francvi

If innovation means making the record sound like a scratched vinyl or like a total mess of sounds that kill each other as well as Chris's voice, then I prefer to get stuck in time. I'm all up for innovation, fusion, electronic beats and what not, but this is anything but innovative nor clean, refined and polished, imo. And I still don't get the idea of not wanting to have Chris's voice in the spotlight and just make it one of the instruments. Why wouldn't you want something so good to shine? His voice never hid the instruments but this time the production does hide his voice, so it's not like they're all in the exact same position. If they wanted the other members to take the spotlight instead of Chris, they could have made some real and decent interludes instead of the jokes we got or get the others to sing a little more. I'm glad so many fellow Coldplayers like this new formula but I just don't get it.

This I'd like to know too.... Even though X&Y is my absolute favorite from start to finish, I can see why others would like Parachutes, Rush or Viva better and therefore I'm not surprised to see those albums topping X&Y, but Mylo Xyloto???? :shocked2: I wish there was at least one song in Mylo that made me feel what I feel when I listen to Talk, Fix You, Speed of Sound, The Hardest Part and Till Kingdom Come or that had such a perfect production.

I really don't think 100% objective opinions about Mylo Xyloto will surface until the era is over, or at least until the initial excitement is over. I am not saying people who think this is their best album are wrong or that people who think this is bad are right, by no means would I suggest that, it's all a matter of personal taste and, luckily, we all have different tastes and opinions, but I just find it hard to believe this can be considered their best album to date.

That's a typical tendency in the US. All of a sudden they decide to stop playing an artist just because. They only focus on young pop and hip-hop "artists" that teenagers might consume. Now the rest of the world is following that trend. That's why I stopped listening to the radio years ago.

X&Y and A Rush are tied up for me, both of them being my favorite Coldplay albums. Mylo Xyloto is my least favorite.

I don't have a problem with dance and electronic sounds as long as they are good. Personally, I don't think the problem here is experimenting with electronic music as much as just not knowing how to use those sounds in a way that compliments the song and Chris's voice, basically it all came down to not knowing how to produce the album properly. As I've said many times, I'm an electronic music lover but the way this album is produced is just messy, imo. And if not all songs are that good to begin with, the problem gets even worse.

I have been listening to the album non-stop for a whole week despite not being initially wowed by it and feeling kinda disappointed. I guess the excitement of having new Coldplay music was stronger than my disappointment and that made me need to listen to the whole album on repeat. That was until I got a couple of other albums yesterday, now I haven't listened to Mylo Xyloto in 2 days and don't think I'll be listening any time soon. So that's what I think it's the main problem about this album: it ticks the right boxes, it won't really offend anybody, it will make Coldplay fans devour the music and they won't be able to get enough of it for a while... until the novelty of it goes ... I don't see this album having any lasting power but I hope to be proven wrong. Main problems the album has imo (now that I've listened to it countless times): -OVERPRODUCTION, killing Chris's voice on several songs and making all real emotion go out of the window. -Messy concept: if this is supposed to be a concept album, I'm sorry but I still don't get the concept. It lacks consistency for me. -It should be 11 tracks and not 14. The interludes are a rip-off and totally ruin the experience if you play shuffle. They would sound great as part of the next track, but not as a track on their own. I can't believe they are even sold separately on i-tunes! -Certain songs like U.F.O and some others I can't think of right now are too short, it's like they tease you and they suddenly finish when you're actually getting in the mood for more. -Charlie Brown could be an amazing song if it actually had a chorus. The song is instantly likeable as soon as it starts but you're left feeling there's something missing by the end of it (imho). The music is amazing but the singing part is very weak. -Princess of China could be great if it had a different structure and less Rihanna. -How dare they call "Up in Flames" a modern day Fix You????? :O Embarrassing! (again, this is just my personal opinion). There's of course lots of good things about the album: it is very uplifting, addictive and, unlike most people, I actually LOVE Paradise. I also love Up With The Birds (wish it was longer though) and even Major Minus. Hurts Like Heaven could be spectacular with better production. I'm still looking forward to seeing Coldplay live, but I'm sad this album doesn't even get close to having the effect ALL their previous albums had on me (including X&Y, which nobody seems to like and I absolutely LOVE together with AROBTTH). I welcome change and experimentation, as long as the results are good and actually work.

I agree with you there. I love electronic music, in fact I'm mostly a house, elektro and trance lover, but also like many other kinds of music, including my favorite band, Coldplay. I was EXTREMELY happy when I read about Mylo Xyloto incoporating more elctronic stuff and the whole concept sounded great but, like I said, I just don't like the final product.

In my opinion, this is a very good review which raises very good points and doesn't criticize for the sake of it, it gives reasons. One may or may not agree, but it is certainly not a piece of shit. You see, whenever somebody says something negative about Mylo Xyloto, all of you who love it always say that they're stuck in the past. Reinvention is great but that doesn't mean the results are always going to be good. I don't think this is a good album NOT because they have reinvented their sound but mainly because the result in my opinion is messy, lacks cohesion and it's just not that great. That's my opinion, you can agree or disagree but please don't call my post a piece of shit. I am one of the few Coldplay fans who think X&Y is their best album up there with A Rush, so I actually welcome change and evolution. It is just not my cup of tea this time around.

It sounds exactly the same, even if some people don't want to hear it. That of course doesn't take away any of my enjoyment of PoC but yeah, they did it again.

Thanks so much! I would have never thought of that! It sounds perfect now!

Yes, I did. In fact it's on my iPod where the album sounds best because my headphones aren't that good there. When I play it on my soundsystem with good speakers it sounds better than the previous leak but still the interludes sound too loud in comparison to the rest of tracks and especially the transition between M.M.I.X and ETIAWF, where the volume goes down and I have to turn it up. As for HLH and Charlie Brown, I've just read a review where it is said that Coldplay themselves admitted they wanted to give more importance to instruments in this album and not let Chris's voice be the main star, so they purposely tried to make it sound more like an anecdote in certain songs. Don't agree with that but at least that explains why I can barely hear Chris, I thought I was losing my mind, lol! At least the overall quality has improved over the first leak, so now I guess it's just a question of getting used to the production.

Thank you! I've downloaded. I've noticed an improvement in quality in certain songs but still most of the same problems, especially volume levels and not being able to hear Chris's voice on certain songs, so I give up. That's the definite version and I'll have to accept it. Why they would choose to hide Chris's voice in songs like Charlie Brown and DLIBYH is still beyond me!

Totally agree with every single word you've written!

I've just heard the HQ Flac rip and it is the exact same quality as the Japanese iTunes version. So yeah, we definitely have the final product already. Mixes are the same, flaws are the same, only thing is quality in sound is better. I'm kinda surprised this is the final version as I thought certain songs were supposed to fade into the following and I still think the sound is not very good in many songs, kinda distorted and like somebody has scratched the CD. I guess that was the sound they looked for, which I think it's a shame, as some tracks could have been so much better with a different production. Now I can officially say I don't like Brian Eno at all.

where can I find it?

I still think DLIBYH sounds bad even in the iTunes version. You can barely hear Chris! This overproduction is driving me crazy in certain songs! I wish Coldplay ditched Brian Eno!

I had heard the first leak from vupload. That's the one I have. And the iTunes version sounds much clearer than that.

I've just changed my iTunes home settings to the Japan store and have listened to the samples. They sound much better than my leaked version, you can hear Chris's voice much better in HLH and in general the songs sound clearer and crisp. By the way, Charlie Brown seems to be the absolute favorite by the Japanese people, followed very closely by PoC.

I've just listened to the iTunes streaming versions and they sound a bit more clear but not much difference really... Btw, am I the only one who thinks some tracks don't come to full glory because they're too short? (for example, DLIBYH and UFO, even PoC would be much better if the chorus was sung twice!).

well, it seems then that we are pretty sure the leaked version is the final version, which makes me really disappointed. I'm sorry but the are too many flaws, especially regarding volume levels and Chris's almost impossible to hear voice in some tracks. There's still the possibility that we just have a badly ripped version with just bad sound quality and some songs may be cut a bit. Whatever it is, I really hope the sound quality of the final product is EXTREMELY improved.

I really hope this is true. You guys keep mentioning HLH but THE WHOLE album sounds rough and weird, and this was even more noticeable to me when I listened to it in my car. HLH sounds rough and can't barely hear Chris's voice, the transition between the intro Mylo Xyloto and the HLH doesn't flow. Paradise sounds ok but Charlie Brown sounds completely distorted in my speakers. M.M.I.X sounds perfect but then the volume drops when ETIAW starts! And PoC sounds like someone is scratching the CD! In general the sound is quite distorted and it eats away the vocals, which was one of the main reasons why I wasn't impressed at all with the album. If the rumors are true and this is not the final copy, I will be very very happy! I'm sure an upgrade in sound quality and fixing those glitches would totally transform the album.

I have just listened and I will say it's just an ok album, it's good but not epic and certainly not even close to being their best, imho. I'm glad most people are liking it, but in some cases I'm not sure if they're so happy because the actual album is good or because we were just dying to hear and we are all hyped at this moment. I guess the main problem I have with the album is that it is extremely overproduced and in many songs Chris's voice can't even be heard! It's as if they had thought he can't sing and had tried to cover this by overproducing. I don't see any classics here that will stand the test of time.

A Coldplay fan who loves Fringe? (judging by your avatar). I like you already. Fringe is my favorite show ever.

Just posting here for the first time to share my opinion of PoC. I think it could have been a great song if it had been less overproduced and had Florence as featured vocalist instead of Rihanna. I'm sorry but I just can't get past the fact that Rihanna is singing in a Coldplay song, I don't think she fits in there, and the fact that Chris's voice is almost non-existent in this track is quite disturbing. It could have been a million times better, now it's good but it could have been a masterpiece.