HowCouldIForget

Guess it's We Pray. Right at the end it sounds like a female voice. Could always be wrong.

On the back wall you can see tracks listed for the album. 1. Moon Music 2. Feels Like I'm Falling in Love 3. Jupiter 4. Good Feelings 5. The interludes? 6. ? 7. We Pray 8. ? 9. ? 10. All My Love 11. One World Maybe #5 is wrong and there's just 10 tracks. That's what Apple Music has, anyway.

It seems unlikely to me Coldplay would feature the same artist twice but who can say? Maybe the wires got crossed somewhere and Supernova is its own track with just them or them + someone else.

A rainbow track would make sense, especially based on what we see in the notebook edition of the album.

Love the One World snippet in that plastic recycling video they put out today. As far as songs confirmed for the album, it's the one I'm most excited for. Man in the Moon or Neon Forest could change that, though. As someone who's been a fan since the Viva era, I'm wondering why they didn't include the tracklist in the info blowout. If I recall correctly, and it was partially confirmed by some searches I did, they often do include the tracklisting when announcing a new album.

Sure, it would be nice with a little more guitar like anything but I enjoy Jonny's little part in the middle and how it's not that same bombastic and poppy Coldplay sound we've become accustomed to. I definitely prefer it to Higher Power if this is close to what the studio version sounds like. No big synths, no Adam Levine oooOOOoooOOOOooos. I like it. It's understated. It doesn't need to crescendo into anything mind-blowing. Just a good Coldplay tune.

Everything I’m seeing based on the credits for this song suggests it’s the same production team as MotS. Definitely disappointing. I don’t see Brian Eno listed anywhere, either. 😞 That said, I like what I’m hearing from this clip more than most of what I heard on the last album. It’s hard to extrapolate of course, the rest of the song could sound like anything but I’m cautiously optimistic. I came in pretty down on Moon Music but I have hopes based on what I’ve heard of Feels Like I’m Faling in Love and All My Love thus far.

They actually said his lack of involvement on that song is what allowed it to be what it was. Definitely eye-opening.

Infinity Sign is classic. 🙂 That, Coloratura and People of the Pride are mainly what I listen to from MotS

I like what I'm hearing from this. At least, it's different from what I expected it to be. I didn't have high hopes for the album going in but I get the feeling this is going to be a song full of piano and guitar. Exciting to be on the cusp of a new era again. Happy to see Jon Hopkins on the track as well and John Metcalfe who was on Coloratura.

Where did you hear Weirdo will be in the musical? Have they given any indication of what songs will be in it?

I can't agree on Eko, I think it's one of Coldplay's most beautiful songs period. The other two I can somewhat understand. Though I feel like there's songs I would change out on pretty much every album. Even Viva, with it being my other favorite. Ultimately, I remember it's not up to us and that's okay. I trust the band's choices, even if I don't always agree with them. They could also always be saving music for something later. Would I have loved to see Wedding Bells and Famous Old Painters here? Of course. Could they be used elsewhere in a better context? It's hard to say. My main fear is they get altered in a way that worsens them, you can see how songs like Biutyful get designed around the sound an album has. I don't want to go in with a closed mind but I'm already fearful MM won't be what I want from the band based on how MOTS was. I barely listen to it.

What songs would you consider fillers? Just curious.

The Smile* Though I have my doubts Thom would agree to that.

Just speaking generally, March 1st is a Friday and that’s usually when music comes out. It could make sense.

I searched the site but couldn't find a thread like this, at least not recent. I liked 42JTRs idea which is very specific. Curious what people think and if things have changed over time. 5 being the average album you'd pick up from a random artist and 10 being an album perfect in every way. I'll start. I've abandoned pretense in my life and that includes with my favorite band. No more Parachutes has to be this high, critics didn't like X&Y's lyrics, etc. So I listened to all nine albums today, even the songs I don't care for. Vva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (9.7) A Rush of Blood to the Head (9.6) Everyday Life (9.4) X&Y (9.2) Mylo Xyloto (8.9) Ghost Stories (8.7) Parachutes (8.3) Music of the Spheres (8.1) A Head Full of Dreams (7.3)

ARoBttH was my favorite album as a shy, introspective teenager who loved alternative British music. It's stellar and complex but a little sterile compared to to their more recent experimental sounds. Unfiltered emotionally and melodic as hell. Will always be their most critically and commercially successful album and I respect that. Viva is the band at their creative peak. Eno pushed them in every direction possible without some of the cringy pop elements of more recent albums. The lyrics are universal and thematic. Death and All His Friends still blows me away with that piano/guitar combination. 42 has come to mean the world to me since my Mom passed. The metacritic score is insulting. Everyday Life is personal beyond belief. Political lyrics abound plus some quasi Biblical elements and the French on Arabesque. Viva is more consistent to me, whereas the highs on EL are higher and the lows are lower. Still a lot of musical experimentation I never expected from them- Arabesque, When I Need a Friend and Cry Cry Cry come to mind. Each have songs I think are just good/great ARoBttH (Politik, Green Eyes) VlVoDaAHF (Reign of Love, Chinese Sleep Chant) EL (BrokEn, Orphans) And have several of the best songs I've ever heard ARoBttH (God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, The Scientist, Clocks, A Whisper) VlVoDaAHF (Cemeteries of London, 42, Viva la Vida, Death and All His Friends) EL (Sunrise, Trouble in Town, Arabesque, Eko) It's not a cop out to say they're each masterpieces to me for different reasons and each among my top 5 albums all time. ARoBttH is their most mature and cohesive. Viva is their most experimental and thematic. Everyday Life is their most personal and underappreciated. I'd still say Viva but it's close. EL is a little too uneven and A Rush is their magnus opus to most for good reason.

Fascinating to look back now that I don't hate any Coldplay music for daring to have modern pop elements. Also clearer speakers. I love every song except for SJLT. In retrospect, there are more traditional Coldplay elements here than anything recent. Definitely GS, AHFOD and MotS but even EL which is more acoustic/older stylistically. All I Can Think About is You- Great drumming by Will. Compelling Chris piano melody. One of my favorite Jonny performances. So much personality, especially the solo. Itreminds me of Atlas, how the instruments build toward the end. Love as our only constant in the universal chaos. Miracles- Interesting beat plus snaps like Miracles. Jonny killing me with the guitar again, much more funky this time around. A little hokey but I love the message and historical perspective from Chris. Even Big Sean's verse, more forward thinking and genuine than I'd expect from him. Aliens- The most dynamic soundwise and probably my favorite. This dystopian drone with snares? And a lonely little riff. I disliked that understated acoustic guitar on the chorus originally but love it now. Very universal themes and a favorite Coldplay song of mine from a lyrics perspective. Gorgeous strings as a send off Hypnotized- Several gorgeous piano melodies from Chris all intertwined. Classic Will drums and a somber guitar playing up the emotions. I think this one is underrated. A little generic on the chorus but my favorite lyric from the whole EP - "Threading the needle, fixing my flame. Oh, now I'm moved to exclaim." I can't see anything changing my mind about SJLT. I appreciate this EP so much for the variation of styles from Jonny. Experimental compared to how he usually plays.

Its interesting to think about. I mean they started recording GS in spring 2013, released it in May 2014 and then AHFoD came out in December 2015. I never thought they'd release two albums that close. I bet whether the global situation has improved by then will have a great effect. I'm up for anything that sounds like the early music, that alternative sensibility plus their modern, positive perspective. That would be fascinating.

Magic is Chris saying "How can I do a rendition of R Kelly but as a British guy and in the worst possible way." You're not an R&B singer, my guy.

People love saying this. The fact that they released Magic as a single and not only was there no backlash but it charted at #14 on the Hot 100 tells me nothing they could do would be suicide. They put out just about the most soulless song I've ever heard and made $$$.

Fascinating stuff. None of thess make me feel strongly one way or the other. I feel like Human Heart is clearer and I like it better. I like the early electric guitar better and the ending guitar less in People of the Pride. A wash. Coloratura is fascinating in how different it is. I prefer the piano and the vocals for the ending much better. I cam actuslly hear the guitar at the end and I feel Jonny's solo is better on the studio version, it sounds like they turned the volume up on it. Several of the song's stylistic transitions are less jarring. The album production makes it sound more spacey and I like that, hard to say which I prefer definitively. Higher Power is not great

Starting this topic because I didnt see anything about the album itself, besides when it first released. Most people on the forum talk about EL as the best of Coldplay's more recent records but still lesser than the first four and I disagree. In terms of experimentation, you have the gorgeous classical piece Sunrise, the Floydian political protest Trouble in Town, the tour-de-force of horns on Arabesque and whatever When I Need a Friend is. Acapella chamber music maybe? Ive heard little like it but it's incredible either way. The experimentation isnt as obvious as Viva and there are clearly songs that take influence from Coldplay's soft rock past (Daddy, Eko) or some page from incorporating pop music more recently (Orphans, Church) but still. I'd say it was pretty damn impressive at that stage in their career. It was their 8th album, after all. EL is not just the best of the second half of their career and I'd say the only song I dont care for on the whole thing is BrokEn, which is pretty stylistically interesting, itself. This has to be Guy's best album and the acoustic guitars and piano playing are incredible, up there with ARoBttH for the best, as well. I had this realization while posting how there are four songs from the album I'd consider for Coldplay's top 10 (Arabesque, Trouble in Town, Daddy and Eko), more than even VlV, about a week ago. Also remembering I had this and MotS rated only 0.3 apart which, while it's a good album as well, does not do EL any justice. I've spent a lot of time listening to EL recently and Ive had a couple realizations, including how good of a song Cry Cry Cry is (that 50's style music I dont care for otherwise), as well as just how special Arabesque and Trouble in Town are, even for Coldplay's impressive catalogue. I've adjusted this album up about 0.5 and MotS down 0.2, realizing that despite how amazing Coloratura and Infinity Sign are, I find myself less compelled to come back to it vs other albums they have released. It's great but also somewhat flawed in the same way X&Y is. My new rankings, with EL up from 5th VlVoDaAHF (9.7) ARoBttH (9.5) Everyday Life (9.4) Parachutes (9.0) Mylo Xyloto [8.9) Music of the Spheres (8.4) X&Y (8.3) AHFoD (7.4) Ghost Stories (5.9) There are kind of "tiers" to my rankings, albums grouped together that I like a similar amount. I've noticed this. It's funny to be because I remember having this same realization about Viva about a year or two after it released. How compelling it really was and how different it was compared to pretty much anything else at the time, which is unusual for my favorite band. Some of this is off-topic but Id be curious to hear if anyone agrees/disagrees or if they also had this revelation as well! Long live Everyday Life~

This hits on a lot of my criticism of X&Y as well. Obviously, Jonny's guitar playing was amazing on that album. But the lyrics, I mean...What If and Swallowed in the Sea have to be two of their worst in that regard. SitS is painful. I agree with an earlier comment that said the music is not mixed very well. I would enjoy songs like White Shadows and Fix You much more if there was greater instrument separation like on VlV. When the songs go big it's synth/piano, guitar and drums all coming down at once. X&Y feels very bloated and I'm sure it's the reason they created the whole "42 minute rule." Reminds me of Hail to the Thief in that regard, which came out a year before. There are several songs that could be taken off without affecting my overall score for the album very much. More, it turns out, is not always better. It's also the one album that doesn't have a quintessential Coldplay song to me. All the others do. [Parachutes- Sparks], [ARoBttH- Clocks, The Scientist, Warning Sign], [VlVoDaAHF- Cemeteries of London, VlV, DaAHF], [Mylo- Hurts Like Heaven, U.F.O., Us Against the World], [Ghost Stories- O], [AHFoD- Birds], [Everyday Life- Trouble in Town, Arabesque, Daddy, Eko], [MotS- Coloratura] Twisted Logic is close to that for me but I don't quite consider it in the Top 10 songs conversation like those above. Although It has only grown on me since I first heard the album in 2006, so it may be there one day. Incredible song that is one of their most underrated, I think. Love the highly political lyrics and guitar/bass. I remember reading a note from Rik Simpson I believe during the Viva era. He said something like the best songs from the sessions should be there, "If it means ten ballads and a heavy metal track, so be it. But that's not how the band feels and we have to respect that." It wasn't until MX that they started putting very contrasting styles of music together. Maybe Coldplay's most rock-sounding song in Major Minus followed directly by the electropop/R&B PoC. They wanted X&Y to sound cohesive musically and it does. Their first three albums, in particular, do. X&Y is a great album but I get the distinct impression that the critical and commercial success of ARotBttH created an immense amount of stress for the band. Also, they were the top selling artist on a failing music label. I remember how much money EMI lost when they had to delay the release of X&Y. We might've gotten a better album, at least lyrically, with more time. Thinking Chris dealt with some writer's block during this era and that explains the disparity in the quality of the lyrics. MotS and X&Y are very different for me, despite being back to back in my rankings.

Having this overwhelming realization that my love for someone is unrequited and Fun is hitting me. I mean in terms of the most lyrically insightful, least cliche Coldplay ballads -The Scientist -Warning Sign -Us Against the World -Everglow -Amazing Day There are definitely a couple but I never hear people talk about the verse lyrics to Fun, maybe because of how somewhat generic the chorus is- "I know the falls that the water face" "'I know it's over' Icarus says to the Sun" Some special insights here. Chris has his moments.