Tag: Coldplay

Coldplay – Miracles

“Wouldn’t mind a bit more on the vocal.”

Tom: I swear that every Coldplay single is also from a film soundtrack these days.

Tom: But then, when you’ve got a sound that can be summed up in the word “anthemic”… I guess that makes sense.

Tim: Yes, and in particular it’s anthemic in a way that’s considerably stronger in the instrumental sections.

Tom: The intro’s beautiful — in fact pretty much all the instrumentation is, particularly that build towards the chorus. The vocals, though? They don’t really add all that much.

Tim: No – I was very impressed by the introduction, as you were, but the vocal came in and not a lot happened then until we were done with the chorus.

Tom: This is a soundtrack for a film, and I’m not sure that actually makes it a good single. It deserves to roll over the ending credits of a movie: I’m just not sure it belongs in the charts.

Tim: I don’t know – the strong instrumental bits are very strong indeed, and that closing section is wonderful. Just…yeah, wouldn’t mind a bit more on the vocal.

Coldplay – A Sky Full Of Stars

“More proof of how great Swedes are when it comes to music.”

Tim: We’re a bit late to this (although it is technically still their current single), but it’s worth a feature on here just because it’s the most enjoyable track Coldplay have put out in ages, largely thanks to a certain Swedish dance producer and keyboard player.

Tom: Crikey, that’s… well, that’s Coldplay mixed with Avicii. Which is to say, VERY GOOD INDEED.

Tim: So this is their Shot At The Night, except rather than go to M83 for assistance they went to Avicii instead, because who wouldn’t, especially if you might become friends and then one day be able to wrangle a stay at his LA apartment (totally not jealous).

Tom: Fifteen million dollars. That’s about a downpayment on a one-bedroom flat in London.

Tim: They have EMBRACED THE LIGHT SIDE, even if it is just for one track and stands out like something of a sore thumb on the album that’s otherwise full of standard Coldplay fare, and it’s worked out brilliantly.

Tom: Agreed: that’s a concert-stopper, assuming the audience don’t just go “that’s not what you normally do”.

Tim: More proof of how great Swedes are when it comes to music.

Coldplay – Atlas

“It’s a Textbook Coldplay Track.”

Tom: The new Hunger Games movie somehow got Coldplay to do the… well, let’s call it what it is, the Tie-In Song That’ll Appear Over The Second Half Of The Credits.

Tim: Now that there is a beautiful lyric video. It even managed to keep me going throughout the song.

Tom: It’s somewhat in the “Fix You” mould, to the extent that I suspect that a record industry exec, at some point, said “can we have something a bit like Fix You?” The slow build, the long repetitions of the title. It’s a Textbook Coldplay Track, somehow graduating from very calm and measured to becoming a wall of sound… only to fall back for the outro.

Tim: Wall of sound? Are you kidding? “I’m about to explode…” by hitting the piano a bit bit harder than I have been doing previously. Talk about a let down. I don’t want to criticise the song to much – I’m assuming it was crafted around the film (so more like film industry exec rather than record industry exec), so has to mirror it in tone and excitement, but man, I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing the film previously, and now I know I don’t want to see it.

Tom: It’s not going to be a “Fix You”. It’s not going to be a “Speed of Sound”. It’s going to be on the soundtrack CD, and everyone’ll take their money, and they’ll move on to better things.

Tim: But it does have a lovely lyric video.