in new ways, like acoustic or punk renditions. However, they'll still have to keep certain parts of the show the same, or some fans will cry bloody murder. As such, "Yellow", "The Scientist", and "Clocks" will probably receive the same treatment as they always have. On another note, I just realized that it's been so long since I've heard "Square One" that I've literally forgotten what it sounds like.

This makes sense. If Chris Martin is hitting his stride in his songwriting, as Prospekt has suggested, then his prolific rate of output should continue and the songwriting for the fifth record should be done very quickly. Either that or he will be able to refine the leftovers from the upcoming album. As for disappointment, nope. My two favorite releases of 2007 illustrate what everybody has been saying - that it's quality, not quantity, that counts. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon) 36 minutes 10 tracks In Defense of The Genre (Say Anything) 89 minutes 27 tracks Both albums are good, but only because they consistently deliver with each song. But Spoon's album is better because Say Anything managed to let a few clunkers slip in. Besides, I feel like Coldplay is trying to correct the problems from their other albums, which is enough for me.

Thanks! That question has bugged me for a while. But that still qualifies as guitar playing in the song then, right? Trust me, you won't get it as badly as I did.

If they just released the extra songs as an EP to curb the inevitable hunger for the fifth album, that would be fine with me. It seems like bands stop releasing EPs once they have a successful album, or sometimes just an album at all.

If you insist... :\ But don't say I didn't warn you!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It's gross! I mean, I haven't seen it, but I know what it is, and there's no way it could be pretty. I almost ralphed just from my friend's description.

That's the standard that makes so many songs sound similar nowadays, at least to me. Different bands will often use the same chord sequences, the same song arrangements, and the same lyrical themes, and the songs become so similar that it's hard to find any meaningful difference. I look mostly at the much maligned rap scene and emo scene as evidence of this, though modern pop/rock isn't much better. "Yellow" is not ripped off of "Here"; like you said, it's a fairly common chord sequence, and the other parts of the song differ enough to prove that one is not a rewrite of the other. "Yellow" is a little brasher and more dynamic while "Here" is mellow throughout, and the melodies don't have much in common.

The chord sequences in the verses are virtually indentical; they're both variations on C C G G F F (provided "Here" is in C major, but it doesn't really make a difference). The guitar tone is also frighteningly similar, at least to me.

Given some of Prospekt's comments, I think they'll wait as long as they can before they finalize anything. He mentioned that there was no sense of slowing down, and if something new comes up, I doubt the band will be content with saying, "Well, we want to put this on the album, but we already finalized the tracklisting/mixing/liner notes/etc., so we can't." Just my thoughts.

Used correctly, hand claps are awesome. I listen to a lot of Spoon, and that's a band that uses hand claps excellently. The handclapping breaks in "The Underdog" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LenPKPqvdJA) pretty much make the song.

I am now totally convinced that "Shiver" belongs in the Guitar Hero series. It's one of Coldplay's best songs (in my opinion) and looks very fun to play in the game. The only other one that I think might work is "Crests Of Waves", but I'm not sure. I feel like "Going For The One" by Yes would be perfect... anybody else?

Unless I'm mistaken, that article was released in early January. The release date in the magazine could be an estimation, or maybe the band has caught up on their recording in a big way. But even if the album is done in a month, it will definitely take longer than that to get it in stores.

Eh, "A Message," I suppose. But I don't feel like these songs are exactly ripe for comparison; the appeal in each is completely different. But "A Message" is more engaging. "God Put A Smile In My Place"? Clocks vs. Careful Where You Stand I haven't actually heard the second song...

I'm in a weird place in my relationship with Coldplay - I don't like them as much as Coldplay fans, and I don't hate them as much as the haters. I can always see where the critics are coming from, but I recognize that there is value in the music that they are dismissing as well. Most critics are people who demand edgier music, or least sophisticated music. There is no denying that Coldplay's music is not edgy, and to a point it is not very sophisticated either (read: to a point). However, many people don't need their music to be edgy or sophisticated, so in that sense, critics are simply wrong. But the critic can never be completely right, because somebody will always disagree with him. On the sophistication note: As a musician, I feel that A Rush Of Blood To The Head is the least musically sophisticated of Coldplay's albums. Parachutes has some interesting time signature quirks and some interesting chord uses, while X&Y has some very solid songwriting. The promise of new avenues on the upcoming album is what excites me the most. Again, though, musical sophistication does not have a direct connection with good music.

The only track that sounds like an opener just from the title is "Yes!", or maybe "42". "Rainy Day" seems like it would be the somber closing track, like "Chicago At Night" on Spoon's Girls Can Tell or "Mothers Of The Disappeared" on The Joshua Tree. It's likely that they'll have a hidden track, too, given that 66% of their albums have in the past.