ColdplayingfromKansas

First of all, sorry to all those who replied to my super-long post a few pages back and never got a response. My laptop charger died and this is the first time I've been back in the world of the Internet for like five days :lol: Most people's complaints seem to be: 1) They're very bland, safe, and unremarkable (personally, I like "How to Save a Life" but that's it) 2) Their sound never changes. It's impossible to tell what album a certain song may have come from just by listening to it

Same :disappointed: I was five years old when Parachutes came out, and I didn't even know who Coldplay was until late 2008ish

Good question. My answer would be both yes and no. For me, Coldplay's "peaks" don't happen in a chronological order. Their peaks come when they decide they have to prove themselves to the world. I know music is a very subjective topic, so it's hard to speak about certain songs or albums in terms of being "better" than other songs/albums. That being said, the two things that I believe to be good indicators of the quality of a song/album are 1) Strength of the lyrics and how ideas are portrayed 2) Experimentation, evolution, and risk-taking in the melody, instrumentation, structure, etc. that give the song a unique sound (e.g. the song isn't your typical verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus with guitar riff #23 that could have been written by any rock or alternative rock band in the last 10 years). If we look at Coldplay's albums in those terms we get: Parachutes - Lyrics are simple, sweet, and from the heart. No cheesy cliches but nothing all that groundbreaking either. Instrumentation is appropriately quiet and only takes center stage in a few cases (Yellow, Trouble) ARoBttH - Lyrics range from simple to abstract to gut-punchingly visceral. A lot of the songs drip with the sheer weight of what these lyrics are saying and how they are said. It's dark, it's hopeful, it's real. Instrumentation follows along, and when the lyrics aren't taking center stage, you bet the instrumentation will step up and take over. Politik, In My Place, GPASUYF, Clocks, The Scientist, Daylight, Amsterdam . . . all have these amazing trade-offs between instrumentation and lyrics X&Y - Lyrics are either abstract or very plainly stated, with pretty much no in-between. Not really any cliches, but a few instances of cheese. This album's more about life's biggest questions and trying to find our way than it is about answering those questions. The instrumentation is really bombastic and gets your attention. There does seem to be a very formulaic approach underlying all of the songs, though (more so than with the first two albums), especially on the first half of the album. That, combined with its length, makes X&Y seem a little boring, a little safe. Viva - Lyrics are revolutionary, on-the-nose, hard-hitting, and raw. There's hope, fear, love, loss, whimsical happiness, yearning, confusion, and anger. There's very little cheese to be found, and even the subjects talked about are somewhat revolutionary--deviating from the typical cycle of love and loss to include life, death, and the cycle of rebirth. Instrumentation is likewise revolutionary--no two tracks sound the same, yet they all come together as an album more cohesive than any Coldplay album yet. This album is hungry and brazen, just like real-world revolutions. MX - A few cliches and instances of cheese start to crop up in the lyrics for this one. The subject still centers around that revolutionary aspect, but it takes a back seat to love. Everything is much more plainly said, with little room for speculation. Instrumentation is pretty good--nothing revolutionary. Encompasses the feeling of pop and rock melding together. GS - Cheese! Cheese and cliches everywhere! Everything sort of gets stuck in this cycle of love and loss which repeats throughout the album. There's nothing new at all being said here. Instrumentation is really lacking compared to other albums, and it makes everything feel sort of empty and cold. Granted, this empty and cold vibe could have been a really cool way of portraying that hopeless feeling you get after a breakup, but in order to pull that off you need some really stellar lyrics to hold everything together, and that didn't happen. Taking all of these into consideration, the two albums that are usually considered to be Coldplay's "best" (ARoBttH and Viva) came at a time, as I said, when the band set out with something to prove. For ARoBttH, it was to prove they weren't "soft, indie-rock bed-wetters" and for Viva it was to show that they hadn't gone stale and could break out of the alternative-rock box the world had put them in. That being said, I don't think Coldplay is past their peak. I think they can still put out another ARoBttH or Viva, but they need to have the drive to do so. Something needs to light their fire again and give them back their hunger. That got long, sorry :lol:

I was freaking blown away when they played Gone But Not F. Cotton. I expected it to be a cute, cheesy little song but the melody and instrumentation and Chris's voice were just gorgeous. I have no idea where that song came from or how long it took the guys to come up with it, but it is honestly my favorite song since the Viva era :dazzled: Ans as for True Love . . . I have seen several people around that like it, but the general consensus seems to be that it's not a very well-liked song, which is strange seeing as how it was released as a single. I've already stated that I am not a fan, so I won't drag down the thread with my long-winded reasoning :D

I believe we decided it says "the falling of snow," with the rest of the message scattered across the back of the shirt

^ Me too, although I've always thought that a lot of Coldplay songs are meant to be heard live, so that tends to also be the same with ARoBttH/Live 2003, X&Y/HWSTW, and MX/Live 2012 @theprospekt I'm amazed that you were ever able to hear him say "oceans" in the first place :lol: I never would have caught that on my own

^ I recall hearing something like that also, although that was probably more because he was also doing some work as a producer (like with The Pierces)

^ Why thank you, haha! Glad I could help you listen to the brilliance that is DLIBYH :D

-The lyrics on songs from the MX era onward. Chris used to write such beautiful, cryptic lyrics . . . I don't know what happened :( He had such a great way of saying things in unique ways even when the subject as a whole wasn't unique at all (like love and loss). Now it's all mostly cliched, cheesy, and repetitive. Referencing the stars in Yellow was great because I'd never heard something like that before, but now I expect them to be mentioned multiple times in a song. -I'm not entirely sure how to describe this one. Basically, in the past when Chris's lyrics weren't the greatest or most innovative, a song usually still managed to be great because of the input from the rest of the guys. In My Place is a notable example. Even if Chris's contribution wasn't stellar, you could bet that the song would have a great bassline, guitar riff, or drumbeat that would keep it interesting. Again, I'm not sure what happened, but recently it seems that we're having fewer instances of Jonny, Guy, or Will "saving" a song--especially on GS, when their contributions are turned down so low in the background as to be nonexistent. Granted, this was less prevalent on MX, so hopefully it changes with AHFoD! -I'm really just not a fan of the whole "squeaky clean" pop sound that several other people have been mentioning. Makes everything seem very fake and plastic-y and it makes it harder, for me at least, to form an emotional connection with a song. Little flaws make things seem more sincere. -Ink and True Love. I just can't do it, not even the live versions, I'm sorry. These two songs are the pinnacle of blandness and uncreativity for me :disappointed:

^ I mean, is Rick really going to say "no, it's their worst record yet" :P

Oh Rik, you're such a tease. I'm not entirely sure what he means with his August statement, but the rest of that conversation seems vaguely encouraging?

Yeah, let's go with that option. They're waiting on another Clocks moment for sure :nod:

I think the main reason people are saying this is that there's evidence work is being done on the album "behind the scenes" (e.g. the music video pictures, Amazing Day, etc.), yet the band themselves have yet to really acknowledge any of it. Personally, I could see a surprise single drop, but I doubt the whole album will drop down on us out of the blue one day-- imho the only reason we haven't heard anything official yet from the guys is because they're not at the point where it would be beneficial to start teasing us yet :shrug:

This is a good point and something to keep in mind once songs start trickling in. If Coldplay wanted a rock record, they probably would have hired a rock-oriented producer. If the day ever comes that Coldplay decides to work with mainly "rock" producers again, then we can start hoping for another album in the vein of their first four albums

[ATTACH=CONFIG]32459[/ATTACH] But srsly "No I don't, no I don't, no I don't, no I don't want anybody else but you. No I don't it's true" C'mon Chris. Also didn't Will write the lyrics to Sweet Marianne? That song's not half bad. :dance:

*raises hand* guilty as charged :P This. If the guys want to include a huge pop hit or two on each album, then they should go for it, no biggie. Once that sound starts to leak into the deeper cuts that I start to take issue. The deeper cuts are my jam and I don't want to give up my jam :lol:

I am a double-posting machine lately . . . Just so this post isn't totally useless--I also remember there being some backlash after ETiaW was released regarding its name, and it wasn't changed. Once a song is played live, I doubt it's name will get changed.

I know none of us are keen on Amazing Day as a title, but let's not get our hopes up that the guys will decide to change it. As far as I know, once a song has a name it's pretty much locked-in with that name forever. I can think of two times when a song's name has been changed after we heard it (and one of those was a really early/alternate version and the other was a demo leak). I hope Amazing Day goes the way of Panic (which became Don't Panic) and School (which became Rainy Day and DAAHF), but let's not get set on it :P

^ The main complaint I've heard about X&Y (and a complaint that I share) is that there are actually too many songs on it. It's a little bloated and therefor none of the songs get a chance to shine. Other than that it seems pretty loved

^ I will never comprehend how MX is best-scoring Coldplay album on Pitchfork or whatever that site is called :facepalm: I mean, it's perfectly fine if that's your personal favorite from Coldplay, but the fact that they gave their first four albums a rather low score just makes me go "wut"

Eehhhhh? I'm not a fan of anything Stargate has produced in the past, but hopefully that's about to change. I will keep my expectations on the lower side for this so that maybe I can be pleasantly surprised :D

I thought I was alone in this! There are a few other artists (Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, U2, Muse, Oasis) that I can buy whole albums of and not be constantly skipping tracks, but Coldplay is the only artist I can do that with consistently.

^ I mean, I hope not, but I'm sure that's the case for some people. I know in my instance, Coldplay was the first band I ever really got into back when I was, like, 12, so for awhile they were pretty much the only thing on my iPod :shrug:

dp

I agree. I just recently discovered a little indie band called Racing Glaciers that quickly moved up into my list of favorite bands. They certainly won't replace Coldplay should I ever decide to leave them behind, but they've certainly helped :P As much as anyone loves any band or musician, they shouldn't be the only thing you ever listen to!