U2start.com | Coldplay

Originally posted by fabian:[..]
I still think it should have been on the album.

I agree, I quite like the song

So far I guess I'd rank it like this, favorite to least favorite:

Charlie Brown
MX/Hurts Like Heaven
Up in Flames
MMIX/Every Teardrop is a Waterfall
Paradise
Us Against the World
UFO
Princess of China
Major Minus
Up With the Birds
A Hopeful Transmission/Don't Let it Break Your Heart

And if I could re-order the album I think I would.

1. MX
2. Hurts Like Heaven
3. Paradise
4. Major Minus
5. Us Against the World
6. Princess of China
7. Up in Flames
8. A Hopeful Transmission
9. Don't Let it Break Your Heart
10. Charlie Brown
11. Up With the Birds
12. UFO (Kill the thing on the last few seconds that leads into PoC)
13. MMIX
14. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

RattleandHum1988

13 years

I'd put Paradise later in the album (from where it is on the official list)

AidanFormigoni

13 years

I've listened to the album 4 times today. It's really a great album. Maybe their best, but I can't choose between MX or VLV by now...

MattG

13 years

Respectfully disagree...I just don't see this as one of the cases where a band's "best work" isn't considered something that made them huge. For example, comparing them to U2, this may be their Achtung Baby, but they didn't need a change of direction to make an unexpected masterpiece. Rush of Blood was their capitalization on cornering such a great style for them, much like Joshua Tree was for U2. I feel like VLV had a lot of newer elements that nobody really expected out of Coldplay, and while it wasn't a drastic enough change to make it their AB, it was their crowning moment as a band.

Genaro92U2

13 years

Hurts Like Heaven sounds awful on the album

i can't put my finger on it? His voice? the guitar is wayyyy in the back! This is unexpected.

MattG

13 years

It sounds like a bull running through a wind-chime store where Coldplay is having a concert. I have faith that the album's mix will be better than the rip we got the leak of. If you want, here's what I did to Hurts Like Heaven on my iTunes to brighten it up and make it listenable to my ears.

1) Open your EQ
2) Make adjustments similar to the ones in the picture (or your own, I don't care)
3) Pull down the drop-menu and select "Make new preset"
4) Once you're done with that, right click "Hurts Like Heaven" (the song) in iTunes
5) "Get Info"
6) "Options"->EQ Preset
7) Select the preset you just made.

I ended up doing that preset for the entire album, bar "Every Teardrop" and "Paradise", which I already had the studio singles of. It's a little bright, but I thought that was better than the flatness that this rip was. Keep in mind I have no experience mixing anything other than what I've personally recorded on guitar, and remastering stuff like this is NOT my forte- just messed with it until I liked the way it sounded. But you're all free to try! It changed my entire opinion on HLH, anyway.

Also, you might want to drop that 16K channel all the way on the right down. I've noticed some clipping during the louder parts of songs like Charlie Brown and Major Minus that get fixed by easing that off.

yeah

13 years

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]

It sounds a LOT like something John Mayer would write, doesn't it? Everything about it. The chorus vocals, the guitar that comes in during a later chorus, sounds like JM co-wrote it or something, I doubt it, but it sounds like it.

Sounds more like Massive Attack to me. Musically it's more or less a copy of teardrop.

Risto

13 years

@Matt, if you normalise the EQ preset it wont clip. Just slide all bullets down the same amount. If everything is under the 0db additional clipping cannot occur. The effect is the same, just bit more quiet. Luckily most of us have a volume knob

RattleandHum1988

13 years

Originally posted by EyesWithPrideB3Respectfully disagree...I just don't see this as one of the cases where a band's "best work" isn't considered something that made them huge. For example, comparing them to U2, this may be their Achtung Baby, but they didn't need a change of direction to make an unexpected masterpiece. Rush of Blood was their capitalization on cornering such a great style for them, much like Joshua Tree was for U2. I feel like VLV had a lot of newer elements that nobody really expected out of Coldplay, and while it wasn't a drastic enough change to make it their AB, it was their crowning moment as a band.

Wait, what?

Matt, would you be able to make that a little more clear?

First you say it might be their Achtung Baby, but you don't think they needed to change their sound that much for it to be called their best album, because they achieved a great Coldplay sound they could've capitilized more on with Rush of Blood? And then you say Rush of Blood is like their Joshua Tree, and Viva La Vida was their crowning moment but it wasn't weird enough to be their Achtung Baby, but this new album is..I'M SO CONFUSED

I think in a situation like this it's not always good to compare any bands to U2. Not because U2 is above every band and their past is perfect or anything, but because their journey was pretty unique. I could be wrong, but I don't think Coldplay went into this with the same mentality as U2 went into making Achtung Baby with, at all. U2 were on the edge of destruction, they almost broke up, they knew that their sound had run its course and they needed something new for the 90's. I'd honestly say that their image was a bigger change than their music was. Sure Achtung Baby was a transformation, but U2 was completely different in character and in the media.

Coldplay isn't really in that same situation. Viva La Vida got a great reception. They probably could have made an album that sounded like traditional coldplay, or even made one that sounds like Viva La Vida, and it would've sold great. But I think they wanted to push the envelope further with this one, not because they thought they had to do it to get to the top spot even more, but because they wanted to experiment more, tha'ts it. They aren't going for a change of image, the roots of the music in this album is your basic coldplay music, it's just the stuff that Eno helped with that makes this album different. I think Coldplay was in a position while making this album where they could have made any style of music, and as long as it was good, it would've sold. They just went experiemental a bit because they probably felt like branching out as a band.

That being said, I'm not a consultant to the band or anything, so I could be completely wrong, but this is my belief. If I misinterpreted what you said, than let me know! I'm not trying to argue or anything, just having a respectful discussion!

Alex

wangmaster

13 years

shit, the studio version of HLH is so flat and lethargic. the live version was so energetic and fidgety, and all that urgency is completely gone.

fabian

13 years

Paradise videoclip:

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