Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall (6/3/11) #29 US, #6 UK, #30 AC, #28 MR, #12 AA
Major Minus (7/16/11) #92 US
Paradise (9/12/11) #15 US, #11 UK, #1 MR
Princess of China 10/29/11) #20 US, #33 UK
Charlie Brown (1/10/12)
Notes:
A Japanese edition included live performances from Glastonbury of “Charlie Brown”, “Life Is for Living”, and “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall”.
Mylo Xyloto
Coldplay
Review:
Coldplay leader Chris Martin once stated that bands should not keep going beyond the age of 33. WK Considering the man was 34 at the time of Coldplay’s fifth release, Mylo Xyloto, he obviously took back the statement. He later clarified that bands should proceed as if each album is its last and he even went to the other extreme in stating that the band would never split. WK
Considering the band’s previous four albums all rank within the DMDB’s top 1000 of all time, Mylo had much to live up to. While it doesn’t attain that status, it hardly means the band should split up. They are, however, in a definite new phase of their careers where they are more like seasoned old hands than the new kids on the block.
The new album is a concept piece which Martin said is “based on a love story with a happy ending.” WK The protaganists live in “an oppressive, dystopian, urban environment,” WK meet through a gang, and fall in love. WK Martin has also said that he “took songwriting cues from anti-Nazi movements, totalitarianism and ‘70s graffiti artists.” UT
“Thematically and musically, Mylo Xyloto does come across as a medium-weight and up-to-date blend of middle-period U2, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Coldplay’s last three albums. Co-producer Brian Eno, who oversaw 2008’s Grammy-winning Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, returns and adds some faintly exotic Middle Eastern and electro-pop sounds and even a danceable rhythm or two.” UT
“Martin strikes a lightly defiant tone early on in Hurts Like Heaven when, against a surging beat, he sings, ‘I struggle with the feeling that my life isn’t mine/ Tonight the streets are ours/ And we’re writing and saying/ Don’t let ‘em take control.’ And he warns in Major Minus that ‘they got one eye watching you … so be careful who it is you’re talking to.’” UT
“But that’s about as deep as the songs probe, politically. The remainder deal with escapism and tormented romance. First single Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall celebrates taking refuge in music, while in second single Paradise, a young woman finds her release by dreaming.” UT
“Those tracks and ‘Hurts Like Heaven’ showcase what the band does best: using seductive, soaring melodies as platforms for Martin’s earnest vocals (his falsetto is gorgeous here) and swelling keyboards, Jonny Buckland’s chiming guitar, and anthemic ‘whoa oh-oh’ choruses.” UT
“The breakup songs are less engaging, save Princess of China, in which Rihanna, in a heartfelt been-there performance, laments, ‘Once upon a time we burned bright/ Now all we ever seem to do is fight/ On and on, and on and on and on.’” UT
“Martin and mates aren’t ones to send listeners away feeling put-upon, so they wrap things up with the reassuring (and precious) Up With the Birds, which predicts that ‘Good things are coming our way.’” UT
Overall, the album received critical reviews which ranged from mixed to favorable. On one hand, Rolling Stone’s Josh Eels called it their most ambitious effort WK while Spin magazine said Mylo “draws from an expansive palette that makes Coldplay’s first three albums sound even quainter.” WKQ magazine praised Coldplay’s effort saying it would “safely sustain their imperial position for a long time to come.” WK
On the other hand, The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis said the storyline lacked coherence and that musically it sounds like “standard-issue Coldplay.” WK The Los Angeles Times’ Randall Roberts said the album finds “the most appealingly unoriginal band of the ‘00s continuing on its path of least resistance.” WK He said of Martin’s lyrics that “every touch of lyrical bitterness is followed by enough sugar to mask the taste.” Entertainment Weekly’s Melissa Maerz said the album sounded like an attempt by the group to sound less like themselves. WK She said, “The world doesn’t seem sick of Coldplay, but maybe they’re sick of themselves.” WK
0.45
0.21
2.5
