Hmm. What you call “big misses”, many of us call “the only good stuff”. I tapped out after X&Y.

Factory-assembled, soulless pop/synth ever since, IMO. Background music for shopping at Abercrombie.

There was an album called Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends which was pretty good.

BRILLIANT/VERY GOOD
1. Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends (packs a punch, doesn’t drag, throws curveballs and is the most varied thing they’ve ever done).

2. A Rush of Blood to the Head (not nearly as varied in styles as VLV so as a whole album can feel a bit similar in tone but the classics are all here, bookended by two of their greatest songs ever.

3. Mylo Xyloto (see below)

4. Everyday Life (could have been VLV II with a bit more focus and development, but it’s sketchy nature was intended as the stop gap release it is so no major complaints. Does contain some of their best songs ever too).

GOOD
5. Parachutes (not as good as everyone makes out - I.e. the haters who say this was all they did. It’s mope rock with not much variety lets be honest.

6. X&Y (may have been further down the list but for a handful of genuinely great songs (I still absolutely love Talk).

OKAY
7. Ghost Stories (find a lot of this drab but there are some real diamonds of beauty here too).

MEDIOCRE
8. Music of the Spheres

POOR
9. A Head Full Of Dreams (permission to shoot me if I ever start to show appreciation for the abysmal Amazing Day and Everglow). Coldplay’s Heathen Chemistry, my god I didn’t think it was possible but it may even be worse as the singles from HC are better than anything here.

Interesting ranking for me personally, as Mylo Xyloto is an album that very slowly I’ve come round to appreciate. Never liked it on release as I was expecting VLV part 2 or something in that artsy vibe, but over time, it is their most brilliant piece of pure pop they’ve ever released, and some great guitar work that makes it feel like a real band effort. Nothing moves me emotionally like the melancholy of previous albums but it has such great positive energy and melody, only complaint is I’d take off the three slower numbers (even if many love those songs) and just make it relentless pop from start to finish. This is where Coldplay really fled the ‘miserly’ tag of previous years. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll hear Car Kids or other songs floating around those sessions and it may very well complete the album for me.

The more they write those poppy songs the more superficial they sound, which imo is the biggest problem with Coldplay, they are so desperate to stay relevant with young audiences, funny that those more poppy stuffs with BTA, Rihanna and all suits them well, that Maroon 5 formula doesn't sound out of place with the band, songs which you can admire but don't love, good for them cos they've won a huge amount of casual fans, maybe the same amount of hardcore fans that they lost over the past ten years I guess.

Fucking perfect. Can't wait to bin People of the Pride when we hopefully get better songs in future Volumes.

Some info from Secret Phil's latest interview:

- The Race / Aurora might be the same song, but in either case there is extra material to come from the Spheres universe. Probably sooner rather than later, which is fun. 

- There is a conceptual link between the Spheres universe and the dystopia of Mylo Xyloto that the Silencers/aesthetic links already suggested. All will be revealed, apparently. 

- FFTF2024 (speculated as meaning Final Fareway to Fans, their last album) is a real thing. Can't talk about it yet or what the true meaning is. Perhaps the end is nigh!

Also, happy tenth birthday to Mylo Xyloto this week! One of their very best, and what a tour:

I already see this in full force with some of my friends. You name U2, Radiohead or R.E.M. to them and U2 and R.E.M. are surefire to get the dad rock accusations, and Radiohead gets some surprising indifference (or people singing 'Creep'), or glowing remarks if they're a music fan/indiehead, but Coldplay gets love from a lot of my friends, especially those who are into pop. They're viewed in those circles like how we view R.E.M. or Radiohead in terms of musical genius, originality and creativity, which I don't think is far off in some respects. It's respect in a different way than what we appreciate and the fact that Coldplay can be talked about in high regard, in terms of a poptimistic POV and a rock or indie-centric POV, really says something about the transcendent nature of the band. 

Not to mention, we've seen a lot of bands add in mainstream influences and collaborators and completely botch it or have it sound really awkward (looking at you, U2) but Coldplay, for the most part, has done a pretty good job. A Sky Full of Stars is a song I unironically love, Hymn for the Weekend is a great take on the R&B genre (a shame about the lazy lyricism and compressed-to-hell chorus though), Something Just Like This has one of Jonny's best solos, Princess of China is a decent song at its core (a shame about the loud vocals) and My Universe hasn't left my head all day long after listening to it this morning for how much of a bop and an earworm it is melodically and even musically (Guy's got a good bassline, Jonny has some funky guitars, Will does disco pretty solidly). 

I love what The Escapist said about how this album, altogether, doesn't feel right with all of these songs cobbled together; yet when you listen to them individually you can really appreciate their worth...except People of the Pride.  

When I first heard the intro of the song and the cliche dramatic sound effect, I couldn't help but laugh at it. Chris does good at owning what would be really cheesy for other artists but even that was too much. 

Hyped! Wembley Stadium standing tickets sorted for the Saturday thanks to the album pre-sale.

The only time I've seen Coldplay live was Glastonbury 2016, and I've not been back to Wembley Stadium for a gig since Oasis 2009!

The summer of 2022 is shaping up nicely with LG at Knebworth already booked.

Coldplay really needed an “A L E I N S” type song to help round out Spheres.

What's the idea behind 'Volume II' - I haven't seen any news regarding it. Is it confirmed or just rumours?

Anyway, all this Coldplay business means I've been revisiting them and listening frequently over the last week or so. Again, the song Church really is one of their most beautiful works ever.

I've seen it described as ambient and transcendental, but the combination of East meets West music composition with such tasteful collaborators so perfectly fits and doesn't seem forced or tacked on. Musically, it is perfect. And it has typically universal lyrics of a more spiritual perspective that only emphasise the unity on offer.

It's fucking great, this is what they are great at and a shame this flies under the noses of the haters. Sad thing is, nobody knows but if you know, at least you know.

It seems when Coldplay tap into traditional music from anywhere in the world, it always conjures up gold.

Coldplay seem to have a real reverence for traditional forms of music and I wonder why they succeed where others fail. I think it has something to do with Chris Martin's melodic abilities, there's something universal and breezy there that doesn't get bogged down by being generic pop melodies (see the likes of industry songwriter Ryan Tedder) or rock drudgery. There's always the risk of becoming self-indulgent with it ala Brian Pern but they never do that either.

That recalls the album U2 were intending to make for No Line on the Horizon. They went in with full intentions of a dramatic stylistic shift, like they'd done previously for Unforgettable Fire or Achtung Baby. The intention was 'futuristic hymns' that used experimental forms of music influenced by North African music, going so far with the intention to record fully in Morocco with Brian Eno (like they did with Hansa in Berlin for Achtung Baby).

They failed by some distance reverting to dad rawk. But I always thought that idea would be right up Coldplay's street - I'd love them to do that, and I think the results would be spectacular. There's almost a child like fascination Chris Martin has with various forms of music and that is reflected in the varied songs they do.

In that sense, Brian Eno really is untapped potential. He'd deliver on that promise for Coldplay. But when the charts keep calling you, then priorities are obviously different. I just wonder what would have happened if Viva La Vida was met with universal acclaim rather than mere begrudging acceptance by the snobbish music critics and whether this would have encouraged them more to go in this direction.

Literally just heard this song for the first time. Really good tune. God knows how many excellent songs they have lying on the cutting room floor.