Entertainment For Lively Minds
The New Coldplay Album
Posted by itfc1959 on 22 October 2011 - 1:27pm.
What's it called?:
Xylo Xyloto
What It Sounds Like:
It sounds like Coldplay, but more so. Everything I've read so far says that the album was written with the Glastonbury main stage and I confidently predict that their headlining slot in 2013 will be another triumph.
What it doesn't sound like is a Coldplay 'Trout Mask Replica' and anyone who expected otherwise is either dumb or worse. This is more of the same but better, and I think that here we really do have a band that is performing at the top of its game.
What Does It All "Mean"?:
It means that Coldplay have hit a groove that they are not going to surrender lightly. What they do works for them, and doubtless will for the billions who are going to buy this record. Will they be able to do this indefinitely? Will they want to?
Goes well with...:
I listened to it in the kitchen and in the car. Too many perverse time changes to make it easy listening, bur enough "WHOAH-HO WHAH-HA" choruses to keep the kids happy.
Might Suit People Who Like...:
Coldplay. People who don't like U2. Crowds in a field. People who like clever pop.
Sounds repulsive..
but then there's no accounting for taste.
Trout Mask Replica?
"What it doesn't sound like is a Coldplay 'Trout Mask Replica' and anyone who expected otherwise is either dumb or worse"
I'm sure no-one expected *that*!
You're Probably Right.
The point I was trying to get across (in 200 characters or less) was that Coldplay show no signs of diverting from a very successful formula and that anyone anticipating, or EXPECTING, GODDAMIT, a work of great innovation was likely to be in for a disappointment. Why would Coldplay do something as stupid as mess with that? What would be in it for them?
So all in all, it's good enough for now. Whether they will be able to continue in this way indefinitely is, of course, another question.
yuck
sorry - just musical vomit to me i'm afraid- and dont even start me on Keane!
you don't like the music.....
.... fine....me neither... but stop being such a musical snob !
I've never really understood..
..all the antipathy towards the 'Play, (as nobody calls them). The lyrics aren't up to much but the tunes are there. They get lumped in with U2 and Sting in terms of scale but really there isn't much comparison beyond that - apart from the odd mention of Amnesty or Greenpeace Martin steers clear of political posturing and they haven't played a mass murderer's birthday bash recently, (as far as I know). Indifference is fine if the music doesn't fall easily on ones ears but really, why all the hate...?
It's possibly because
Chris Martin is incredibly irritating, overly-sincere & terribly naff.
I'd swap that..
..for self satisfied smugness with an oozing, self congratulatory sense of entitlement, which is what you get from most rock stars at that end of the food chain. He strikes me as slightly surprised to be where he is and still a little grateful for it.
Sounds like Coldplay?
I heard a track on the radio when I got up this morning and I had no idea it was Coldplay, the only reason I wasn't surprised when it was back announced is that I had already decided that it was awful. I don't want to hear the rest but I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to avoid it in the next couple of months.
They're on Later Live Tomorrow Night.
Prepare the barricades!
It's not my sort of thing
and Chris Martin does come across as a Bono-in-waiting but they obviously hit a chord with the record buying/gig going public so good luck to them.
Anyone who sells that many albums must be doing something right...
I like loads of *bits* of Coldplay songs...
a vocal melody here, a guitar part there, but the whole usually leaves me feeling somewhat cold.
I can't understand the level of hatred they inspire... life's too short for such opprobrium.
But ...
.. they're just crap aren't they. Soulless, meaningless background music
* I did like Parachutes for a while though
Not a huge fan, but...
I really enjoyed them at Glastonbury. They were entertaining and they scaled things up to match the occasion. Therefore I will give this new one a go.
Ditto
I saw them in Abu Dhabi in a (very warm) thunderstorm and they were fantastic (and supported by Mercury Rev).
'I'm not a huge fan of Coldplay' is obviously the new 'I'm not racist...'
.
Funny observation that. I did a LOL, as the kids say.
Blandest
thing I've ever heard.
I would love to be in Coldplay.
Apart from Chris Martin no one has a clue who those other three blokes are. Think of that! A ton on money, playing to thousands of people a night and able to wander to the papershop or the supermarket in complete peace. Sounds like bliss.
In fact, if I was single, and had access to a posh house, I'd pretend to be in Coldplay to entrap shallow ladies...
To be fair, one of them
(either the bassist or the guitarist) produced The Pierces album which is fantastic, everything Coldplay isn't. So...er...well done to the bloke from Coldplay!
Strangely...
I have hardly heard a note of The Pierces' music, but I know exceedingly well what Catherine Pierce looks like.
Yes.
'Exceedingly well' would be a fair way to describe her.
I have most of their stuff
...but I confess it doesn't get played much - as above, I tend to like odd songs. But...I think they are a great live act, I really do. Glastonbury set was brilliant this year, and quite brave to include so much new stuff. Chris Martin is perceived as a bit posh because he can string a sentence together in an interview and gets the inverted snobbery opprobrium. They're OK - not the best band ever, but certainly not the worst!
I read this:
'Crowds in a field' as 'crows in a field'...so if they like it then I suppose there's never been a scarecrow element to their music.
Just saw them on Later Live
Plenty to admire and you can make a brilliant compilation of 10-ish tracks from their albums to date, but...
They repeat the same bladdy formula in their arrangements:
Big loud start....down for sincere verse....up again for chorus.....a few woahs...drummer goes a bit mad....then down for the end when Chris sings alone.
I am tempted to buy this album but I know I won't play it much.
Sounds like
you need "Coldplay's Greatest Hits"...
kb, I absolutely agree.
You can guess where the arrangement is going within the first few bars of each song. And that's what I mean: they've got it down pat. What's currently in their favour is that the songs are strong ; it's not all smoke and mirrors, like, say, U2.
Hence my argument implicit in my conclusion, which was that they can only get away with this for so long. Where they go after this will, I hope, be interesting. But there's enough here to keep them going for a year or two. Ker, and in a very real sense, -ching.
U2 - Smoke and mirrors?
No more than any other stadium straddling band surely?
Arguing
over the merits or otherwise of Coldplay always seems a pointless exercise.
It's like entering an art gallery and ignoring the paintings in order to argue over whether or not the walls should have been painted magnolia.
agree on arrangements
2 or three notes on piano, add drums, add guitar and bass, stick strings in on same 2-3 note refrain at some point. Count money.
You forgot one thing
Chris M tends to preface lines of many of his songs with '...Singing...' (usually followed by La La La Woah). Surprising how this vocal tic doesn't get picked up on more often. Clocks has it.
They're alright Coldplay
I'm not interested in buying their records but I though Chris Martin, Dave, John and Steve put in a sterling set at Glastonbury.
What?!?!
Did they fire Barry?
Which One's Barry?
Seriously, I haven't got a clue.
Barry Cryer
And it's sorry(not seriously), I haven't a clue.
Hope this helps to resolve the confusion.
Barry
He took over from Gonzalo 'The Bone' McIntyre, the maracas player.
Speaking of maraca players...
Playing two at once is normal, two in each hand is for real pros, but here's Christine McVie playing six in one hand - that's just showing off.