I guess I'm going to post my review here (even though I'm not really a regular WoM-poster), because I'll probably be called hater, hipster, ass, tool etc. if I post it in the Coldplay Section (which is funny because you'll probably find most of my WoM-posts in the Muse-thread, hell yes, Muse-fans have always been known to be the ultimate hipsters.)
I don't really understand the sense of most of those little instrumental tracks. Mylo Xyloto/Hurts like Heaven are like one track to me. That said, I think HLH is a solid, good song. I'd probably rate it and like it better, if Chris' voice wasn't sounding so weird. I don't like how he sings certain parts and in fact he hasn't sung them that way live either, and I think the way he sings should be reproduceable live. I'm not a big fan of the voice effects either. HLH's studio version is once again too overproduced for me. It's a pity, because I really enjoyed the live version. 6.5/10
I was going to give Paradise a shot when it first came out even though my expectations after ETIAW were low, but weeks have passed and I still think this is just overall a bad song. The lyrics are shallow and impersonal and even worse is that those lyrics like "Life goes on and it gets so heavy, the wheel breaks the butterfly" are massively blown out of proportion by all those effects. It is trying so hard to be epic, but it just doesn't have the potential to be epic and all those synths and effects just make it look like they're trying too hard. 3/10
Charlie Brown is by far my favourite song from this album. In fact I have the guitar stuck in my head most of the time and I was really relieved that they didn't overproduce this one. It luckily doesn't sound too different from the live version. However, I do feel like it is a little bit sad that this song is the best of the whole album. I don't think it would have shone much on other Coldplay albums. 8/10
I always felt like Us Against The World was abused as an excuse to show even the worst of the "haters" that they still got it, that they can still make acoustic songs. I really enjoy the song, but I don't quite get that same magical vibe that I get from older, comparable Coldplay songs. What I really dislike about this song though (it's nothing too big) is the way Chris' sings "world" in "It's just us against the world". I listened to the album with my headphones really loudly and at first it sounded as if Chris was burping out that word. I know I'm probably the only one who felt that way about the burping, haha, but still think that the "world" was sung too dark. 7.5/10
M.M.I.X is yet another little instrumental track that might as well have been part of Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, in my opinion, the worst song they've ever made. There were plenty of people who were yelling that this song would have to suck because the artwork sucks, the lyrics suck etc. etc. etc. however I tried to keep an open mind and I wanted to listen to the song before forming any opinion. My initial reaction to the first seconds was saying "Oh shit!" out loud though. I don't mind samples much as long as I feel that they actually become part of the new song. This song feels like they were glueing it to the end of Ritmo de la Noche though. I know the original sample doesn't come from this song, but it is Ritmo de la Noche that people will associate ETIAW with anyway. You might argue that it makes it a happy, summery song, but it honestly makes me want to cover my ears and feel ashamed for being a Coldplay-fan. It is not only for the sample though. The lyrics are completely incoherent and random at times and to me it still feels like they've produced the whole song and then realised "Oh shit, we still have that guitar player! Jonny put some guitar on this song!" et voilà there's a guitar part that doesn't really look as if it's part of the song. There's just so much off with this song for me that I can't even begin to cover it all. 1/10
Major Minus sounded really promising live. I was absolutely disappointed and almost mad at them for producing it the way they did though. For me it is once again massively overproduced. HLH, CB and MM live had me hoping that this album wouldn't be as bad as the first two singles. HLH and MM sounded so raw and pure live, but they've destroyed that with the studio versions. Chris' voice is the main problem though. I really don't understand why they have to use all those effects. It's fine from time to time, but they're overusing it. 5.5/10
I really like U.F.O. especially the way Chris' voice sounds. It reminds me of old Coldplay times. I don't feel like the position within the album is good for the song though and I hate that the last seconds of this song are the intro for Princess of China, a song that couldn't be more different from this. I feel like this song could have shone more if they had placed it at the end of the album. 7/10
I'm not a big fan of Rihanna. I've seen several people arguing that she is one of the most talented artists these days, but to be honest her voice makes me cringe. To me she sounds like a little girl trying a little too hard (especially in Unfaitful, oh my, oh my). Of course that is subjective, but I was pretty shocked when they announced this collaboration. Now Princess of China sounds like a Rihanna song through and through to me. I don't think I would have minded it much if it had been on Rihanna's album featuring Chris Martin only. This way it just looks majorly wrong for me though. There's only Rihanna and Chris Martin and a huge amount of synths in this song. How this is supposed to be a Coldplay song is beyond me. And it is not the kind of music that I want to hear from Coldplay. It doesn't sound like them at all. I know you could argue that they're trying to renew their sound and become more diverse, but this just feels wrong. That being said, I'm not a big fan of either the lyrics or the production of this song. 3/10
My main problem with Up In Flames is the sound of Chris' voice again. It sounds pretty damn nice live, but on the studio version his voice just seems off. Once again he sings in ways that he can't reproduce live, which kind of makes him look like he desperately needs some additional editing in the studio. It's not the case of course, but I would prefer it if his studio voice was closer to his live voice. 6.5/10
And once again I'm baffled as to why A Hopeful Transmission had to be a song of its own. It's even shorter than the other instrumental tracks and therefore could have easily been a part of Don't Let It Break Your Heart. That song is not bad per se, but it is just the definition of mediocre. It reminds me a lot of some of X&Y's b-sides like The World Turned Upside Down and Things I Don't Understand and a little bit of Glass Of Water too. I just feel like this is yet another example of how all these synths and effects completely disconnect the listener from the actual content of the song. I just feel like I can't really access the song because it is so "polished". Once again completely overproduced. Synths should support the song and not overshadow it, but then again maybe the song doesn't have much content in the first place. 4/10
I really don't like the first part of Up With The Birds. I like the second part better, it's just hard for me to connect the two parts. It's hard to like this song as a whole when you dislike the first part of it. The concept of the song (having completely different parts within the song) is one that they've done a lot on the last two albums though. I'm getting a bit tired of it to be honest. 5/10
All in all I'm giving the album a 4/10.
The word "concept album" was big before the release of MX, but to be honest, I can't see any concept within this album. It looks pretty incoherent to me. It's a random mix of all kinds of genres and one might argue that it shows their diversity and will to change, but it just lacks an overall connecting link. I guess the idea was to have a story behind it that is good and heartbreaking enough to connect that random mix of genres, but the album is trying too hard to be something it's not. It's a bit like with colours, you might want to limit the number of colours you're wearing or else you'll look really messy at some point. This album looks absolutely messy to me. I feel like Paradise and PoC could have formed a separate album with similar, chart-aimed songs and then there's UATW and U.F.O. which are probably what is left of that "We're making an acoustic album!"-idea.
I just really don't see how this album is something for everyone, when I have to skip songs all the time. It's more like it has something for everyone but for no one in particular. I feel like someone needs to tell them that it's okay to have a specific audience, you don't have to be loved by everyone. The album is just overall very impersonal and shallow, especially the lyrics for most part and another problem is also that it is just so "polished", it feels like they're trying to hide something. I really don't mind them experimenting with different genres, but I think the MX-experiment has majorly gone wrong. It just doesn't have an overall concept that connects all those genres. I don't know what happened to that acoustic album idea, but to me MX now really looks like they changed the concept of the album pretty late and had to produce songs in a hurry, so some of the songs just feel like fillers to me, nothing they've actually put their heart into. It's their worst album so far.
Overall I'm just very disappointed with this album. I've still expected worse ... that is not a compliment though.
Edit: Changed some things, mainly to order my thoughts. :p