General Chat / X&Y

or just notice that the "extra" you get from actually owning an album shouldn't weigh up to the amount of money you have to pay for it.... (that is, "owning" the album, and having the booklet and a nice cd in one of those little cases..)

Sorry to drag this up from the depths of the unknown however I just bought it and feel very compelled to do a little talking about it.

First off understand that I'm new to Coldplay so I'm relitivily open to whatever is there. Now I will say that this album "barrows" way to much from other groups and styles and while the music and gained some weighty contents Vs. say Yellow it's still by no means hevey. I guess I like to think of Coldplay as the replacement for U2 (which admit it, has to go away soon because Bono is falling apart). Since I like(d) U2 up until after "All You Can't Leave Behind" I don't have a huge problem with this. Oh and there must be something resembling hooks in there somewhere because I kept finding the lyrics pulling themselves into my head, the biggest problem there was that I often couldn't figure out which song it was from since they all sound too similar. Sure as an album X&Y flows exceptionally well, but it lacks the veriety or interest of Dark Side of the Moon for example. Oh and the thing that might've hit me hardest as cheezy as it is was that I was reading an article on St.Jude's Childrens Hospital (forgive me for being at my grandparents where no forms of entertainment except eating exist) while listening to 'Fix You' and it was strangly powerful and moving. "Talk" also fits well with my life as it seems to be the kind of confused and ignored state my Grandfather is going through.

I guess the album just works well for me but since I didn't and currently don't own Parachutes and Rush of Blood I had no expectations. None the less this is still the most monotonus album I've ever heard. In fact here's a message for Coldplay: TRY CHANGING KEYS AND TEMPOS FROM SONG TO SONG, I KNOW IT WON'T FLOW QUITE SO PERFECTLY BUT AT LEAST I'LL KNOW ONE SONG FROM THE NEXT.

That said I find this a good album to go to sleep to or have in the background while doing something else, however it's poor for straight concentrated listening as it lacks substanse.

ride6

I'm glad you revived this topic, as I was going to anyway.
I've been listening to this album religiously, with expecting beforehand it to be a let down. I have ended up loving this album to bits, and I think it's some of Coldplay's best work.
I don't think that X&Y flows too well at all, the only real example of flowing in my opinion is from White Shadows into Fix You. And I think this would have been a better album had they made it flow better.
I'd like to hear which songs you feel sound the same, ride6. Because I think this is a very diverse album, and each song has different characteristics. There are some very emotional songs on there, such as Fix You and Swallowed in the Sea, there are some very upbeat songs, such as The Hardest Part, and A Message, and there are also some more jumpy songs, such as Talk and Square One.
Overall, I don't think I've listened to this album long enough to compare it to the others, but I think that there are some classic songs on this album, especially songs like Swallowed in the Sea.

I think no music is more or less "samey" than any other, it just completely depends on individual interpretation of the album. This is proven by the fact that imo this is the most diverse album ever, for me, because I knew the tracklisting before it was released and was downloading bootlegs for months. For someone who has just bought it and isn't a massive fan and doesn't listen to it with the same amount of concentration I do, perhaps it is samey, I don't know.

It's still boring, over-rated, shit with horrible lyrics. Completely harmless music, makes no attempt to be different or expand their sound. I'm just glad the critics realised this -- but the general public is stupid and ate it up.

...this is coming from somebody who thinks only heavy metal bands use distortion...

It's still boring, over-rated, shit with horrible lyrics. Completely harmless music, makes no attempt to be different or expand their sound. I'm just glad the critics realised this -- but the general public is stupid and ate it up.

I am horrified by how objectively you treat music.

...this is coming from somebody who thinks only heavy metal bands use distortion...

Yawn. Like I said, listen to some Sonic Youth, then get back to me at what distortion is.

I am horrified by how objectively you treat music.

Music is one of the very few things I feel strongly about. For some people it's politics, for me it's music.

^ouch.

Personally I find the whole tone and feel of the album to be almost unchanging, that's what I mean by "the same". The first half dozen times I listened to it I only reconized 5 songs of the 13 (Fix You, Speed of Sound, Swallowed in the Sea, Twisted Logic, Till Kingdom). I think Swallowed in the Sea and Twisted Logic are the best pair of tracks on the whole thing since they have some good variation between them stylistically. Swallowed in the Sea is more of an emotional pop-song and Twisted Logic reminds me A LOT of Radiohead and as a result I like it. Personally I didn't find any of the lyrics to be particularly "shitty" though I would like it if they would try some rythmic qualities in the vocals rather than just rhyming for pretty much the entire song. I really like this album, I just feel that it really lacks pacing changes other than the dragged out beginnings to a couple of the songs before they "pick up" which personally is something I've always really liked. Each song on here ranges from solid to excellent on its own however the album as a whole somehow fails to exploit it. I don't know how to describe what makes it monotonus to me, I just know that it is. I like or love every song on here except for What If and Low, both of which are alright but don't do anything for me. It's a good solid album and one I come away from feeling very refreshed thanks to the fact that the last three tunes (Swallowed in the Sea, Twisted Logic and Till' Kingdom) are all quite different from eachother and all uplifting in one way or another. Oh and the instrumentation on this album is excellent. The drums in particular lay down a concrete fondation for the rest of the music while not playing the stariotypical rythmic patters. Call it danse if you want, I just think it sounds great holding up a sort of pop/rock lead system.

ride6

Yawn. Like I said, listen to some Sonic Youth, then get back to me at what distortion is.


Music is one of the very few things I feel strongly about. For some people it's politics, for me it's music.

I, too, feel very strongly about music. That's why I get frustrated when ignorant minds try to tell me what distortion is, when it is clearly defined in the musical dictionary as a distorted tone on a guitar, with larger gain than usual. I don't think a band can redefine distortion as you suggest, the definition has already been laid out for years.

Yawn. Like I said, listen to some Sonic Youth, then get back to me at what distortion is.


Music is one of the very few things I feel strongly about. For some people it's politics, for me it's music.

I, too, feel very strongly about music. That's why I get frustrated when ignorant minds try to tell me what distortion is, when it is clearly defined in the musical dictionary as a distorted tone on a guitar, with larger gain than usual. I don't think a band can redefine distortion as you suggest, the definition has already been laid out for years.

Yes, but, by your definition (or, the "musical dictionary's" definition), basically if you play an electric guitar you have distortion. Because it's not "pure" and "authentic". Oh, and, I may not play an instrument, but I am in no way ignorant about music.

No, that's not what I said. I said that an unclean tone is distortion, because it has gain/contour controls turned up. I appreciate that you may feel strongly about music, and this is a good thing, but perhaps you have to admit you may be slightly uneducated as to the musical terms due to the fact that you do not play an instrument?

No, that's not what I said. I said that an unclean tone is distortion, because it has gain/contour controls turned up. I appreciate that you may feel strongly about music, and this is a good thing, but perhaps you have to admit you may be slightly uneducated as to the musical terms due to the fact that you do not play an instrument?

Because if you don't play an instrument you obviously don't know anything about music Let's just say our thoughts on the subject are different.

No. In most of the cases you won't know musical terminology unless you play an instrument. I have never said you don't know anything about music, everybody knows different things about music. It's all opinionated, except knowing musical terminology is of course not.

I think no music is more or less "samey" than any other, it just completely depends on individual interpretation of the album. This is proven by the fact that imo this is the most diverse album ever, for me, because I knew the tracklisting before it was released and was downloading bootlegs for months. For someone who has just bought it and isn't a massive fan and doesn't listen to it with the same amount of concentration I do, perhaps it is samey, I don't know.

I think you can find 'diversity' in anything if you try hard enough - it depends on what level you are looking for it. The problem I have with Coldplay's more recent output is that their 'diversity' may only be apparent in the shape of one different instrument, or a slightly different tempo (compared to their previous output). Parachutes has quieter songs and louder songs, A Rush... has some awash with texture and others stripped-down...X&Y seems to repeat this (winning) formula, making me think that although they've obviously made some attempt at evolving, they haven't got that far. OK it's a winning (and wholly reasonable) type of music, but I suspect that for some people who like their music to challenge them and keep them interested (which may include listening to other genres, many more bands etc), X&Y may appear as nothing more than A Rush... Mark II.

I find Coldplay wholly inoffensive (except, perhaps, the slight grating of some of Fix You's lyrics, which makes me wish for the less twee lyrics of Parachutes) and think that X&Y is an ok album. I certainly don't think it's the most diverse album ever, however.

X&Y is still a massive disappointment.

Coldplay are capable of greatness. But greatness doesn't equal commercial success, so what the fuck, might as well rip off Joshua Tree-era U2.

Yawn. Like I said, listen to some Sonic Youth, then get back to me at what distortion is.


Music is one of the very few things I feel strongly about. For some people it's politics, for me it's music.

What you need to realise, is that other people also, believe it or not, have opinions that have been reached in just a valid a way as you, and you should respect these opinions in the same way you would like yours to be respected, by not presenting your opinion as fact.

deano, it should be within your grasp by now that most posts on these forums are opinions, even if they are stated in an abrupt way...

It's still boring, over-rated, shit with horrible lyrics. Completely harmless music, makes no attempt to be different or expand their sound. I'm just glad the critics realised this -- but the general public is stupid and ate it up.

Yeh, but that's a demonstration of complete close-minded, poorly formed opinions. (in my opinion :-P)

Besides, the critics seemed to eat it up.

Evidence: http://www.metacriti.../coldplay/xandy

Pitchfork slammed it, though. I agree with them for once.