DanielRobertHiggins

My Initial Thoughts On first listen, I felt that this was the first time Coldplay had disappointed me, and proved that it is indeed possible for Coldplay to fall into the trap of many modern artists, and sell out their great sound in the name of producing something super upbeat that everyone can listen to - or, the dreadful word we seem to hate so much - "pop". For my expectations of Coldplay, I was prepared to give the album a 6.5/10. Now I'm not saying that I hated the album on the first listen, because in all honestly I love everything Coldplay produces, but I did feel like this may quickly become one of the weakest Coldplay albums, and scared me even more about their future direction. However, I did not complete this review based on my first listen or two. I have listened to the album countless times over the first weekend of release, and my review for the songs below is based on that. A Head Full of Dream - 8/10 A great opening track. Sounds U2-esque, but provides us with a new original sounds that captures the essence of the album. Yet, the lyrics seem familiar, and Chris' singing in this songs reminds me of the X&Y era for some reason. The upbeat sound throughout the song will be great to dance to in concert, and the ending "ohhhhhhs" will be great to sing to in concert. Nothing bad to say about this song. Birds - 9.0/10 Birds is easily my favourite full-length song on the album. Similarly to AHFOD, it is quite a new sound for Coldplay, yet it makes you want to hop on board with Chris' statement that Coldplay is "no longer a rock band". The sound in this song reminds me of the wonderful opening song of MX, Hurts Like Heaven. The song builds up to an absolutely brilliant and inspiring chorus, match by some guitar work by Jonny that is genuinely awing. Chris' passion towards the end of the song provides us with an overall superb and uplifting second song to the album. A Hymn for the Weekend - 7.5/10 On first listen, this song worried me, as I expected the R&B sound song with Beyonce to end in nothing more than mediocrity (similar to Princess of China). However, Beyonce added the perfect touch to the song, and Chris simply nailed it at finally creating a decent "R&B sounding" sound. I truly enjoyed listening to this song, and respect the band for taking such a big step out of their usual style to make this song. Everglow - 8.5/10 Everglow is exactly what you would expect from the title. A piano masterpiece, I can't seem to get tired of this song. The song feels so pure and open, and I felt like I could really relate to the emotion that Chris was trying to express with this song. There's really not much more I can say about this song - it's just really good. Adventure of a Lifetime - 7.5/10 When Coldplay released this song before the rest of the album, I had a lot of things going through my head. It's sound was very, very different from the Coldplay we are used to. However, I had faith in the band - as when Midnight first came out, I had a lot of hesitation about Ghost Stories (yet Midnight has now become one of my favourite Coldplay songs). What stands out from this song is Moses' voice in the background throughout the song, provide a youthful uplift, and the stellar guitar riff from Johny. These two great sounds together made me not care as much that the song seemed very "disco-y" on first listen. With time, as expected, the song grew on me I can certainly say I enjoy the song now. Fun - 7.5/10 This song was simply *fun* to listen to. I really couldn't find anything bad to say about this song. The feature of Tove Lo was an excellent addition to this song, and it will keep me listening for quite some time. As with most of the songs on this album, I am in love with Johnny's background guitar riffs, it adds a sublime layer to the song. Kaleidoscope - 9.5/10 Now I know what you're thinking..."how could I possibly give this short transitional song a 9.5/10?!". But the truth is, the only thing keeping this from being a 10/10 in my books is that it ends (too early). While the transition reminds me a bit of the MX era, it is much more sophisticated, and reminds me a bit of Bon Iver meets M83. The poem in this song is simply beautiful. It is sublime, thought provoking, and I find that it makes this song the most purposeful on the album. Now I don't expect everyone to see the beauty in this song, but for me, this song is brilliant and makes me wish Coldplay would release a whole album of this sort of experimental stuff. Army of One - 7.0/10 Army of One reminds me a bit Hedley's new music style (for those of you who don't know Hedley, they are a Canadian band that used to produce alternative punk rock and now produces more poppy sounding, very electronic music, while still blending in a bit of alternative rock). The song is warming, unique, and really don't have anything bad to say about it. It certainly isn't the 'Oldplay' some of us so desperately want to see back, but in my opinion, it's not bad and is representational of the new direction of the band. X Marks the Spot - 5.0/10 I see a lot of people giving this a zero or 1/10, and while I certainly can't say I love this song, you have to appreciate it for what it is. It very much gives me a feeling that Chris is trying another new style to his singing and music, but I this X Marks the Spot very much misses the mark, and I can't seem to figure out why it was added as a 'hidden track'. If you take the song out of the context of the album (which certainly isn't hard is it sounds nothing like the rest of the album), you can start to appreciate it a bit more. But it's not my jam - I would have loved that the band took this space on the album to add a different kind of "out-there" song...maybe more experimental and electronic than R&B. Amazing Day - 9/10 When I first heard this song, I fell in love. Amazing Day is exactly the unexpected Coldplay song that I expect to see on the new album. It's very different, yet authentically Coldplay. It reminds me of Ghost Stories meeting Mylo Xyloto, arguably my favourite Coldplay albums (as much as I do still absolutely love the 'Oldplay' albums like A Rush of Blood to the Head!). Amazing Day is a song that gently rocks me into a state of peacefulness and hope on each listen. It's kind of like the sequel to one of my favourite Coldplay songs, Always In My Head. Amazing Day makes the perfect song to wake up to both wake up to in the morning, and fall asleep to at night. Colour Spectrum - 8/10 This song incorporates sounds from various other (if not all) songs from he rest of the album, which if you think about it, is kind of cool! It's another transitional song that can make you visualize looking into a Kaleidoscope. Again, I wish these transitional songs were a lot longer, and helped the rest of the songs on the album flow a bit more. Up&Up - 7.0/10 I expect that some of you will be outraged that my 7/10 for this song is not a 9 or 10/10, but I have my reasons. I get why everyone lives this song, and I honestly really do like it, but it I felt like the song lacked some passion, deep musically layers, and missed the mark lyrically. The songs is still a nice addition to the album, and you can see why Chris and the band really enjoyed putting this song together, but all I'm saying is that I don't think this song was the absolute best song on the album. Will I still listen to it? - of course! It's a song that builds up and fills me with positivity on each listen. It's a solid finish to the album - and I must say, I did really enjoy the 30 second mini 'hidden track' at the end! FINAL THOUGHTS - 8.5/10 After many listens through, as I expected may happen, this album really grew on me. Through music, Coldplay has convinced me to not only respect their choice to expand to new styles of music, but actually left me with another instant classic album that I will cherish in my collection for the rest of my life. There were moments of imperfect in this album, and serious lack of flow was definitely a major issue with this album, but that doesn't stop this album from standing along side every other album that Coldplay has release in my collect, especially matching the what I call the new Coldplay 'trilogy' (MX, GS, and AHFOD). Did this album completely meet my expectations? No - I think this album doesn't tell a complete sublime story like I expect from any great artist, but I still love the album with an incredible passion. I think that's what every true Coldplayer feels - we cling to the hopes that everything we hear moving forward will resemble the sound or even the album structure that we are so familiar with in Coldplay's past albums - but that's clearly not the way the band works, and I whole-heartedly respect that. Always a Coldplayer for life.

I have been listening to the new U2 album that was given for free on iTunes following Apple's iPhone 6 launch and noticed something on one of the songs. I know that Chris definitely had some input into the production of the album, as he is listed in the credits, but if you listen to the first 30 seconds of "Iris (Hold Me Close)", not only does it sound very Ghost Stories-like, but also it sounds like Chris' voice in the background. Unfortunately, I can't find any YouTube links to the song yet but it is available free on iTunes for everyone. What does everyone else think?

They lost a whole lot of money from these things on the Mylo Xylotour. It didn't sound like they'd ever do them again (unfortunately) because of their high-cost. It is possible but I wouldn't count on it. The costs would have needed to go way down from new production methods.

They're back at the Bakery...working on LP7...omg! :D

When/where can we watch the behind the scenes documentary "Coldplay: Making Ghost Stories"?? If anyone knows, please let me know!

1 - Always in My Head (both are great) 2 - Paradise (wasn't a huge fan of either but both are good) 3 - Ink 4 - Us Against The World (True Love is awesome though) 5 - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (love both though) 6 - Another's Arms (not a huge fan of these two either...) 7 - Oceans 8 - Don't Let It Break Your Heart (ASFOS is great but I am a HUGE DLIBYH) 9 - O (AHHHH, you're killing me...I love em both to death)

1 - Always In My Head 2 - Cemeteries Of London 3 - Lost! 4 - 42 (This is a REALLY hard one because I really love Ink) 5 - Lovers In Japan (Another reeeeally hard one...I love them both) 6 - A Sky Full Of Stars 7 - Midnight 8 - Strawberry Swing (Oceans is great but SS is my jam) 9 - O (Wow, Jdckcom, these were pretty good matchups...LOVE DAAHF, one of my favs, but O just wows me every listen) Overall, Ghost Stories is arguably my favourite album. I do like it better than VLVADAAHF.

Oceans was just played live as well and it only came to 3:20...meaning either a longer ending on the album version or another hidden track (I'm hoping for the latter!) ...SO EXCITED FOR THIS ALBUM NOW. Sound like AROBTTH with a new modern sound. I think it's the perfect blend of music for every Coldplayer :D :D :D

Hey guys, does anyone notice that after track 9, there is a heart where the next track number would come, and then a line through where the name of the next song would go. I think this may suggest that it is a hidden track that is making O such a long song. Btw that second line is to separate the regular version from the deluxe edition (you can tell because the line has a different alignment). Thoughts?

Because they may make another LP, or more likely, an EP before doing a tour. The Ghost Stories music isn't really fit for a stadium tour. We will definitely see some festival shows, sponsored "free concerts", and small gigs for this album though.

The bottom half of the background of the album cover is also a body of water (aka "Oceans").

To be fair several of the songs on Prospekt's March were just variations of Viva songs.

Did the Viva tour take place after Viva was released or after Prospekt's March was released?

I'm actually surprised to see such a response to this song. Personally, I fell in love with Always In My Head the first time I listed to it. One of my favourite Coldplay songs now actually. I like Another's Arms as well but not nearly as much.

To me Magic sounds like a mix between Parachutes and MX.