GrantNicholas

Great album, undoubtedly better than the last one and perhaps their best since Stadium Arcadium.

Beautiful review for a great comeback.

I’m happy to respond. I have very varied tastes and I also listen to quite a few more recent bands (some I even review, if you dig a bit into my reviews; lately I’ve been thinking of Foals, Circa Waves, Dinosaur Pile-Up), but I don’t believe these "historic" bands are as washed up as people say. Many bands in this genre are releasing, in my opinion, very beautiful and valid albums, and looking beyond my reviews, even specialized press and other sites are talking positively about them (recent case in point, the Doves, with their latest album acclaimed by almost everyone and even topping the charts after eleven years). Just because a band is "in old age" doesn’t mean they have to make bad albums, and for me, there has been a clear improvement in quality in the genre over the last few years. I don’t know if it’s just my impression or if it’s age, but I find that in the last two years, historic bands in the alt rock/pop genre have released truly valid albums. Then I listen to others that I can’t stand (still within the genre), but by choice, I never review negative critiques. That’s all.

At first listen, it's a great album. Old Manson is aging wonderfully.

Crazy record. An absolute gem that will be even more appreciated in the years to come.

By The Grace Of God I used to play with my band back in the day. A record to which I feel very attached.

Well-written review but completely unfounded, in my opinion. First of all, Ghost Stories from four years ago was a similar album, and it showed that Coldplay has no intention of being just "a band for newly menstruating girls." I don't find anything "elevated music" in here; if we want to label gospel, folk, and '50s pop as elevated music, then fine, but to me, it sounds like an album mainly of acoustic rock with some deviations into unfamiliar territories for Coldplay, that's all. The "people interspersed here and there speaking various languages" are placed with a logical sense: the one in Bani Adam is a poem, the spoken part in Trouble in Town is a sample of an aggression by some police officers circulating online for a while, and so on. And as for U2, I think there's practically zero influence here, maybe just the second part of Bani Adam. A very well-written review, but one I do not share, with all due respect, not in the slightest. To me, it's the best album by Coldplay since Viva La Vida, excluding that one.

Huge artist. Fabulous record.

Great comeback. Huge and underrated band.

I completely disagree.