Coldplay - Ghost Stories (out 5/19/204)

haha it's fucking awful

awwww i always love sharing a challop canoe with brad

song and video would be so much better and so much closer to what they want and need to be if you replaced chris martin w/ norah jones

video is pretty bad, i will say that.

I actually like the other song they released better -- Midnight. Moody album track stuff.

Coldplay's, er, clockwork dedication to the 3-year album/tour/album cycle seems a gambit to maintain momentum-derived arena status above all else, inspiration/quality of product be damned. This band wouldn't dare disappear for much longer than that.

bands make albums. i don't begrudge any of 'em for doing that regularly, whether they're good or not. what else are they gonna do?

Take some time off to make a better one?

Eh I don't think there's any consistent relationship between time spent and the quality of results. And even if there was, 3 years is not 'rushing the creative process' by any stretch of the imagination.

lotta sadness in this world

― balls, Monday, April 7, 2014

fuckin' a.

speaking of better songs named "magic"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvfE-Cf9Qcc&feature=kp

song and video would be so much better and so much closer to what they want and need to be if you replaced chris martin w/ norah jones

Similar thought but was thinking Sade.

I dunno, the tour/record/tour model is not bad, but given this band spends so much time on both I wonder if Martin, already under a lot of pressure, might find it easier aiming for the middle than going for anything ambitious. But then, I don't know who writes the songs.

All these "Magic" videos and not a single link to Pilot? Wow.

I actually quite enjoy the Coldplay song (even the little falsetto sections), better than "Midnight" for sure. Seeing mustachioed Chris Martin pretty much ruins the video, though

omg what the fuck is with Martin's staccato game on this track. he sounds like a guy at karaoke night imitating Jakob Dylan in the verse

My understanding from a few years ago is that Martin writes all the songs.

he writes the songs that make the young girls sing
he writes the songs of conscious uncoupling
he writes the songs that make yeezy cry
he writes the songs he writes the songs

I don't buy the idea that taking more time off would produce better records. If anything they should work faster and take more risks than the three-year cycle allows.

yeah, if you can't make your best possible record in 3 years, i fail to see how year 4 or year 5 is gonna hold the special breakthrough moment. that's Axl Rose thinking.

I never said they should take longer in the studio. Just that they take more time off between albums. Like a long break or hiatus.

Different people work in different ways, and the more successful an established pattern is (however you gauge 'success') the more difficult it is to break that pattern. The 3-year cycle certainly seems to work commercially for Coldplay, and with that in mind I imagine it'd be very hard for Martin to break out of it and do something else that might encourage more creative rewards, even if he'd like to.

I wonder how the chorus to 'O' goes.

yeah, if you can't make your best possible record in 3 years, i fail to see how year 4 or year 5 is gonna hold the special breakthrough moment. that's Axl Rose thinking.

Oh, you know, fewer diapers, wife out of the house.

what's funny is there was a whole thing where EMI Group publicly blamed their falling profits in 2004 on the fact that Coldplay (and also Gorillaz) had pushed their release date back to 2005, so it's not like the music industry ever told the band "yes, 3 years is fine, take your time"

Oh, no doubt. You can tell from interviews that Martin wants to take off. He'll end a tour with "this is the last you'll see from us for a while, we're taking some time off." And then 6 months later the machine has ramped up again. How can we miss you, Coldplay, if you don't go away? That's why I mentioned the band's tenuous grasp on arenas. They're at that level, but I suspect only if the machine is kept in motion. If the group took too long, there would not be a loud cry for more Coldplay. Dunno how much people clamor for new U2 albums, either, but then, U2 has a couple of decades on Coldplay. And they play bigger places, too.

I don't see much evidence that long breaks are good for arena bands. They've not been doing U2 or RHCP any favours. Normally they're a clue that the good songs aren't coming so easily anymore.

That's probably true. But also the bigger the band the longer everything takes and the more people are involved and the more work is required to maintain the machine. So I suspect what may appear from our vantage as "breaks" may in fact be much busier than they seem. With no doubt a lot of pressure on Martin to deliver the goods, which may be why he (and, hey, U2 and RHCP) have belatedly stuck to a more commercial model in recent years. Ironically, for them, I bet the firmer template of commercial music (hits are likely another thing) eases things up. If you're working with Danger Mouse or Will.I. Am, or Rick Rubin in a certain mode, it provides a safety net. In Coldplay's case, it's been firmly embracing MOR whereas previously the band was kind of MOR by default, if you accept the distinction.

Like, there's easy listening, and then there's easy to listen to.

so because they won't let me listen to this on Spotify. is there anyone out there who thinks this album is any good?

I bought it last night at Target (3 bonus tracks!), and have only made it 3-4 songs in so far, but I like it. It's enjoyable on headphones (not earbuds, actual headphones); the bass frequencies are very pleasurable. I have paid absolutely no attention to the lyrics, but the vocal melodies are nice and there are some cool backing vocals and tweaks to Martin's voice. I'll probably listen to the rest of it tomorrow.

i can't hear "magic" without imagining it sung by an exaggeratedly cliche bob dylan impersonator

Basically sounds like a Chris Martin solo album. Slow, smudgy and solipsistic except for one terrible bit of EDM lite. Beautifully produced though, like a gift-wrapped box with nothing in it.

This
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp7NtW_hKJI

sounds a lot like this cover they were doing a couple of years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYHD4g04zQQ

think this is their best album, EDMplay aside, and that the response is way offbase

"Midnight" through "Oceans" stretch is really powerful

Thank you, Mr. Martin.

Remember when bands used to give away stuff with their releases? This should come with a flask of coffee and a sleeping bag.

of all the things to tag as boring there's way more deserving candidates, this is v soothing n such

of all the things to tag as boring there's way more deserving candidates

That's always been Coldplay's problem, right? Boring in the most boring way possible? I actually liked the band's first four records, but really didn't like the turn they recently took, like they jumped from "Joshua Tree" U2 straight to nu-U2 and skipped all the interesting stuff in between. They used to be a more compelling (imo) MOR. Or at least the songs were better. Now, even more MOR, with Martin even more the focus, his laziness/ineptitude as a lyricist really sinks what began as banal below merely mundane and down to something pretty disagreeable. I've heard them described as the musical equivalent of rice pudding, but I like rice pudding, so I'll describe them as warm chocolate milk.

"That's always been Coldplay's problem, right? Boring in the most boring way possible?"

no. It's a criticism that only applies to some of their stuff & otherwise ppl are reaching. There is definitely much more boring-on-boring music out there

I honestly don't see how this could be considered more boring than Parachutes (which I don't personally like but seems to be one of the ones it's officially OK to) or X&Y

Because his lyrics, never strong, have taken such a loud, sharp, hard turn toward the utterly insipid? Because the melodies and structures, once merely mundane, are not resolutely MOR with an even more pronounced commercial bent (see: nu-U2)? I love boring music, personally, but there's a certain type of boring music designed to be so totally broad (ie a band like Train) that just totally drives me nuts. Coldplay c. now is all shortcuts and shorthand, just the broadest of broad strokes. Did you read the backhanded Nico Muhly review?

http://thetalkhouse.com/talks/nico-muhly-talks-coldplays-ghost-stories/#livefyreanchor

if I was going to single out Coldplay for Bad Lyrics (which honestly is not an issue I generally have with them) something like "Fix You" would be a more prime candidate than this, I think it captures the feeling it aims for pretty well

I can kinda see the MOR argument with "Ink" and "True Love," not so much the rest of the album. I just think this is a weird choice for Worst Coldplay Album Ever when again you have something as bloated/empty as X&Y and Rush of Blood/Viva la Vida are both hit-and-miss.

Who says this is the worst ever? Last one was the stinker.

lol I dug the last one, thought it was their most consistent in quality up to that point. although "Paradise" sucked.

Contrarianplay

Yeah, I hated the last one, and I like X&Y quite a bit.

One issue I do have with this band is that I haven't enjoyed one of their iconic singles (tm) since "Clocks," unless "Clocks" rewrite "Speed of Sound" counts but I don't think that's what people associate with that album these days, it's more fix youuuuuu

the fact that the Avicii track here could become the biggest hit is depressing

Rush of Blood> Viva La Vida> Parachutes> X&Y> Ghost Stories> Mylo

There is a string arrangement that is disappointingly on the nose: it moves at exactly the same time as the chords, so why is it there? It’s like having a giant picture of your body printed on your body instead of wearing clothes.

Love this Muhly line

Viva la Vida was cool that they expanded on their sound & is nice if taken with the EP after but to be real only 5 songs are good, and one is a short instrumental

X&Y is so bad dudes

everything after vlv has been a boring blur to me except for the song that ripped off kraftwerk which was ok

Kraftwerk one was before, wasn't it?

that was fun, i saw four songs. they do sound nice but would not actually put them on.

it's a good album man. Mad feels

"Another Arms" and "Oceans" are devastating

Holy shit it came out in 204 tho, Coldplay ahead of the game

lol, i actually really liked the songs that they played.

can never let them live "words flying at the speed of sound" down

"Midnight" through "Oceans" really lives up to the heartbreak theme, like damn Mr. Martin I'm really sorry dude

^"Speed of Sound" is awesome tho! even though it's a "Clocks" update and not as good as that. IDK though it also was big when I started college & when I'd met the first girl I really liked there but was still awkward as hell so it made me feel some type of way

Also it's "birds go flying..."

Ghost Stories got that Yeezus swag where the second half is better/more emotionally resonant than the first

I seem to be one of the few who thinks that about Yeezus tho

birds! I thought he was basically singing 'cars go driving at the speed of cars' this whole time!

it`s simply great that there are still people out there like chis martins who are willing to take a risk and just write great songs. we need more music like this, and i strongly predict that this will be an album that rewards the watchful ear. speaking of awards, i also predict this will be nominated for at least a brit award, if not a grammy. as for the pitchfork boys, i`m calling a solid 8/10. but let's not "speak to soon", but let's bath in the greatness of this great classic album

why aren't we speaking to soon?

He's a jerk is why.

i mean, it`s clear that the consensus is that this is a classic 8/10`er but let's not put the baby in the bath water, is all i'm sayin'

I'll be first in line to drown Chris Martin in bath water.

Not that Martin doesn't write some lame platitudes sometimes but honestly I think the lyrical Coldplay criticism is mad played-out and totally misses the point

There are plenty of other criticisms you could make btw, just that's a particularly weak one imo

I'll be first in line to drown Chris Martin in bath water.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, September 20, 2014 9:53 AM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow you're a clever dude

birds! I thought he was basically singing 'cars go driving at the speed of cars' this whole time!

― ILX preorders SPYRO for Playstation (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, September 20, 2014 9:14 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao

Coldplay feat. Gary Numan -- "Speed of Sound (Cars Remix)"

i say forget the haters, i'd like to have a party for all the haters and see how they like those "apples"

"yes", "don't panic". "what if" "we never change".

There are plenty of other criticisms you could make btw, just that's a particularly weak one imo

Actually, I think ripping on his lyrics is the most valid criticism.

nah, the vague nature of the lyrics (more previous to this album) is the point, maximum relatability n such. It doesn't automatically make 'em good/defensible mind but still.

in any case Coldplay's about tunes and vibe, if you don't like what they do there then OK. But nitpicking Martin's lyrics is nerd shit in a bad way, they're making music not writing poems

sadly, some bands can do both well

well I don't care cuz I'm like the rap fan stereotype of obvious rock bands I like

it's all good though lol

I really do think Martin's lyrics are fine though. Look our fam dog's gonna be put down next week and "Oceans" made me feel some type of way today, don't hate

am i the only person who thinks "Magic" is a top 5 Coldplay song? i'm pretty lukewarm on the rest of the album though.

haha definitely not hating. I don't hate Coldplay. I get it.

xp Scott Aukerman

I'd completely forgotten that this album was ever a thing. Of everything Coldplay has ever released, I've by far found this one the easiest to ignore, which is definitely a blessing as far as I'm concerned.

I would love to be surprised. We'll see.

I'd completely forgotten that this album was ever a thing. Of everything Coldplay has ever released, I've by far found this one the easiest to ignore, which is definitely a blessing as far as I'm concerned.

― Welcome To (Turrican), Saturday, September 20, 2014 8:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IDK man maybe it's just my work but I've heard "Sky Full of Stars" (worst song on here, easy) a billion times on their radio and it got me feeling like Paul Rudd against the Michael McDonald video

It is a pretty conscious "artistic" album not designed to churn out anthems (or attempted anthems) like their last ones though. except for that stupid song.

am i the only person who thinks "Magic" is a top 5 Coldplay song? i'm pretty lukewarm on the rest of the album though.

― some dude, Saturday, September 20, 2014 8:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I like "Magic" but I like "Midnight" better, in all its Bon Iverish woodland critter glory

I like Magic so and so but I truly find this band repulsive. I can't help it. I know there's bands more deserving of the hate but everytime I overhear them I just feel like punching their music in the face. I'm pretty sure it's Chris Martin's voice.

Hello again. We're pleased to report that the band's current album, Ghost Stories, is now available to hear in full on all major streaming services worldwide. Click on your preferred service to listen to the album now:

- Spotify
- Deezer
- Rdio

Of course, if you'd rather own the album, it's available from the links below: