Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

 

"Mylo Xyloto" is the 5th album by UK indie rockers Coldplay and was released in 2011. At this point in their career, you could forgive Coldplay for making a bad album.  Maybe some may point that finger at third album "X & Y" but even the biggest haters of that album can't deny there are some real timeless gems on there.  

So how did "Mylo Xyloto" turnout?  Well, I cannot find a bad song on this.  I think they have managed to make an album where the singles sound even more massive than before.  To be honest at the time it was out I didn't really listen to it that much, but I think that was more that I was going through a period of not really listening to much music.  But going back to this it has charisma breathing out it at every turn.  When you look at bands like Oasis, many would struggle to even remember what their 5th album was called as they started to peter out and rely on their older material after "Be here now".  But even though Coldplay had those massive first two albums they seemed to keep climbing on that upward trajectory.

And when I say their songs sound more massive you just must look at songs like "Hurts like heaven", "Every teardrop is a waterfall", "Paradise" and one of my personal favourites "Charlie Brown".  These are songs which are born for the big stage, and I was lucky to see them headline T in the Park which is a huge festival which used to take place in Fife in Scotland.  And they were touring this album at the time.  They are just feel-good anthems which you want to bop up and down to and sing at the top of your lungs.  Sure, they have songs like this before, you just have to look at "Clocks", "Yellow" and "Viva la Vida".  But these songs just sound bigger.

They also continue with their collaborations on this album, as Jay Z appeared on the track "Lost!" last time round. Now this time you get Rhianna coming in to appear on "Princess of China" giving that extra dimension to the album while fitting in perfectly on dual vocals with Martin.  On the other side of the album, you get those acoustic tracks which Coldplay have mastered time and time again.  "Us and against the world" in my opinion the best example, with "Up in flames" which is a slow piano track not too far behind.  Perhaps the weakest points of the album are the opener "Mylo Xyloto" title track and closer "Up with the birds".  Now they are still good tracks but compared to previous albums where this has been Coldplay's strength.  They don't quite sit at the same level as the openers and closers of past Coldplay albums.

Overall though this is another fantastic Coldplay album.  I say you could have forgiven them for having a bad album at this stage in their career, but it just shows the sheer talent and song writing ability they possess.  At this point, if it wasn't the case already, you got we hate Coldplay crowd appearing, but, in my opinion, this is the sign of a great band.  If your big enough that people must state they don't like you, it must mean your popular enough and a lot of people do like you.