ProggyMan

Because arguing is fun...

the_dp

says the guy who called me a troll in the other forum

ProggyMan

I argue I don't bait hoping for an inflamatory response.

the_dp

dude, Coldplay is better than Radiohead by far

ProggyMan

See what I mean...

adidasss

My favorite tracks so far are in fact, Viva la vida, Death and all his friends and Strawberry swing...

A slight digression, I think it's fascinating so many people criticize X&Y as their worst album. Apparently it's been panned by the critics and it's come to a point where even Coldplay are starting to distance themselves from it saying something along the lines "We hadn't had time to rehearse it, if we had, we would have cut some songs from it" and something about making a conscious effort not to have "epic" sounding rock songs on Viva la vida, as opposed to X&Y. I think it's their best album myself, and obviously the public ate it up because it's also their best selling album (10 million and counting)...I really don't understand all the hate.

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sweet_nothing

yeh it doesnt make sense coldplay are a great band

Rainard Jalen

I don't really see it as any surprise. Critics never look at albums in isolation, but rather with respect to context. And I agree: any record by any given band ought to be viewed in relation to the same band's previous work on the one hand, and the contemporary music scene on the other hand.

That X&Y lacks ambition in contrast to its predecessors is uncontroversial. On Rush Of Blood, Coldplay pushed far and beyond Parachutes to come up with something sonically more expansive and developed. After that, instead of pushing even further, X&Y is the album where Coldplay go from being a somewhat interesting British alternative rock band to a "stuck-in-our-niche" formula band.

The album is essentially a deeply formulaic rip-off of everything Coldplay had previously been. The band themselves, as you point out, seem to echo the disappointment reflected by many of the reviews. That only goes further to reinforce the idea that it was a lazy work-record. If not, they'd have more pride concerning it and shun the negative feedback.


I do think, however, that taken totally in isolation, it is an enjoyable and competent record. I just find it difficult to get past the facts of the circumstances. I don't enjoy an album merely for how it sounds, but for what it actually is. I feel that background and history add to the enjoyment of records, as they do to books and movies etc.

smooin22

so eno

adidasss

>Rainard:

I think they've evolved greatly with each album. But I prefer X&Y to any other album they've made, and especially A rush of blood, because it's the most consistent and absolutely jam packed with great single material (Fix you, Talk, Speed of Sound, Hardest part etc.). It's almost like a concept album in the way the songs seamlessly flow from one into another, which isn't really the case with A rush of blood, and especially with Viva la vida.

I can agree to a certain extent that it can be seen as formulaic (many have noted that Martin has perfected the trademark build-up to an epic chorus followed by the soft outros) but that doesn't change the fact that they've written a bunch of great and memorable melodies. And it seems more than clear that it is in fact their most ambitious record, not only in terms of the scope of their sound which is basically sonic arena-rock, but the impact it aimed for and actually achieved (again, 10 million sold and counting). I mean how much does a band have to reinvent itself so as not to appear "lazy"? Not everyone can (or wants to for that matter) pull "a Radiohead". And thank God for that...

__________________
“Think of what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle.

Last.fm