ColdplayingfromKansas

It seems to me that Coldplay have made their greatest albums when they set out to prove something. ARoBttH was to prove that they weren't "bed-wetters" and Viva was to prove that they hadn't lost their way and weren't out of ideas. Both times it resulted in something that was musically brilliant, lyrically profound, and ultimately memorable. As others have pointed out, both albums had an anger and a hunger about them flowing just under the surface. Sometimes it came out, as in ARoBttH (the song), Politik, Violet Hill, and Yes. And guess what, ask most Coldplay fans what songs they think have the deepest, most profound lyrics and chances are they'll mention at least one of those songs. Then, when they reigned themselves in with their more typical "hopeful" and "happy" songs like Strawberry Swing or DaAHF, they punched that much harder because that dichotomy had been established. When we get right down to it, I think it's those angry songs that we've been missing. Look at Coldplay's other four albums and try to find a song that's as hard-hitting as those four I mentioned. I can think of just one: Twisted Logic. They have other songs which sound kind of angry (like Major Minus), but don't really have the same gut-punch effect to them. Instead, we've gotten albums filled with those hopeful or sad songs that target all the typical, familiar emotional areas. Now, there's nothing wrong with having an album's-worth of hopeful/happy/sad/depressing songs. Parachutes has that calming feel-good vibe and it's good, and I'm not really sure what category to place X&Y under, but it's been getting a lot of praise lately also. Coldplay can and does make good albums without those gut-punch songs, but I think if we want to hope for another "great" like ARoBttH or Viva, we need to hope for some fire and anger. In short, we need some nightmares in our head full of dreams.

I ask myself that sometimes as well . . . especially when listening to that version of that masterpiece song :P But, while I love ARoBttH, if not for the band's desire to evolve, we never would have gotten Viva which (in my opinion) is basically the greatest album of all time. Plus there's always the possibility that Coldplay might not be as massive as they are today if their sound stayed the same. I have no doubt they would still be hugely successful, but they could have turned out like The Fray (that is: boring, predictable, blah). The only thing I will ever consistently complain about is the quality of the lyrics we get. Coldplay can evolve their sound however they want, but I want the lyrics to be good darnit :P EDIT: I just realized that both me and the poster above used The Fray as examples :lol:

^ Oh, sorry, I was talking about Songs of Innocence. Turns out that was released late last year. For some reason I don't have any memory of listening to it before January :P

I just realized that if AHFoD does indeed drop this year that my top, like, 5 favorite bands will have released albums this year... Coldplay, Noel Gallagher, Civil Twilight, U2, and Muse. WHAT A YEAR TO BE ALIVE COME ON COLDPLAY EDIT: Derp, not U2 that was last year

^I'd second Keane. Maybe Muse in their Absolution/BHaR days. U2 of course. I recently discovered two indie bands called Brolly and Racing Glaciers--I'm really impressed with their sound, and I think of it as very Coldplay-esque. Unfortunately, neither have very many songs out at the moment [video=youtube;uWfmQ20BMzQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWfmQ20BMzQ [video=youtube;r8M-eZWTtug]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8M-eZWTtug

^ That is hilarious :lol:

Case in point: the new Mumford and Sons album And the closest I've come to categorizing Viva is just saying it's art rock :P A tiny part of me is still hoping AHFoD is like that

Huh. That's a good point actually. I'm suddenly really interested in what this album will sound like--and more hopeful that it won't be the sugary substance-less pop that some of us feared. I've never been a huge fan of the 70s & 80s sound (I have U2 and Queen songs from that era, but that's about it), but with a Coldplay twist it definitely sounds interesting. . . . This is also telling me that we need another wave of indie and rock music :wink3:

^ Like when Chris revealed the album title :lol:

Although the guys aren't playing any festivals this time around (at least that I'm aware of), so maybe that means they're buckling down to get things finished up before the year is done? Really, I'm flopping back and forth between thinking that the album is actually a lot farther along than a lot of us think and thinking that it's not going to be released until sometime next year :shrug: Coldplay are kind of unpredictable about this sort of thing, so who knows

:wideeyed: That would be so great. We could hear all the Viva demos and unreleased ARoBttH songs . . . Probably not going to happen though :disappointed:

Same. Pirating songs/movies/books/etc. has never sat right with me. If I enjoy it, then purchasing it is my way of saying "make more of this!" To each their own though :P And as for when we'll hear new material, I would hazard that we might hear something before the end of the summer, especially if the guys are still aiming for a 2015 release. I do hope that they don't go the route of playing half their new songs live before an official release like they did with MX, though--it spoils the surprise a bit

:surprised: I love the live DVDs especially How We Saw the World so it's dumb they never officially released that one

:lol: Can I ask why?

I always buy the physical CD because I like looking at them on top of my armoire :P This probably won't change even if I wind up not caring for the album because I want the complete collection! Of course, if it leaks or is released online first I'll have to listen to it then because I have no self-control

1. Midnight 2. O 3. Always In My Head 4. Another's Arms 5. Oceans 6. A Sky Full of Stars 7. True Love 8. Ink 9. Magic If we're including the two bonus tracks, then Ghost Story is #1 and All Your Friends is probably somewhere around 3-4

^^ Was it more successful? I seem to recall that Viva had the highest digital album sales of the decade, so pretty impressive if Mylo outsold it overall :thinking: I wouldn't mind a HLH vibe, although I can't help but hope that when Coldplay says "happy" they mean happy as in songs like Help is Round the Corner or Life is for Living. An album full of ETiaW songs would be great too, as long as we get some good lyrics this time around!

I like Another's Arms :P Ink, on the other hand . . . We're getting off-topic :lol:

To be fair, on the pop side of things we have Nikki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, etc. :P Not that I'm disagreeing, but if I have to choose between bad pop and bad rock, I'm gonna go with rock just because that's my personal preference (and why I got into Coldplay in the first place)

Dang :P At most we'll probably drive somewhere close-ish en route to Monaco. And I hope so! I'm super excited! I'm majoring in English (technical writing) with a minor in mechanical engineering :P

Ooooh, that'll be fun And it's a study abroad trip with the honors college I'm a part of, so this may change but at this point our schedule is: Verona Venice Florence Pisa Cinque Terre We're actually flying in to Switzerland and then flying out of Paris, so there are a couple of other places, but the majority of the trip is in Italy :P

:surprised: What plans are those? OH AND THAT REMINDS ME I'm coming to Italy next summer! :awesome:

Oh dang, good luck! I'm on summer break now, so I'm just chilling pretty much :P

What's up dood :P

I'd say ASFoS will be overwhelmingly what people think of as Coldplay's poppiest song. Maybe Princess of China, Paradise, or Magic. Personally, I don't care for any of them and they are among the least-played songs in my library, so I really hope this isn't the direction they've decided to go for AHFoD. If that is indeed the direction, though, I at least want a few songs with good lyrics :disappointed: As for an example from another band, I could probably go for something akin to OneRepublic's "earlier" albums around 2007-2009. "Secrets" and "Apologize" are my guilty pleasure songs :P Imagine Dragons also had a few interesting songs on their first album instrument-wise, although I can't see Coldplay pulling off their style quite as effectively.