Celeb News: 'Mylo Xyloto' reviews

Sammi

BBC Music 80/100

Quote:

BBC Review

A triumphant fifth LP which reveals familiar strengths in all the right places.

Martin Aston 2011-10-14

Don’t Coldplay love their Xs and their Ys? And their enigmatic album titles? After 2005’s X&Y and 2008’s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends comes Mylo Xyloto. Well, it beats Coldplay 5. But any title that needs a pronunciation guide (it’s "My-lo zy-letoe") sounds like it’s trying a bit too hard. Maybe Chris Martin still yearns for something that infers the depth and gravitas of a Bono or Thom Yorke. The album is apparently a concept work, "based on a love story with a happy ending," Martin claims, and inspired by old-school American graffiti and the anti-Nazi pacifist White Rose Movement: "It's about being free to be yourself and to express yourself among negative surroundings." But the lyrics are still typically Martin’s life-affirming, anthem-forming and plain-speaking as ever, more ABC than MYLO XYLOTO.

The same goes for the music. Bassist Guy Berryman said in 2009, "It's time to take our music down different directions and really explore other avenues," and, in name alone, this set suggests Coldplay might finally do an Achtung Baby; they might rip it up and start again, in the presence of said U2 LP’s producer Brian Eno, who also worked on Viva la Vida. If the addition of electronic undertows, instrumental snippets (the title-track, M.M.I.X., A Hopeful Transmission) linking many of the tracks and the presence of Rihanna on Princess of China count as "other avenues", then job well done. But Mylo Xyloto is much more a brilliant, shiny and emphatic reinstatement of the euphoric hooks and cuddly ballads that have served the band so well. Case in point: Paradise, where melting strings and church organ feed into a brilliant chorus line that equal parts Fix You and Viva la Vida’s title-track. But the main vocal chorus doesn’t arrive until over two minutes in, building the tension; the pay-off is both simple and devastating. It’s the equal of Yellow, and when Coldplay return to Glastonbury it will take the roof off the sky.

Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall goes one step further than Paradise by lifting Vida la Vida’s "who-hoa!" hook, suggesting Coldplay can’t truly comprehend new avenues. U2-shaped echoes still run through the deep and wide canyons of their landscaped sound – Major Minus features The Edge-patented guitar chatter, but it’s nevertheless a triumph. Charlie Brown has one of those Coldplay-patented sun-breaking-through-clouds moments; Us Against the World (the sentiment that unites the graffiti and anti-Nazi camps) is the key wistful/cuddly ballad alongside Up in Flames, a successful grafting of soul onto the Coldplay model, helped by an understated falsetto and the simplest of piano parts (echoes of Parachutes’ gorgeous Everything’s Not Lost).

The closing Up With the Birds, which samples Leonard Cohen, is a serene finale that shows Coldplay understand the change of dynamics more than the dynamics of change. Better this than the nominally Euro-disco bent of Princess of China, where Rihanna’s presence feels more of a marketing tool than a creative necessity, and there’s yet another "who-ay-oh-oh!" chant just in case Coldplay were straying too far from their remit. This appears to support Martin’s message of expressing the freedom to be yourself under negative surroundings – not to change just because critics of the band tell them they should. Mylo Xyloto may have an oblique title but it’s a triumph because the music is anything but.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/98x2
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Spin 70/100

Quote:

Coldplay
'Mylo Xyloto'

Shut Up and Cry: Sir Chris of Martin gives his heartache a dance-pop infusion

Spin Rating
7 of 10

It says something about Coldplay's Top 40 assimilation that the most Rihanna-ish song on Mylo Xyloto isn't the one that actually features Rihanna. "Life goes on, it gets so heavy," Chris Martin sings over a booming hip-hop beat on "Paradise," and by the time he mimics RiRi's stuttered delivery on the hook, you're already picturing him sharing the space under his umbrella.

Like 2008's horizon-broadening Viva La Vida, Mylo Xyloto draws from an expansive palette that makes Coldplay's first three albums sound even quainter: "Hurts Like Heaven" rides a zippy new-wave groove that justifies its Cure-conjuring title, while the future-soul "Up in Flames" is basically James Blake writ very, very large; those supersaturated rave synths from first single "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" turn up again on the sparkling, real-Rihanna-assisted "Princess of China."

But where Viva La Vida showcased Coldplay's sense of adventure, this one feels more eager to please; the sonic detail accrues with such speed that it's like Martin and his mates fear you'll bail if they don't grab you straightaway. ("Slow it down," the frontman advises in "Us Against the World," right before piling on layers of dramatic church organ.) Of course, that's the implicit threat under which great pop songs live, and, for better or worse, Coldplay always rise to that challenge.

http://www.spin.com/reviews/coldplay...xyloto-capitol
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Uncut 60/100

Quote:

3/5
Solid fifth calms EMI shareholders

Mylo Xyloto may arrive scrawled in the spray-painted language of the streets, but scratch off the graffiti and Coldplay remain as hip as ever. Described by Chris Martin as "a love story set in an oppressive urban environment", there's no shortage of decent tunes: on the likes of "Charlie Brown" and "Hurts Like Heaven". Jonny Buckland sews those naggingly familiar riffs on to Eno-plumped cushions of sound. Deadline challanges mean Uncut is unable to hear a final full version, but it's safe to say that "Paradise", with it's gooey sentiment and Flake ad strings, won't convert the haters. -Piers Martin

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70/100 (still not added on Metacritic)

Quote:

3.5/5 star rating

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15
By
Josh Eells
October 17, 2011

In the three years since Coldplay's last album, the world's problems have gotten a little more urgent. A cratering economy, riots from Tahrir to Tottenham, the prolonged ubiquity of the Kardashians – these are things that can't be solved with a lullaby, even from the biggest band to emerge in the 21st century. Chris Martin knows this. But Coldplay's fifth album – and most ambitious yet – suggests Martin cares too much not to at least try to help.

Coldplay recently entered their second decade together – the same point Springsteen made Born in the U.S.A. and U2 made Achtung Baby – so it comes as no surprise they'd want a zeitgeist-y, big-statement album of their own. On Mylo Xyloto, the choruses are bigger, the textures grander, the optimism more optimistic. It's a bear-hug record for a bear-market world.

Aided again by Brian Eno, Coldplay are still dabbling in the kind of cool-weird artiness they truly went for on 2008's Viva La Vida. But where that album sometimes seemed like a self-conscious attempt to diversify their sound, with a world-music vibe and U2-style sound effects, this time Coldplay have integrated the "Enoxification" (as they call it) into their own down-the-middle core: Check out the cascading choral vocals that augment Martin's soaring refrain on "Paradise." Prominent elements prop up the sonic cathedrals: Jonny Buckland's guitar, which is riffier and more muscular than ever, and Euro-house synths that wouldn't sound out of place at a nightclub in Ibiza.

Martin says Mylo Xyloto was inspired by 1970s New York graffiti and the Nazi-resistance movement known as the White Rose – it's probably no coincidence both were about young people embracing art in times of turmoil. Here, Coldplay rage in their own lovably goofy way. On the rave-tinged "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall," Martin imagines a revolution powered by dancing kids. "Hurts Like Heaven" might be the first Coldplay tune to which you can bust something resembling a move. The lyrics seem to be about fighting the Man – "Don't let 'em take control!" – but Martin sounds ebullient over a sproingy New Wave beat.

Explicit political statements aren't really Martin's thing; he's in the uplift business. Mylo Xyloto suggests he's fully embraced his role as a not-terribly-cool guy who's good at preaching perseverance, in a voice that's warm and milky like afternoon tea. By the time he croons, "Don't let it break your heart!" over "Where the Streets Have No Name"-style guitar sparkle near the album's end, you can't help but think he's an inspiration peddler who believes what he's belting.

Oddly enough, the best moments are darker ones. "Princess of China" is a ballad about loss and regret, co-starring Rihanna. It's a partnership that probably came together over champagne brunch at Jay-Z's, but its synth-fuzz groove is offhandedly seductive. It's followed by "Up in Flames," a minimalist slow jam. Martin sings nakedly about how breakups can feel like the end of the world, or maybe it's about the actual end of the world. Either way, as end-times lullabies go, it's pretty sweet.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/al...yloto-20111017

alkralkra

Hmm... I don't expect high scores, Coldplay isn't a critical favorite.

Loghen

Quote:

Originally posted by alkralkra

Hmm... I don't expect high scores, Coldplay isn't a critical favorite.

Their previous two albums got 72 each on Metacritic and AROBTTH got 80. Pretty good overall.

alkralkra

Quote:

Originally posted by Loghen

Their previous two albums got 72 each on Metacritic and AROBTTH got 80. Pretty good overall.

Oh, you're right.

SylMacPer

This album is a MASTERPIECE! Best album of 2011

Mzd

70 isn't really that bad is it? The album is finally growing on me, but def not their best

Icing

Where's Rolling Stone?

The reviews aren't spectacular.

Bad Wolf

I'm pretty let down as a really big Coldplay fan.

Still trying to give it a few more listens before I make my final decision/opinion on the album.

Sammi

70/100 (still not added on Metacritic)

Quote:

3.5/5 star rating

Tweet
Comment
15
By
Josh Eells
October 17, 2011

In the three years since Coldplay's last album, the world's problems have gotten a little more urgent. A cratering economy, riots from Tahrir to Tottenham, the prolonged ubiquity of the Kardashians – these are things that can't be solved with a lullaby, even from the biggest band to emerge in the 21st century. Chris Martin knows this. But Coldplay's fifth album – and most ambitious yet – suggests Martin cares too much not to at least try to help.

Coldplay recently entered their second decade together – the same point Springsteen made Born in the U.S.A. and U2 made Achtung Baby – so it comes as no surprise they'd want a zeitgeist-y, big-statement album of their own. On Mylo Xyloto, the choruses are bigger, the textures grander, the optimism more optimistic. It's a bear-hug record for a bear-market world.

Aided again by Brian Eno, Coldplay are still dabbling in the kind of cool-weird artiness they truly went for on 2008's Viva La Vida. But where that album sometimes seemed like a self-conscious attempt to diversify their sound, with a world-music vibe and U2-style sound effects, this time Coldplay have integrated the "Enoxification" (as they call it) into their own down-the-middle core: Check out the cascading choral vocals that augment Martin's soaring refrain on "Paradise." Prominent elements prop up the sonic cathedrals: Jonny Buckland's guitar, which is riffier and more muscular than ever, and Euro-house synths that wouldn't sound out of place at a nightclub in Ibiza.

Martin says Mylo Xyloto was inspired by 1970s New York graffiti and the Nazi-resistance movement known as the White Rose – it's probably no coincidence both were about young people embracing art in times of turmoil. Here, Coldplay rage in their own lovably goofy way. On the rave-tinged "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall," Martin imagines a revolution powered by dancing kids. "Hurts Like Heaven" might be the first Coldplay tune to which you can bust something resembling a move. The lyrics seem to be about fighting the Man – "Don't let 'em take control!" – but Martin sounds ebullient over a sproingy New Wave beat.

Explicit political statements aren't really Martin's thing; he's in the uplift business. Mylo Xyloto suggests he's fully embraced his role as a not-terribly-cool guy who's good at preaching perseverance, in a voice that's warm and milky like afternoon tea. By the time he croons, "Don't let it break your heart!" over "Where the Streets Have No Name"-style guitar sparkle near the album's end, you can't help but think he's an inspiration peddler who believes what he's belting.

Oddly enough, the best moments are darker ones. "Princess of China" is a ballad about loss and regret, co-starring Rihanna. It's a partnership that probably came together over champagne brunch at Jay-Z's, but its synth-fuzz groove is offhandedly seductive. It's followed by "Up in Flames," a minimalist slow jam. Martin sings nakedly about how breakups can feel like the end of the world, or maybe it's about the actual end of the world. Either way, as end-times lullabies go, it's pretty sweet.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/al...yloto-20111017

Sammi

Quote:

Originally posted by Mzd

70 isn't really that bad is it? The album is finally growing on me, but def not their best

There's like over 25 reviews still missing so this isn't the final score.Agree.Nothing can top A Rush but for me,this is their 2nd best.I don't get those people who are disappointed.

RedDlicious

I understand the disappointment, but I was disappointed in their last album. I think this is more in their lane and sounds like a 2011 Coldplay album.

What I love most is that this is a rock band who is using the dance trend as it should be used in their genre, unlike ****** pop/punk bands like Cobra Starship or how I believe U2 will be using it. It was infused into their music and seems like a natural evolution. Loving the album.

Sammi

The Guardian (still not added on Metacritic)

Quote:

3/5

Coldplay's follow-up to 2008's biggest-selling album is a curious thing. On the one hand, it aims for a certain ponderous gravitas. Mylo Xyloto is a concept album complete with a short filmic overture, interstitial instrumental pieces called things like A Hopeful Transmission, and recurring lyrical themes, set, as concept albums are legally obliged to be, in a futuristic dystopia: you can tell it's a futuristic dystopia because one of the interstitial instrumentals, M.M.I.X., is helpfully bedecked with the sound of burbling computers. An oppressive regime wields power: "They got one eye watching you, so be careful who it is you're talking to." But the kids – it literally talks about "the kids" – are rising up against them, inspired by the power of rock'n'roll: "I turn the music up, I got my records on/ From underneath the rubble sing a rebel song." Among the kids' ranks lurk the two curiously named lovers of the album's title. "The ending is very powerful, and about love conquering all," explained drummer Will Champion, clearly a stranger to the spoiler alert. Without wishing to join the motley crew of petitioners who've cried plagiarism at Coldplay over the years, the plot sounds a bit familiar. It's We Will Soft Rock You.

On the other hand, however, the album's sound involves a surprising embrace of chart pop. Whereas its predecessor took its title from a painting by Frida Kahlo, Mylo Xyloto has apparently been inspired by another leading surrealist, their work also characterised by the use of dramatic symbolism to communicate extremes of human suffering: Justin Bieber. "We have Justin Bieber and Adele to compete with and they're much younger than us. We have to have the energy to put as much effort into our work as they do," Chris Martin recently explained, a comment that rather leads you to picture agonised band meetings spent trying to work out how to equal the skyscraping artistic heights that will surely be scaled by Bieber's forthcoming album Under the Mistletoe, which not only features him doing that one about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but also a version of Little Drummer Boy featuring Busta Rhymes. Lofty aspirations indeed, but then what is rock music if not an arena in which we dare to dream?

As with the claims about the Brian Eno-driven avant-garde inclinations of Viva la Vida, you quickly get the feeling that Coldplay might have been laying it on a bit thick about the pop influence on Mylo Xyloto. A lot of it just sounds like standard-issue Coldplay, replete with echoing guitars, woah-oh choruses and vocals that signify high drama by slipping into falsetto. But when they do deploy the icy rave synthesisers and basslines of pop R&B amid the acoustic guitars and weepy strings – as on Paradise and Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall – it genuinely adds a bit of freshness to a formulaic sound. There's something faintly baffling about that, given that the icy rave synthesisers and basslines of pop R&B sound pretty formulaic themselves. Perhaps it has to do with the deftness with which Coldplay weave the electronics around their sound. It certainly never sounds awkward, even when Rihanna shows up on Princess of China, which might actually be the best thing here: a gleaming, tidily done bit of electro-pop. Or perhaps it's because whatever accusations you could heave at Coldplay, an inability to write hook-laden melodies isn't really among them, and a hook-laden melody is a movable feast.

Mylo Xyloto's problem lies with the concept itself. For one thing, the storyline is flimsy. It doesn't stand a chance when pitted against Chris Martin's fearsome arsenal of cliches, generalities and motivational-poster platitudes: over the course of the album, the listener is left in no doubt that that streets aren't really paved with gold, that life goes on and that the sun must set to rise.

Worse, it forces him to write in character, as a wild, feral youth who "stole a key, took a car downtown where the lost boys meet … we'll run riot," as he sings on Charlie Brown. You have to give him credit for stepping outside his comfort zone and playing against type. But equally, there's no getting around the fact that Chris Martin makes for a profoundly unconvincing feral youth: it feels like remaking The Wild One with Phillip Schofield in the lead role.

Still, he might reasonably respond that no one buys a Coldplay album in the hope of finding brilliantly incisive lyrics, or indeed an accurate portrayal of untamable adolescent rebellion. They want other things, and they're all present and correct here. Despite Martin's worries, the chances of their vast fanbase suddenly defecting – to Justin Bieber or anyone else – seem pretty slender.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011...?newsfeed=true

Sammi

Telegraph (still not added on Metacritic)

Quote:

4/5

“It’s us against the world,” sings Chris Martin with an emotional croak, as acoustic guitars strum, church organs swell and silvery electric guitar motifs shimmer in a dreamy haze. You can already picture mobiles held aloft in stadiums as Coldplay turn their audience into a global gospel choir, sharing universal hymns of suffering and hope.

It is stirring stuff, although its broad-brush sentimentality does little to dispel the lingering suspicion that it all just comes a little too easy, and doesn’t dig very deep.

Despite Martin’s air of embattled defensiveness, the truth is Coldplay already have the world on their side. Mylo Xyloto, their fifth album, should affirm their status as the biggest-selling band on Earth. It’s a surging, chiming, upbeat epic, almost thunderously enthusiastic. This is large-scaled, big-gesture music that aims directly at the heart, which might account for the scepticism of the remaining non-believers.

Questioned about the title, Martin has insisted “it doesn’t have any meaning”. His defiant inarticulacy feeds the notion that Coldplay are a pop group in rock clothing. Like those of Noel Gallagher, Britrock’s other nursery-rhyme superstar, Martin’s lyrics often rhyme for rhyme’s sake, and he fills musical spaces with endless “who-oh-oh-oh”s.

He has proclaimed Mylo Xyloto to be a concept album, but if there is a narrative among these songs of love and loss, it seems to amount to little more than boy meets girl, boy loses girl, they learn to live without each other, the end. It’s hardly Tommy.
It is irresistible, none the less. With co-producer Brian Eno on synthesizers and co-writing duties, the mood is adventurous and the sound is luxuriously colourful, Martin’s hook-laden piano lines are overlaid with sparkling guitar motifs and driven along by simple, direct beats. Melodies course through everything, constantly shifting and reshaping.

R&b pop queen Rihanna makes an effective guest on the electro-poppy Princess of China, the richly textured backing bringing out interesting nuances in her sweet but tough vocal, but it is the very English soulfulness of Martin himself that really adds depth to Coldplay.

The overall impression may be of air-punching, anthemic positivity, yet an ever-present ache in his voice undercuts the obviousness of the sentiments, and dampens the relentless enthusiasm.

I sometimes think Coldplay are what Radiohead would sound like if they were fronted by Paul McCartney, 21st-century rock bent to the service of silly love songs. But maybe that is exactly what the world needs right now: great pop music with its big heart in the right place.

Download this: Princess of China

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...CD-review.html

Nicole

C+ from Entertainment Weekly.

Sammi

NME (still not added on Metacritic)

Quote:

5/10

Scan -> http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6394/71251178.jpg

Sammi

Quote:

Originally posted by Nicole

C+ from Entertainment Weekly.

I had a heart attack while reading it.When I know Katy (I'm not delusional fan) have the same grade as them and Pitbull A- how could i take them seriously?You tell me...

Mean Trees

So basically the most positive parts of the album reviews are about Rihanna.

70/100 is hardly good for an alt rock act. Tori has gotten similar reviews as well.

Nicole

Quote:

Originally posted by Sammi

I had a heart attack while reading it.When I know Katy (I'm not delusional fan) have the same grade as them and Pitbull A- how could i take them seriously?You tell me...

Yeah, lately I've lost respect for EW's opinion.

Dephira

AROBTTH is a critical favourite and one of the most acclaimed albums of the 2000s. However, it also really really good. This isn't. I expect a score in the 60s

Sammi

What Culture

Quote:

4/5

It seems like an age since Coldplay last released an album. It’s actually only been three years since Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends was released, but three years without a fix has been a wait that’s seemed much longer for Coldplay addicts. However, they should be used to waiting this long – every album that Coldplay has released has been two or three years since its predecessor. It’s hard to believe that Mylo Xyloto is the band’s fifth studio album. It seems as if they’ve released much more, but this is mainly due to the undying popularity of songs such as Yellow, The Scientist, Speed of Sound and Viva La Vida, to name just a few.

Their first album, Parachutes, was released in 2000 and I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that it seems they’ve been around for much, much longer. Again, this is more than likely due to certain songs still feeling as fresh as the day they were recorded and being so popular that they’ve lasted through the years. However, another reason it seems they’ve been around for much longer than 11 years is that since their inception in 1996, they’ve been making such an impressive mark on listeners, critics and on record sales worldwide. 11 years is a very long time for a band to still be together nowadays, and for a band like Coldplay, who create music on such a well-received, engaging scale, this makes it all the more impressive. Every album is nurtured and maximised to its full potential, and the love that the band put into crafting the music emanates through to the listener.

The band has sold over 50 million records worldwide and has won various awards. These include 6 Brit Awards, including winning Best British Group three times, and 7 Grammy Awards. Their debut album, Parachutes, was nominated for the Mercury Prize; their second, A Rush Of Blood To The Head, won NME’s album of the year; the third, X & Y, was the best-selling album worldwide in 2005; and the fourth, Viva La Vida…, earned several nominations and wins at the 51st Grammy Awards. The band is also known for its support of a number of political and social causes: Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign and Amnesty International are two examples. The band has also performed at events such as Live 8, Band Aid 20 and the Teenage Cancer Trust. Chris Martin is seen as an advocate for Fair Trade and has been on trips with Oxfam, has appeared in its advertisements and is also know for wearing a Make Trade Fair wristband on his public appearances, including at concerts.

So, as you can see, Coldplay aren’t a band who are just interested getting their music across to people. They use their celebrity status to further the knowledge of poverty, poor economic climates and of countries in need. Coldplay is an important band of this generation, and love them or hate them, you cannot say that they haven’t made a mark on popular culture and, indeed, on people’s opinions and knowledge about social and economic problems worldwide.

The band has stated that Mylo Xyloto is going in an industrial rock direction – very different to past Coldplay releases. Martin has also said that the main themes are of ‘love, addiction, OCD, escape and working for someone you don’t like.’ So, on the basis of these statements, the album is set up for a very intriguing and diverse listen. It could also be absorbing and rewarding for the listener. If the band play it right, they’ll have an album of magnificent magnitude – one that is sure to earn them some more awards to add to the collection.

Hurts Like Heaven has a delicate guitar that is full of melody and rhythm and a drumbeat that’s hard not to nod along to. Martin’s vocals glide over the track and in the haunting resonance he leaves behind, you may find the silence that bridges between the next track a little bit evocative. It is a song that in true Coldplay style, lingers in your head and you’ll find yourself humming or singing along to it long after it’s finished.

Angsty titled Us Against The World has a sombre, almost anguished opening. The slow, sweet guitar, accompanied by Martin’s gloomy vocals, make for a listen that is distressing but stirring at the same time. The lyrics, especially, highlight this point: ‘And tonight / I know it all has to begin again / So whatever you do / Don’t let go’. It’s a track that will, in particular, appeal to the legions of fans who love Coldplay for their poignant, meaningful music but it’s also a song that may be the soundtrack to a day when nothing is going right.

Up In Flames is a track that has romantic connotations and a feel of unparalleled emotion that can only be obtained when a song is written about something true to life. Martin’s repeated chorus of ‘Up in flames’ hammers at the heartstrings and embeds itself in your mind. It’s a simple track, but elegant in its own way. It is a song that grows on you, and that’s what makes it so strong.

Up With The Birds, the final track, utilises the most of Martin’s poignant vocal style and the keys that filter in are a striking addition. They are what the song relies on to fulfil its potential until the folk-esque acoustic guitar comes to the fore. The guitar and the keys, together, grab the listener until the end and Martin’s vocals hover effortlessly over the music. It isn’t the strongest track on offer, but it is a stable ending and in its almost burgeoning stillness, it entices the listener to start listening to the album again. An intelligent ending.

Though the industrial rock theme may not have been fully realised, this is an album with Coldplay stamped all over it and, once again, shows why they are one of today’s most enduring and popular bands. It’ll be an album that we’ll hear plenty about upon its release.

http://whatculture.com/music/coldpla...bum-review.php