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Coldplay (Mylo Xyloto)==
- ==Writing and recording==
Lead singer Chris Martin stated that he does not believe "bands should keep going past the age of 33,"[3] but later rephrased this to say that what he meant was that they must proceed "as if it's our last, because that's the only way to proceed" in December 2008, adding that he thought the band would never split.[4] Bassist Guy Berryman, who earlier wrote that the band will "just have to start work and see how it shapes up",[5] reported that the band would return to the studio:
"We've already got lists of song ideas. We never stop writing. We go into the studio with all the best laid plans then what we end up with is not what we intended. It's just exciting to wonder what will come out the speakers in a year's time. We have very exciting things lined up. It's time to take our music down different directions and really explore other avenues."[6]
In one interview, Chris Martin predicted the style of the incoming album as being less dominated by fanfare, and featuring a more "stripped-down" sound.[7] He also said that the title of the new album "will probably begin with an M."[8] Later Chris went on to explain the name, stating that it had no meaning and that they had had the title in mind for at least two years before deciding upon it.[9]
In 2008 Coldplay established a recording HQ at a disused bakery in Primrose Hill, North London, where they recorded Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.[10] However they relocated to a vacant church, also in north London, to begin work on their fifth album in collaboration with Brian Eno.[11][12][13]
Contents |
[edit]Style
Edit
Mylo Xyloto is a concept album, and its content follows a story throughout. According to Chris Martin, the album is "based on a love story with a happy ending," in which two protagonists living in an oppressive, dystopian, urban environment, meet one another through a gang and fall in love. Lyrically, the album is inspired by "old school American graffiti" and "the White Rose Movement." Martin also said that the album was influenced byHBO TV series The Wire.[14] Coldplay have stated on several occasions that they want their next studio album to be "more acoustic" and "more intimate" than its predecessor, 2008's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. However, while this was the initial approach, the tone of the record became more electronic in nature. Though songs recorded early in the process such as Us Against The World and U.F.O have maintained the "stripped" approach in the way they reflect the type of album Coldplay intended on recording initially, the overall sound and style of the record is electronic tinged with some of the world beat elements from the predecessor, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.
Furthermore, Martin claimed "We have a song called Charlie Brown, which was the centrepiece of this other record we started first. We were playing the riff on an accordion and Guy came in one morning and said, ‘I’m afraid I have to put my foot down. I don’t want to speak out of turn, but I will not allow this song to be played on an accordion - that has to go in with the Mylo bunch’. So then we thought - let’s just make one album.”[15] This hints toward the fact that perhaps Coldplay had set out to makeMylo Xyloto a double album or at least an album released simultaneously to accompany another Coldplay album.
[edit]Release and promotionEdit
The album was set to be released in December 2010 as a "decade-ender", but was postponed to 2011 since the album was far from finished as Coldplay concluded their Viva la Vida Tour. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland mentioned that the album would be released in the latter year.[citation needed]
The iTunes Store let users hear one new song from the album every day the week before until the album was released.[citation needed]
The album was released on the 24 October 2011 on CD and on vinyl. A special edition of the album that includes the CD, digital copy and LP disc along with copies of the bands studio notes, stencils, a poster, a pop up book and stickers was made available on the 19 December 2011.[16]
[edit]SinglesEdit
On 31 May, Coldplay announced that their new song "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" would be released on 3 June at 12 pm BST via download.[17] The single contains elements of "I Go to Rio" written by Peter Allen and Adrienne Anderson.[18] On 21 June 2011, Coldplay's website announced that the band would release a digital EP containing the songs "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall", "Major Minus", and "Moving to Mars" on 26 June.[19]
The album's second single, "Paradise", was released on 12 September 2011.[20] That same day, Chris Martin announced that Rihanna would be featured on "Princess of China". "Paradise" has so far reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has reached the top 10 in 15 charts around the world. On 1 January 2012, it became the year's first number-one single in the UK and Coldplay's second chart-topper in their native country.[21]
On 19 October, "Princess of China" was misquoted by Billboard as the third single from the album.[22] It was confirmed on the Coldplay website that no such release had been made by Coldplay or their label, Parlophone.[23]
"Charlie Brown" will be the third single from the album. This was confirmed by the group after performing the song on The X Factor. It had been released to mainstream radio in Switzerland on 21 November 2011.[24] Dutch radio station 3FM confirmed a digital single on 24 November 2011.[25] The artwork of the single was posted on the same website. The length of the radio edit version of the single was revealed as 3:40, and it has been confirmed it will be released on 24 January 2012.
"Princess of China" is set to be solicited to US mainstream radio on 14 February 2012[26] as the fourth single from Mylo Xyloto.
[edit]ReceptionEdit
[edit]Critical receptionEdit
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 65/100[27] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [28] |
| Chicago Tribune | [29] |
| The Daily Telegraph | [30] |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+[31] |
| The Guardian | [32] |
| Los Angeles Times | [33] |
| NME | 5/10[34] |
| Q | [35] |
| Rolling Stone | [36] |
| Spin | 7/10[37] |
Mylo Xyloto has received mixed-to-favourable reviews from music critics. According to critic review aggregator Metacritic, the album has received a score of 65/100, based on 38 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.[27] Spin rated the record 7/10, saying that like its predecessor, "Mylo Xyloto draws from an expansive palette that makes Coldplay's first three albums sound even quainter". The reviewer noted that "where Viva La Vida showcased Coldplay's sense of adventure, this [album] feels more eager to please".[37] In a three-star review, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian judged the record's storyline to lack coherence, and he was sceptical of the album's purported pop influences, writing, "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". He did praise the electronic flourishes, saying that there was "deftness with which Coldplay weave the electronics around their sound" and it "genuinely adds a bit of freshness to a formulaic sound".[32] Josh Eels of Rolling Stone gave the album a score of three-and-a-half stars, calling it their most ambitious effort and saying that "the choruses are bigger, the textures grander, the optimism more optimistic. It's a bear-hug record for a bear-market world."[36] In a review for Entertainment Weekly, Melissa Maerz gave the record a "C+", interpreting it as an attempt by the group to sound less like themselves in order to reconcile their commercial success with the supposed stigma of being "as hated as a band can be". She wrote that "it's strange to hear Martin insist that it's 'us against the world'", particularly "within the same kind of expansive, soaring guitar-pop that's so adored by the world they're supposedly bucking against". Maerz concluded, "The world doesn't seem sick of Coldplay, but maybe they're sick of themselves."[31] IGN gave the album a score of 8/10, calling it an "epic record that will doubtless sell by the planet-load despite a ridiculous name".[38]
Q awarded the record a maximum score of five stars, saying, "their fifth album will, at the bare minimum, safely sustain their imperial position for a long time to come". Martin was praised for his vocals and Buckland for "riffs [that] twinkle and flare like meteor showers", as were Eno and Dravs for "spar[ing] nothing here in the way of sonic stardust". The review concluded, "Music this uplifting, this inspirational, belongs among the stars."[35] The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick called the record "irresistible", writing that its "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."[30] However, Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times, in a one and a half star review, said that the record "sees the most appealingly unoriginal band of the '00s continuing on its path of least resistance by offering vague, neutral opening lines such as 'Once upon a time somebody ran away.'" Roberts was critical of Martin's lyrics, explaining, "Every touch of lyrical bitterness is followed by enough sugar to mask the taste, which might be good in the short term but isn't a recipe for long-term health."[33] Martin Aston of BBC Music praised the album as "A triumphant fifth LP which reveals familiar strengths in all the right places".[39] Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave Mylo Xyloto three-and-a-half stars out of five, writing, that it "has a leg up other Coldplay records for this simple reason: they're no longer attempting to mimic U2's portentous piety. They've embraced their schoolboy selves and are simply singing songs of love and good cheer, albeit on a grand scale that somehow seems smaller due to the group's insuppressible niceness."[28]
[edit]Commercial performanceEdit
In the United Kingdom, the album sold over 122,000 copies in its first three days of sale according to The Official Charts Company. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of over 208,000 copies, giving the band their fifth number-one album and the second-biggest first-week sales of 2011 behind Lady Gaga's Born This Way.[40] Coldplay is the third group to debut at number one with their first five albums, behind The Beatles (11) and Oasis (7).[41] The downloads accounted for 83,000 units to became the first album to sell more than 80,000 digital copies in one week, a record previously by held by Take That's Progress (79,800 units).[42] In its second week on the chart, the album fell to number two selling 67,132 copies.[43] Mylo Xyloto was the biggest-selling rock album of 2011 in the UK, with sales of 908,000 units.[44] As of 8 January 2012, the album has sold 930,516 copies in the UK.[45]
Mylo Xyloto debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in the United States, with first-week sales of 447,000 copies.[46] As of January 12th 2012, the album has sold 1,034,241 copies in the US. In Canada, the album debuted at number one on theCanadian Albums Chart, selling 65,000 copies in its first week.[47] The album debuted at number one in Australia on the issue dated October 31, 2011.[48] In its second week on the chart, the album was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 70,000 copies.[49] In Denmark, the album debuted at number one with first-week sales of 7,807 copies.[50] The album was certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry(IFPI) for shipments of 10,000 copies in its first week.
[edit]Track listingEdit
All songs written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin. Enoxification and additional composition by Brian Eno.[51][52]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mylo Xyloto" | 0:43 |
| 2. | "Hurts Like Heaven" | 4:02 |
| 3. | "Paradise" | 4:37 |
| 4. | "Charlie Brown" | 4:45 |
| 5. | "Us Against the World" | 3:59 |
| 6. | "M.M.I.X." | 0:48 |
| 7. | "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" | 4:00 |
| 8. | "Major Minus" | 3:30 |
| 9. | "U.F.O." | 2:17 |
| 10. | "Princess of China" (featuring Rihanna) | 3:59 |
| 11. | "Up in Flames" | 3:13 |
| 12. | "A Hopeful Transmission" | 0:33 |
| 13. | "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" | 3:54 |
| 14. | "Up with the Birds" |
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