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Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Parlophone Records
Released: 2011.10.25
Time:
 44:09
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Daniel Green, Rik Simpson, Markus Dravs
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.coldplay.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2010
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Mylo Xyloto (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 0:43
[2] Hurts Like Heaven (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 4:02
[3] Paradise (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 4:37
[4] Charlie Brown (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 4:45
[5] Us Against the World (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 3:59
[6] M.M.I.X. (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 0:48
[7] Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 4:00
[8] Major Minus (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 3:30
[9] U.F.O. (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 2:17
[10] Princess of China (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 3:59
[11] Up in Flames (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 3:13
[12] A Hopeful Transmission (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 0:33
[13] Don't Let It Break Your Heart (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 3:53
[14] Up with the Birds (G.Berryman/J.Buckland) - 3:47

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Guy Berryman - Bass Guitar, Artwork, Composer
Johnny Buckland - Guitars, Artwork, Composer
Will Champion - Drums, Artwork
Chris Martin - Vocals, Piano, Guitar, Artwork

Rihanna - Vocals on [10]

Rosie Danvers - Cello
Luis Jardim - Percussion
Davide Rossi - Strings
Mary Hammond - Vocal Coach

Brian Eno - Enoxification and Additional Composition

Daniel Green - Engineer, Mixing, Producer
Rik Simpson - Engineer, Mixing, Producer
Markus Dravs - Engineer, Producer
Kuk Harrell - Producer (Rihanna's Vocal on [10])
Robin Baynton - Engineer
Marcos Tovar - Engineer (Rihanna's Vocal on [10])
Michael Brauer - Mixing
Mark "Spike" Stent - Mixing
Ted Jensen - Mastering
Bob Ludwig - Mastering
Tim Crompton - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
David Emery - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Andrew Denny - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Pierre Eiras - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Olga Fitzroy - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Ryan Gilligan - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Noah Goldstein - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Christian Green - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Matt Green - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Matt McGinn - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Matt Miller - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Nobuyuki Murakami - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Hidefumi Ohbuchi - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Deepu Panjwani - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Andy Rugg - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Ian Shea - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Ian Sylvester - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Tappin Gofton - Art Direction, Artwork
Phil Harvey - Photography
Sarah Lee - Photography
Kate Peters - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2011 CD Parlophone 87553

Coldplay began working on Mylo Xyloto in 2009, while the band was still in the midst of its multi-year tour in support of Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. Recording sessions stretched from 2009 to 2011, with Brian Eno collaborating with the band on several songs and R&B singer Rihanna lending her vocals to Princes of China. Markus Dravs, Daniel Green, and Rik Simpson all shared production credits, too, resulting in a diverse album inspired by industrial rock and electro-pop. Coldplay began debuting the new tracks as early as May 2011, with Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall kicking off a string of anthemic singles.

Die weltweit erfolgreichste Rockband der Neuzeit ist wieder da. Nun veröffentlichen Coldplay mit Mylo Xyloto (sprich: my-lo zy-letoe) ihr fünftes, heißersehntes Studioalbum. Markus Dravs, Daniel Green, Rik Simpson produzierten den Nachfolger von Viva La Vida (2008), das in 36 Ländern auf Platz 1 der Charts einstieg, darunter in U.K., in den USA und selbstverständlich auch in Deutschland. Zusätzlich legte Brian Eno Hand an Komposition und Produktion der 14 Tracks des neuen Werkes. Die neue Single „Paradise“ ist nach „Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall“ bereits der zweite Vorbote des neuen Albums, von dem sie beim diesjährigen Rock am Ring und Rock im Park Festival bereits sechs Titel live vor 140.000 Zuschauern performt haben. Erstmalig auf einem Coldplay Album wird es einen Artist Feature geben, auf dem Titel „Princess Of China“ singt US-Superstar Rihanna den weiblichen Part, dazu sagt Frontmann Chris Martin: „Das Album ist wie ein Bühnenstück konzipiert, mit männlichen und weiblichen Rollen. Rihanna spielt sozusagen die weibliche Hauptrolle…“ Im Oktober 2011 ist es endlich soweit, dann hüllt sich die Welt in Graffiti und Coldplay verzaubern uns erneut mit ihren Songs



Recorded by the producers and Robin Baynton at The Bakery and The Beehive, London. Mastered at Gateway Studios.

Published by Universal Music Publishing MGB Ltd and Opal Music, London (PRS)/except in US and Canada by Upala Music Inc (BMI). Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall incorporates elements of Ritmo De La Noche written by Christensen/Castioni/Lagonda/Wycombe, published by Edition Pink Music/Hanseatic Musikverlag GMBH & Co KG which incorporates elements of I Go To Rio written by Allen/Anderson, published by Woulnough Music, Inc/Irving Music, Inc (BMI). Princess of Persia features a sample from Takk written by Birgisson/Dyrason/Holm/Sveinsson, published by Universal Music Publishing MGB Ltd, performed by Sigur Ros, courtesy of EMI Records.

Heartfelt love and thanks to everyone who works with, looks after, helps and listens to us.

Inlay: Up With The Birds features a sample from Driven By You by Brian May courtesy of Hollywood Records for the USA and Canada and Duck Productions Ltd for the rest of the world. It also includes a lyrical sample from Anthem by Leonard Cohen used by permission of Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

℗ & © 2011 EMI Records Ltd.



Coldplay finally surrender to their essential good nature on Mylo Xyloto, their fifth album and first to ditch all pretense of brooding melancholia. Which isn’t to say the band doesn’t drift along on some pleasingly spacy atmospheres conjured by longtime producer Brian Eno: there’s still a veneer of classy disaffection that inevitably dissipates due to the relentless sunniness of Chris Martin and company. Eno's echoes and ambience - the only things that still mark Coldplay as anything resembling progressive - positively sparkle when they meet the band’s bright, chipper melodies, yet Coldplay's innate good manners restrain the album, keeping it just this side of a rush of candied pop. Such politeness can verge on the dull - criminally so when they bring Rihanna in for “Princess of China,” a duet so toothless she may as well have stayed home - but Mylo Xyloto has a leg up on 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.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



Don't Coldplay love their Xs and their Ys? And their enigmatic album titles? After 2005's X&Y and 2008's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends comes Mylo Xyloto. Well, it beats Coldplay 5. But any title that needs a pronunciation guide (it's "My-lo zy-letoe") sounds like it's trying a bit too hard. Maybe Chris Martin still yearns for something that infers the depth and gravitas of a Bono or Thom Yorke. The album is apparently a concept work, "based on a love story with a happy ending," Martin claims, and inspired by old-school American graffiti and the anti-Nazi pacifist White Rose Movement: "It's about being free to be yourself and to express yourself among negative surroundings." But the lyrics are still typically Martin's life-affirming, anthem-forming and plain-speaking as ever, more ABC than MYLO XYLOTO.

The same goes for the music. Bassist Guy Berryman said in 2009, "It's time to take our music down different directions and really explore other avenues," and, in name alone, this set suggests Coldplay might finally do an Achtung Baby; they might rip it up and start again, in the presence of said U2 LP's producer Brian Eno, who also worked on Viva la Vida. If the addition of electronic undertows, instrumental snippets (the title-track, M.M.I.X., A Hopeful Transmission) linking many of the tracks and the presence of Rihanna on Princess of China count as "other avenues", then job well done. But Mylo Xyloto is much more a brilliant, shiny and emphatic reinstatement of the euphoric hooks and cuddly ballads that have served the band so well. Case in point: Paradise, where melting strings and church organ feed into a brilliant chorus line that equal parts Fix You and Viva la Vida's title-track. But the main vocal chorus doesn't arrive until over two minutes in, building the tension; the pay-off is both simple and devastating. It's the equal of Yellow, and when Coldplay return to Glastonbury it will take the roof off the sky.

Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall goes one step further than Paradise by lifting Vida la Vida's "who-hoa!" hook, suggesting Coldplay can't truly comprehend new avenues. U2-shaped echoes still run through the deep and wide canyons of their landscaped sound - Major Minus features The Edge-patented guitar chatter, but it's nevertheless a triumph. Charlie Brown has one of those Coldplay-patented sun-breaking-through-clouds moments; Us Against the World (the sentiment that unites the graffiti and anti-Nazi camps) is the key wistful/cuddly ballad alongside Up in Flames, a successful grafting of soul onto the Coldplay model, helped by an understated falsetto and the simplest of piano parts (echoes of Parachutes' gorgeous Everything's Not Lost).

The closing Up With the Birds, which samples Leonard Cohen, is a serene finale that shows Coldplay understand the change of dynamics more than the dynamics of change. Better this than the nominally Euro-disco bent of Princess of China, where Rihanna's presence feels more of a marketing tool than a creative necessity, and there's yet another "who-ay-oh-oh!" chant just in case Coldplay were straying too far from their remit. This appears to support Martin's message of expressing the freedom to be yourself under negative surroundings - not to change just because critics of the band tell them they should. Mylo Xyloto may have an oblique title but it's a triumph because the music is anything but.

Martin Aston - BBC



Mylo Xyloto is the fifth studio album by British alternative rock band Coldplay. The album was released worldwide on 24 October 2011 by EMI. It was preceded by the lead single, "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall", on 3 June 2011. Upon its release, Mylo Xyloto received mixed reviews from critics.

Lead singer Chris Martin stated that he does not believe "bands should keep going past the age of 33," 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. Bassist Guy Berryman, who earlier wrote that the band will "just have to start work and see how it shapes up", 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."
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. He also said that the title of the new album "will probably begin with an M."

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. However they relocated to a vacant church, also in north London, to begin work on their fifth album in collaboration with Brian Eno.

Mylo Xyloto is a concept album. According to Chris Martin, the album is "based on a love story with a happy ending", in which two protagonists: Mylo and Xyloto, who are living in an oppressive, dystopian urban environment, meet one another through a gang called "The Lost Boys", 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 by HBO TV series The Wire. 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.

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.

The iTunes Store let users hear one new song from the album everyday until the album was released.

The album was realesed 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 will also be available on the 12 December 2011.

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. The single contains elements of "I Go to Rio" written by Peter Allen and Adrienne Anderson. 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.

The album's second single, "Paradise", was released on 12 September 2011. That same day, Chris Martin announced that Rihanna would be featured on "Princess of China".

On 19 October, "Princess of China" was confirmed by Billboard as the third single from the album. It was released on 25 October.

Mylo Xyloto has received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. According to Metacritic, the album has received an average review score of 61/100, based on 31 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick wrote that "it is irresistible, none the less. With co-producer Brian Eno on synthesizers and co-writing duties, the 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. Melodies course through everything, constantly shifting and reshaping". Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review stating, "this time Coldplay have integrated the "Enoxification" (as they call it) into their own down-the-middle core: Check out the cascading choral vocals that augment Martin's soaring refrain on "Paradise." Prominent elements prop up the sonic cathedrals: Jonny Buckland's guitar, which is riffier and more muscular than ever, and Euro-house synths that wouldn't sound out of place at a nightclub in Ibiza." Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave a positive review, awarding it with three-and-a-half stars out of five and writing, "Mylo Xyloto 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." BBC praised the album for being "A triumphant fifth LP which reveals familiar strengths in all the right places". The album has also appeared on the top 10 of several iTunes charts, such as Canada, the US, the UK and Australia, well ahead of its release date.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



It can’t be easy being Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin, with so many critics working overtime to justify their contempt, picking apart his band’s words not for enjoyment but in a search for the cheesiest mixed metaphors, listening to melodies not for pleasure but to uncover the most obvious borrowed musical idea — “U.F.O.” sounds way too much like Big Star’s “Try Again,” for example — scouring every Hallmark-ian reference to nature, time passing and the struggles of life in a never-ending search for a chink in his (elegantly casual) armor.

It’s not going to get any easier for Martin and the rest of Coldplay after “Mylo Xyloto,” Album No. 5, which 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.” That’s the first lyric of “Princess of China,” a song about fading love with telegraphed rhymes (“Once upon a time we burned bright/ Now all we ever seem to do is fight”) that read bland on the page and are rendered tiny and inconsequential when coupled with the heavily produced beat that surrounds them.

“Life goes on, it gets so heavy/ The wheel breaks the butterfly,” Martins sings repeatedly on “Paradise,” never fully connecting the butterfly, the wheel, or how one broke the other, while the rest of the band delivers just enough variation on the Coldplay template to protect themselves from charges of self-plagiarism.

The only thing Coldplay could do at this point to shake away its platitudinal reputation — besides never again rhyming the words “pain” with “rain,” as Martin does on “Up With the Birds” — would be to risk everything by kicking its singer out of the band and hiring Peaches or somehow resurrecting punk nihilist GG Allin from the grave. Of course, that’s not the band’s charge. Coldplay is an expert at pleasure or at least poking into pockets of emotion without disturbing anything too much. 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.

Randall Roberts - Los Angeles Times



In the three years since Coldplay's last album, the world's problems have gotten a little more urgent. A cratering economy, riots from Tahrir to Tottenham, the prolonged ubiquity of the Kardashians – these are things that can't be solved with a lullaby, even from the biggest band to emerge in the 21st century. Chris Martin knows this. But Coldplay's fifth album – and most ambitious yet – suggests Martin cares too much not to at least try to help.

Coldplay recently entered their second decade together – the same point Springsteen made Born in the U.S.A. and U2 made Achtung Baby – so it comes as no surprise they'd want a zeitgeist-y, big-statement album of their own. On Mylo Xyloto, the choruses are bigger, the textures grander, the optimism more optimistic. It's a bear-hug record for a bear-market world.

Aided again by Brian Eno, Coldplay are still dabbling in the kind of cool-weird artiness they truly went for on 2008's Viva La Vida. But where that album sometimes seemed like a self-conscious attempt to diversify their sound, with a world-music vibe and U2-style sound effects, this time Coldplay have integrated the "Enoxification" (as they call it) into their own down-the-middle core: Check out the cascading choral vocals that augment Martin's soaring refrain on "Paradise." Prominent elements prop up the sonic cathedrals: Jonny Buckland's guitar, which is riffier and more muscular than ever, and Euro-house synths that wouldn't sound out of place at a nightclub in Ibiza.

Martin says Mylo Xyloto was inspired by 1970s New York graffiti and the Nazi-­resistance movement known as the White Rose – it's probably no coincidence both were about young people embracing art in times of turmoil. Here, Coldplay rage in their own lovably goofy way. On the rave-tinged "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall," Martin imagines a revolution powered by dancing kids. "Hurts Like Heaven" might be the first Coldplay tune to which you can bust something resembling a move. The lyrics seem to be about fighting the Man – "Don't let 'em take control!" – but Martin sounds ebullient over a sproingy New Wave beat.

Explicit political statements aren't really Martin's thing; he's in the uplift business. Mylo Xyloto suggests he's fully embraced his role as a not-terribly-cool guy who's good at preaching perseverance, in a voice that's warm and milky like afternoon tea. By the time he croons, "Don't let it break your heart!" over "Where the Streets Have No Name"-style guitar sparkle near the album's end, you can't help but think he's an inspiration peddler who believes what he's belting.

Oddly enough, the best moments are darker ones. "Princess of China" is a ballad about loss and regret, co-starring Rihanna. It's a partnership that probably came together over champagne brunch at Jay-Z's, but its synth-fuzz groove is offhandedly seductive. It's followed by "Up in Flames," a minimalist slow jam. Martin sings nakedly about how breakups can feel like the end of the world, or maybe it's about the actual end of the world. Either way, as end-times lullabies go, it's pretty sweet.

Josh Eells - October 17, 2011
www.rollingstone.com



"No one knows what it means, but it's provocative… gets the people going." A couple of Chris Martin's good buddies memorably flipped this obscure bit of Blades of Glory dialogue on Watch the Throne to annotate the purchase of Margiela jackets, but it's every bit as applicable to the title of Mylo Xyloto and speaks toward Coldplay's lofty ambitions on it. A new Coldplay album is the sort of thing that's used as a health check for the record industry, and the band is very much aware that they could just release "a new Coldplay album" that would leave everyone involved satisfied-- this is essentially what happened on 2005's X&Y, their fastest seller and also their weakest LP according to many. But being criticized as bantamweight compared to peers like U2, R.E.M., or Radiohead has clearly worn on them-- and truth is, they're all the better for their guilty conscience about a total lack of post-punk credentials. While Coldplay will always be more enjoyable than groundbreaking and their artistic advances seen as smart troubleshooting than divine intervention, Mylo Xyloto works because the band once again manages to sound like Coldplay without sounding like any of their previous LPs, maintaining their stadium-spanning grandeur while subtly challenging preconceptions.

While retaining the studio services and crucial cosign of Brian Eno, it's a relief that their most carefully thought-out work initially sounds less ambitious than Viva La Vida, a record whose orchestral and political bombast felt at the very least a necessary act of aggressive rebranding. Mylo Xyloto is brighter in both attitude and especially timbre, sleeker, more emphatic and up to the task of being a capital-E Event. Though their collaboration with Rihanna on "Princess of China" makes it all the more explicit, when you're at Coldplay's level, pop acts are your competition and Mylo places itself in a lineage of ultra-mainstream rock records spanning from Born in the U.S.A. to Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix-- swaddled in synths and gilded by state-of-the-art production, but never too off-putting if you still insist that "real music" is played by men with guitars.

Indeed, the militant, pound-the-dashboard beat that powers "Hurts Like Heaven" sounds like the band jockeying for the Boss' nod of approval. It's a remarkably aerodynamic piece of all-purpose inspirational rock that never gets too pushy even with Martin's meaningful/meaningless proclamations ("You use your heart as a weapon/ And it hurts like heaven"), tweaking its classicist template with a slight Auto-Tune on the falsetto harmonies. Likewise, the imperial march of "Paradise" is wheelhouse Coldplay, as is Martin's unfortunate tendency to stretch out syllables for rhymes that really aren't worth saving. But its power has little to do with whatever Martin's going on about (dreaming of paradise, mostly)-- it's all about how they unabashedly flirt with contemporary R&B production, cranking the drums way up in the mix and the massing the vocals on the chorus to overwhelming, Pavlovian effect. They don't want to completely do away with Coldplay qua Coldplay-- they're still four normal-looking guys who introduced themselves with frail post-The Bends Britrock like "Yellow" and "Trouble". But they continually ask, why limit themselves to that?

Of course, some of their limitations aren't really a matter of choice. While there's no shortage of venomous carping at Coldplay's expense, I've never heard anyone complain about Jon Buckland's guitar tone or the rhythm section not being up to snuff. All sonic tinkering aside, Martin is still a full-time target serving as the perfect avatar for Coldplay, undeniably well-meaning, painfully earnest, and lord, does he try. When Martin tells you that Mylo Xyloto is a conceptual love story inspired by the White Rose movement and The Wire, don't you at least believe that he believes it? So he's still a sucker for big parables told like he's the first to come up with them-- the innocence lost on the Muse-like stargazer "Charlie Brown" is documented awkwardly enough ("Took a car downtown where the lost boys meet/ Took a car downtown and took what they offered me"), even before you deal with the use of the Peanuts character as some sort of entry-level embodiment of adolescent purity. Likewise, though it's commendable that a multi-platinum band on its fifth record could make a swooning, waltz-time ballad called "Us Against the World" notable for not laying it on too thick, Martin pops off a line, "Drunken like a Daniel in a lions' den," like someone who's somehow just managed to hear "Hallelujah" for the first time.

Still, the collection of softies is among their best-- the measured beauty of breakup weeper "Up in Flames" and "U.F.O." confidently update the guilelessness of Parachutes through a self-described and self-explanatory "Enoxification." But maybe restraint's not what you're looking for out of a Coldplay album, and if that's the case, none of the ballads have the sort of shameless goosebump triggering of "Fix You" or "The Scientist". Which isn't to say that Mylo lacks populist thrill; it's just trying to mine alternative sources. They've sidled up toward music of more hedonistic ideals before, especially on A Rush of Blood to the Head; Martin's vocals on "Clocks" worked incredibly well filtered through dance remixes, while the ecstatic surge of "Daylight" really needed no translation. And thankfully, the revolutionary rhetoric of Mylo is based on love in this club rather than dope, guns, and fucking in the streets.

The aforementioned "Princess of China" is an insistent, mechanized grind that fits just as easily on Mylo as the next Rihanna album, though it wouldn't be a single-- everyone seems to be taking it just a little too seriously. The important thing is that it'll sound great at the Grammys. And "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" will surely work well as a festival closer: As a call to arms, it's pretty much nonsense, Martin's already infamous "I'd rather be a comma than a full stop" threatening to bring "Teardrop" to a dead halt. But then you remember Coldplay aren't just Martin-- it's Will Champion's kick drum guiding its four minutes of skyward propulsion, one of the cruelly underrated Buckland's pealing, major-key guitar leads (think "Strawberry Swing"), and, yes, Martin's wordless cooing coming together in a way that's sui generis Coldplay-- a band on top of a game they really don't have much competition in.

These are the moments I think about when people lament the lack of a monoculture-- so often we speak of indie bands that "should be huge" and songs that "could be hits" in an alternate universe. But with "Teardrop" and "Hurts Like Heaven", there's a thrill of knowing these songs can, should, and will be on the radio that you just can't recreate. With all due respect, while M83 shoot for a similar extroverted exhilaration on Hurry Up, We're Dreaming-- the penultimate electro rush of "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" proves both bands are ever closer to intersecting-- the idea that it could fill arenas still involves wishful thinking. It's still one man's project, whereas Coldplay was built for this from day one. It shouldn't matter, but it does-- while so many bands at their status revert to bloated contentment or some vague idea of rockist salvation, Mylo Xyloto finds Coldplay successfully continuing to explore the tension of wanting to be one of the best bands in the world and having to settle for being one of the biggest.

Ian Cohen - October 26, 2011
© 2011 Pitchfork Media Inc.
 

 L y r i c s


Mylo Xyloto

Instrumental.

Hurts Like Heaven

Written in graffiti on a bridge in a park
'Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing the mark?'
It's so cold, it's so cold
It's so cold, it's so cold

Written up in marker on a factory sign
'I struggle with the feeling that my life isn't mine'
It's so cold, it's so cold
It's so cold, it's so cold

See the arrow they shot, trying to tear us apart
Take the fire from my belly and the beat from my heart
Still I won't let go
Still I won't let go

Of you-ooh-ooh

'Cause you do

Oh you, use your heart as a weapon
And it hurts like heaven

On every street, every car, every surface are names
Tonight the streets are ours and we're writing the same
Don't let 'em take control
No we won't let 'em take control

Yes, I feel a little bit nervous
Yes, I feel nervous and I cannot relax
How come they're out to get us?
How come they're out when they don't know the facts?

So on concrete canvas under cover of dark
C'mon, concrete canvas; I'll go making my mark
Armed with a spray can soul
I'll be armed with a spray can soul

You-ooh-ooh

Oh, you-ooh-ooh

'Cause you
Use your heart as a weapon
And it hurts like heaven

Woah-oh-ooh
Woah-oh-ooh

Yeah it's true
When you
Use your heart as a weapon
And it hurts like heaven

Oh, it hurts like heaven

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh


Paradise

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
So she ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of
Para- para- paradise, para- para- paradise, para- para- paradise
Every time she closed her eyes

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
And the bullets catch in her teeth

Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the night, the stormy night, she'll close her eyes
In the night, the stormy night, away she'd fly

And dreams of para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh

She'd dream of para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh

Lalalalalalalalalalala

And so lying underneath those stormy skies
She'd say: "Oh, ohohohoh, I know the sun must set to rise"

This could be para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Could be para- para- paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh

This could be
Para- para- paradise
Para- para- paradise
Could be para- para- paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh

This could be
Para- para- paradise
Could be para- para- paradise
Could be para- para- paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh


Charlie Brown

Oooh, ohohoooh

I stole a key
Took a car downtown where the lost boys meet
Took a car downtown and took what they offered me
To set me free
I saw the lights go down at the end of the scene
I saw the lights go down and they're standing in front of me

Ohohoooh

In my scarecrow dreams
When they smash my heart into smithereens
I'll be a bright red rose combusting the concrete
Be a cartoon heart

And light a fire, light a spark
Light a fire, a flame in my heart
We'll run wild
We'll be glowing in the dark

Ohohoooh

Glowing in the dark

Ohohoooh, ahahaaah

All the boys, all the girls
All that matters in the world
All the boys, all the girls
All the madness that occurs
All the highs, all the lows
As the room spinning goes

We'll run riot
We'll be glowing in the dark

Oooh, ohohoooh

So we saw an innocent riot
We'll be glowing in the dark


Us Against The World

Oh morning
Come bursting
The clouds amen
Lift off this blindfold, let me see again
And bring back the water that your ships rode in
In my heart she left a hole

The tightrope that I'm walking just sways and ties
The devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
And I just want to be there when the lightning strikes
And the saints go marching in

And sing
Slow-owow-owow-owow-it down
Through chaos as it swirls
It's just us against the world

Like a river to a raindrop
I lost a friend
My drunken has a Daniel in a lion's den
And tonight I know it all has to begin again
So whatever you do, don't let go

And if we could float away
Fly up to the surface
And just start again
And lift off before trouble just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us, and see roses in the rain

Sing
Slow-owow-owow-owow-it down
Oh, slow-owow-owow-owow-it down

Through chaos as it swirls
It's us against the world

Through chaos as it swirls
It's us against the world


M.M.I.X.

Instrumental.


Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

I Turn The Music Up, I Got My Records On
I Shut The World Outside Until The Lights Come On
Maybe The Streets Alight, Maybe The Trees Are Gone
I Feel My Heart Start Beating To My Favourite Song

And All The Kids They Dance, All The Kids All Night
Until Monday Morning Feels Another Life
I Turn The Music Up
I'M On A Roll This Time
And Heaven Is In Sight

I Turn The Music Up, I Got My Records On
From Underneath The Rubble Sing A Rebel Song
Don'T Want To See Another Generation Drop
I'D Rather Be A Comma Than A Full Stop

Maybe I'M In The Black, Maybe I'M On My Knees
Maybe I'M In The Gap Between The Two Trapezes
But My Heart Is Beating And My Pulses Start
Cathedrals In My Heart

And We Saw Oh This Light I Swear You, Emerge Blinking Into
To Tell Me It'S Alright
As We Soar Walls, Every Siren Is A Symphony
And Every Tear'S A Waterfall
Is A Waterfall
Oh
Is A Waterfall
Oh Oh Oh
Is A Is A Waterfall
Every Tear
Is A Waterfall
Oh Oh Oh

So You Can Hurt, Hurt Me Bad
But Still I'Ll Raise The Flag

Oh
It Was A Wa Wa Wa Wa Wa-Aterfall
A Wa Wa Wa Wa Wa-Aterfall

Every Tear
Every Tear
Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

Every Tear
Every Tear
Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall


Major Minus

They got one eye watching you
One eye on what you do
So be careful who it is you're talking to
They got one eye watching you
One eye on what you do
So be careful what it is you're trying to do
And be careful if you're walking into view
Just be careful if you're walking into view

Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on

They got one eye watching you
One eye on what you do
So be careful cause nothing they say is true
No d, -don't believe a word
Its jus-ust-us against the world
And we just got to turn up to be heard
Hear the crocodiles ticking round the world
Hear the crocodiles ticking, they go ticking round the world

Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and
You could hear them climbing the stairs
Got my right side fighting while my left hides under the chairs

Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you


U.F.O.

Instrumental.


Princess Of China

Ohh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh

Once upon a time, somebody ran, somebody ran away saying fast as they can,
About to go, I got to go,
Once upon a time, we fell apart,
You're holding in your hands the two halves of my heart,
Oh whoa, oh whoa

Whoa, oh oh oh, oh oh oh
Once upon a time, we were burning bright,
Now we all ever seem to do is fight,
On and on, and on and on and on

Once upon a time, on the same side,
Once upon a time, on the same side,
In the same game

And why'd you have to go?
Have to go and throw out all of my fame

I could've been the princess, you'd be the king,
I could have had a castle, and worn a ring
But no,
You let me go,
I could've been the princess, you'd be a king,
I could have had a castle, and worn a ring
But no,
You let me go,

You stole my star,
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
You stole my star
La la la la la la

Oh whoa, oh whoa

Cause she really hurt me
No, you really hurt me,
Cause she really hurt me
No, you really hurt me,
Cause she really hurt me, oh
You really hurt me, oh
Cause she really hurt me, oh
You really hurt me


Up In Flames

So it's over
This time, I know, it's gone
Salt water
You tasted it too long
I only know I'm wrong
Now I know it's gone

Up in flames
Up in flames
Up in flames
We have slowly gone

So it's over
This time you're flying on
This time, I know no song
Can stop it slowly burn
Can stop it slowly burn

Up in flames
Up in flames
Up in flames
We have slowly gone

Up in flames
Up in flames
Up in flames

Oh, we have slowly gone
Oh, we have slowly gone

Could we pour some water on?


A Hopeful Transmission

Instrumental.


Don't Let It Break Your Heart

And if I lost the map
If I lost it all
Or fell into the trap
Then she'd call
"When you're tired of racing
And you find you never left the start
Come on baby
Don’t let it break your heart"

Though heavily we bled
Still on we crawl
Try to catch a cannonball
And a slowly burning tide
Through my veins is flowing
From my shipwreck I heard her call
And she sang

"When you're tired of aiming your arrows,
Still you never hit the mark
Even in your rains and shadows
Still we never gonna part
Come on baby
Don't let it brake your heart
Don't let it break your heart
Don't let it break your heart"


Up With The Birds

The birds they sang, at break of day
"Start again", I hear them say
It's so hard to just walk away

The birds they sang, all a choir
"Start again", a little higher
It's a spark in a sea of grey

The sky is blue
Dream that lie 'till it's true
Then taking back the punch I threw
My arms turn wings
Oh, those clumsy things
Send me up to that wonderful world
And then I'm up with the birds

Might have to go
Where they don't know my name
Float all over the world
Just to see her again
And I won't show or feel any pain
Even though all my armour might rust in the rain

A simple plot
But I know one day
Good things are coming our way

A simple plot
But I know one day
Good things are coming our way

Oh, yeah

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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