Coldplay - Everyday life

"Everyday life" is the 8th album by UK rock pop outfit Coldplay.  Released in 2019 this saw a pattern forming in their album releases. "Mylo Xylto" was their commercial rock pop record, then "Ghost stories" was more ambitious and experimental. Then "Head full of dreams" was back to being the commercial rock and pop record. Now with "Everyday life" it's arguably their most ambitious album to date.  And it was quite unique the way they released it. It is dubbed a double album, one side being "Sunrise" and the other being "Sunset".

On the day of release, they played the first half of the album live on you tube at sunrise in Jordan. Then did the second half at sunset at the same venue. This live set is now combined and can still be seen on You tube.  And the setting and performance is quite incredible, and I must admit I much prefer watching the live experience than listening to this on CD.  Mainly because you can fully appreciate exactly what has gone into this record.  There are many session musicians and backing vocals dotted throughout the album that maybe you would miss on CD but really come to the forefront on the live performance as you can see them.

But that's the thing, the live performance they did in Jordan was the only time they would perform "Everyday life" as they chose not to tour the album. At the time they cited that the next time they tour they wanted to do it in the most environmentally friendly way as possible.  They then listed ways they were going to do it but maybe at this stage the research was still in early stages.  Or the cynic in me thinks that they didn't tour it because the album isn't really built for stadiums and doesn't have the same commercial appeal as say "Mylo Xylto" or "Head full of Dreams".

The singles they released off the album were excellent, "Orphans", "Champion of the world" and "Everyday life".  But the absolute standout track for me was "Arabesque".  This song stands as one of my favourite Coldplay songs ever.  It is just so different and has such a great swagger about it.  The saxophone totally dominates this track which is the main reason it stands out so much and this was actually my track of the year in 2019.  

Overall, I think that although there is some diamonds here, it's' not their best album and I think if they believed in it themselves they would have toured it regardless of their morals.  But I think the Jordan performance is magical and is definitely the way I would recommend listening to this album.