Eno Is Producing COLDPLAY?!? How In God's Name Did I Miss This?

Let us now remember James.

Here starts the list of ways that Eno could somehow make Coldplay better, by applying his pre-1980 standards to something new.

1. Phil Collins drumming
2. Frippertronics

Hey, I like that James record!

3. Entire album is one audio channel, played very quietly, in the next room

The last Eno-related product I consumed was the Joe Boyd book, which has a big blurb from him on the cover.

Hey, I like that James record!

I did too! That's my point!

He produced several, didn't he?

Yeah, I forgot about the Wah-Wah record and one made a few years later.

Meanwhile Eno's other clients offer him additional work

Wah Wah was recorded at the same time Laid was. If memory serves, they had two different rooms set up that they were working in simultaneously -- one for Laid, the other for Wah Wah. So it wasn't just all drawn from the same sessions (a la Kid A and Amnesiac) but two distinct records made in parallel.

That said, I always felt a bit let down by Wah Wah, which given that it's the crazy, loud one, I had really looked forward to.

Coldplay continues to shake the branches of U2's family tree for apples.

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2004/04/gallery/gpaltrowanniv/gpaltrow.jpg

That said, I always felt a bit let down by Wah Wah, which given that it's the crazy, loud one, I had really looked forward to.

OTM. Is it mean to suggest that James were at heart too conservative musically to profit by Eno's oblique strategies? On the other hand, there's a great essay that still hasn't been written defending WW.

Eno is the second best producer they could have picked. Only beaten by Nigel Godrich.

A bold statement, Geir. But why exactly?

steve albini

Geir is kind of OTM

oh wait, I thought he said Nile Rodgers.

I'm with Geir. I like all three Coldplay albums (in fact, I heard a wholly satisfactory amount of forward movement on X&Y), and look forward to the next one.

Geir is kind of OTM

While he's at it, should Chris Martin also have his eye made surgically lazy as well?

If it was Nile Rogers and he turned Coldplay into Scritti Politti I'd give it a chance.

Wont this just end up sounding like a bad U2 album? Even more than they already do?

yeah, this is going to sound exactly like every other Coldplay album.

Yeah, I'll be surprised if Eno can salvage them.

Wah Wah was very boring.

TO be honest I liked "Zooropa". But I cant exactly see Coldplay making something in that vein.

It'll sound like Zooropa but without not-Chris-Martin rapping.

I like Coldplay.

eno is also on the new robert wyatt album btw as something called "enotron"

Coldplay/Eno: File under futile.

A bold statement, Geir. But why exactly?

The Radiohead/Travis connection. Eno may sound kind of like Godrich.

yeah, this is going to sound exactly like every other Coldplay album.

They have all been excellent. But Nile Rodgers may secure the guitars are less prominent, with more space and studio wizardry added. This will make Coldplay more similar to Travis, and thus better.

The Eno influence turned out to be minimal at best. Not sure if that's disappointing yet or not.

"Lost?" is easily one of the best songs they've ever come up with, though, and "Violet Hill" is definitely a grower. Too early to really make definitive statements about the rest of the record.

has it l£4ked?

eurgh, cover is the Delacroix painting that used to be on the 100 francs note:

http://www.musiqueradio.com/images/news/coldplay-viva-la-vida-or-death-and-all-his-friends.jpg

I actually kinda like it. The fade out on the last song obv. sounds Eno-inspired, but his influence lies in it's subtleness, I think. It's quite a 'spacious' sound. Last song - Death and All His Friends - is great.

It's a great cover. It doesn't look like anything else.

Love the cover. Not a Coldplay fan in the least, but they don't annoy me like they do most here (or at least that's the impression I get). This could very well end up being the best Coldplay album, fwiw.

The cover's foul, if you want to rip a detail from an existing painting like that you should at least have the decency to use the Penguin Classics font for the band name and title.

That cover is horrible. But I'll let the drunken boat be my guide and give the album a try. Spaciousness is something Coldplay could use, methinks.

I like how ppl are willing to give corporate shitfuckers Coldplay a chance, while whenever I mention a good British indie band such as Oceansize or Youthmovies the response is a shrugged blank or worse.

Dude I gived the Youthmovies a chance but it sounded like bad June Brides so I was kinda stuck for something to say. Also you should know by now that fucking corporate shit has got nowt to do with what choons sounds like.

But I sympathize cos I can't get anybody interested in my Five o' Clock Heroes featuring Agyness "of God" Deyn.

thread.

@Willem, no refund on that guidance though! ;) I ain't exactly a Coldplay fan, but it's nice to see them somewhat shifting away from all that ugly bombast.

@Just got offed
Just how exactly are Oceansize and Coldplay comparable? I give a lot more about the former than Coldplay, but srsly, they're nothing alike.

Yeah, and in that last post I went against one of my principles, viz. you can't discount anything from having worth before hearing it, but Coldplay are such repeat offenders by now that I can't honestly believe they've put out something exciting.

And listen to Oceansize. PLZ.

LBI, no they're not alike, but only one of them is getting ILM interest.

Maybe I should have pitched it as a poll about 1995. With 200 options to vote for.

My argument wouldn't be about whether they were changing how they sound, even. I don't buy bombast as intrinsically bad. Don't think I buy any musical trope as bad in and of itself. They could sound like they've always sounded and bring a bunch of dope tunes and be good. Admittedly I don't think that's likely but I think there's always been at least one song on each Coldplay album that I thought was alright.

I don't buy bombast as intrinsically bad

well obviously, if done well it's just about the greatest shit ever

It's weird the number of people who roll up on a thread like this with a "I have no interest in this band but I might be interested if they start sounding like a different band" schtick tho.

OTM. That, and "Coldplay aren't my favourite band at all, but this sounds pretty good!". I know I just did.

And shouldn't huv.

well fuck you for making me search for this but it's a "Hidden Track":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i-yo0AVcww

you have to ffwd to 4:00

it's called "Chinese Sleep Chant"

Yeah I agree, that part of the song is really cool and very shoegazey.

Supposedly it's a 'song' in it's own right as distinct from the bit before it on the track; they mastered the album with the occasional song stuck to another song so that "downloaders get a better deal" - it's BOGOF rock.

But yeah coolest thing they've ever done, easily.

Yeah I listened to the whole album last night and quite enjoyed it, but it does get confusing with those extra songs they stick into the songs like that. It's a very dense album, really, a lot of twists and turns. I think you'd have to play it many times to really get familiar with it.

As of last week it's sold 5,139,000 copies, not including downloads. If Eno got points on this, he could buy a small island.

i'm really happy for eno that this album is so successful; it is all kinds of cool that he is still relevant (esp. in the u.s.) in 2008.

a minimal island with one white-walled box that he plays a quiet synth in

As of last week it's sold 5,139,000 copies, not including downloads. If Eno got points on this, he could buy a small island.

It isn't like this is the first multi million seller he produces. Remember an album called "The Joshua Tree"? :)

Yes, but maybe he spent that already ;) And with all this talk about the impending death of the music industry, you'd think nobody was making any money from music sales. Did anybody expect Coldplay to surpass Joshua Tree sales figures (not overall, which is 20 mil, but for the first year).

What a lot of people failed to see is that nothing can stay a growth industry forever. Rock 'n' roll took a good 40 years to peak and people just got greedy and took it for granted. Selling music is still a good sustainable business, as long as you don't expect to be able to gouge your customers anymore, and don't think you're going to have perpetually increasing profits.

For a massive selling album it's been incredibly anonymous. I haven't heard any songs from it while out and about anywhere, and that wasn't the case with the previous three.

I like the album, but something has always prevented me from becoming obsessive/intimately familiar with it. Go figure.

Considering the small number of 1+ million selling blockbusters, you're looking at a market of 4+ million people who probably buy only 1-3 albums a year. Aside from big hit singles, they apparently are drawn to pleasantly melodic aural wallpaper.

er, Eno worked on five out of six of the U2 albums since Joshua Tree, so it's not even like his last production of a blockbuster was even that long ago.

wrt sales figures. i was reading this book about electra records by jac holzman and there was a part where the first doors album went gold and ppl at electra were FREAKING OUT like omg we are rich rich rich now, etc etc...so i guess somewhere along the line things changed, but maybe it's just going back to where it was...now ppl handwring if a big rap album "only" goes gold, but it sounded from this book like it was a huge deal back then.

For a massive selling album it's been incredibly anonymous. I haven't heard any songs from it while out and about anywhere, and that wasn't the case with the previous three.

Yeah, same here. Except for the iPod commercial, I haven't heard anything from it, don't know anyone who owns it, or who will admit to it I suppose.

Yes, but maybe he spent that already ;) And with all this talk about the impending death of the music industry, you'd think nobody was making any money from music sales. Did anybody expect Coldplay to surpass Joshua Tree sales figures (not overall, which is 20 mil, but for the first year).

Rumours about the music industry's death are exaggerated. It is only the kids that have stopped buying CDs. And Coldplay don't sell much to the kids anyway.

I hear the title track all the time at places I go.
And it's not annoying. Thank you coldplay and eno and king creosote's producer for not making the hit song annoying.

It is very third rate Bunnymen-esque. Which, yes, is fucking annoying. My apologies.

There's something so insincere about the "When I Ruled the World" song that it manages to renew its power to frustrate me whenever I hear it. Perhaps it's the false humility of lines like "Something inside I can't explain/That I know Saint Peter won't call my name" mixed with a complete disinterest in being subtle about anything.

Coldplay's also intriguing because, not being English, there's a whole other subcultural role they play in England that I can't fully appreciate. It's similar to how someone from Europe wouldn't quite understand the elements behind hatred for Limp Bizkit and Creed six years ago.

The single is dope. Straight up.

wrt sales figures. i was reading this book about electra records by jac holzman and there was a part where the first doors album went gold and ppl at electra were FREAKING OUT like omg we are rich rich rich now, etc etc...so i guess somewhere along the line things changed, but maybe it's just going back to where it was...now ppl handwring if a big rap album "only" goes gold, but it sounded from this book like it was a huge deal back then.

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― M@tt He1ges0n, Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:38 AM Bookmark

Do remember that platinum wasn't introduced until 1978(? I think, but late 70s anyway), so gold in 1960-whatever could have been any number over 500,000.

It's similar to how someone from Europe wouldn't quite understand the elements behind hatred for Limp Bizkit and Creed six years ago.

I don't quite see the similarities between a bratty adolescent "rebel" and well-established everyman in his 30s.

I'm with Geir on this one. There should be no comparison between Coldplay and either of these bands. And I'd take Coldplay in a heartbeat.

He's not comparing them.

For a massive selling album it's been incredibly anonymous. I haven't heard any songs from it while out and about anywhere, and that wasn't the case with the previous three.

Call it the Dave Matthews Effect: it's around, and lots of people listen to it in their cars, homes, and dorm rooms. Lunching with students the other day, I was greeted with "Viva La Vida" on the girl's car CD player.

Song "Viva La Vida" is their first US/UK #1 single. Weird! Most inconspicuous #1 I can think of, especially compared to the inescapability of their other singles.

I do like it more than their other purported hits.

It's not as good as "Talk" from the last album, but at least it's not effing "Yellow"

"Talk" was only decent because of the "Computer Love" guitar line, though. Admit it.

Not that, but instead because they took it and made it sound like an Echo & The Bunnymen song.

He's not comparing them.

No, but it is fairly obvious that desperately "rebellious" adolsecents (=US Limp Bizkit fans) are way more annoying people than just the ordinary average 30 something man on the street (=UK Coldplay fans)

Can we just acknowledge that this band seemed like they were going to be good after their debut and have since developed a hideous messiah complex that would make Jesus Christ himself blush?

We can?

Thanks.

Meh. They were messiahs looking for a cause, which they haven't found on the debut (why it sounds so empty). The bigger the gesture, he larger the arena crowd, the less abstract they seem, oddly. It doesn't make them any less tolerable, though.

And, Geir, I wasn't saying the fan bases are the same or equally awful. I'm noting the fact that American's don't fully understand a certain English hatred towards Coldplay, much like the English couldn't understand certain American's hatred for "mook rock/nu-metal."

who gives a flaming fuck about a messiah complex? its not like we piss on jesus everytime we hear his name.

this album has its moments - much better than their previous efforts IMO

who gives a flaming fuck about a messiah complex? its not like we piss on jesus everytime we hear his name.

Speak for yourself. ;-)

I don't listen to that first record much anymore -- but it had some interesting rabbit holes, including the one with Randy Newman. They've always had a way with a melody, but their grandiosity just seems like the world's biggest metaphor for celebrity these days with absolutely zero irony.

i think i hate chris martin's bono complex, but i don't hate this band. i rather like this record.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/17/brian-eno-interview-paul-morley

""It was fine. A few jokes. I felt like a philanderer who was with another woman and might make a slip and call her by the wrong name in bed. I had one computer that had all of the Coldplay stuff and all the U2 stuff. I had to very carefully label each folder because I was paranoid that I might end up with the same basic track for each group and I wouldn't notice until it was too late. There was a chance the same track might have appeared on both albums."

When influential music website Pitchfork listed its 100 greatest albums of the 1970s – which in certain other lists is calculated to be the greatest decade for rock music – the modestly immodest, driven, musical non-musician Brian Eno was directly and indirectly involved in at least a quarter of them

-

Eh? A *quarter*?

it appears to be Eno Day on bbc4 this friday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2010/01/22

21:00–22:00
Arena
Brian Eno - Another Green World
A profile of Brian Eno, former Roxy Music keyboardist and a pioneer in ambient music.

22:00–23:00
Brian Eno: Hits, Classics and Tracks
Paul Morley talks about some of Brian Eno's hit tracks, including Heroes and Viva La Vida.

23:00–23:55
The Roxy Music Story
Profile of the glam band Roxy Music, who reformed after 25 years to make a new album. (R)

23:55–01:10
For All Mankind
1989 documentary relating the story of the 24 men who travelled to the moon with NASA. (R)

(plus later repeats, possibly with a little man in the corner waving his arms)

Arena
Brian Eno - Another Green World

Is the Arena theme tune still what it used to be?

>The Roxy Music Story

I'm assuming this is a repeat of the doc shown early last year? It was excellent. That's a splendid evenning's TV for sure, For All Mankind is absolutely awesome.

Never realised Eno went to the moon as well. What a renaissance man.

On Jim DeRo's latest podcast, he interviews Eno -- pretty good stuff. Then plays and reviews "Paradise" from the newest Eno-produced (and co-written) album -- and I have to admit, the song is totally thrilling.

Eh, thats actually probably one of the worst songs on the disc.

I've only heard about two minutes of the song. But the bit where it breaks into the chorus is dope.

I just bought this on iTunes today, as I really wanted to hear what it sounded like. First impression...it warrants more listens.

Any consensus here on Mylo Xygoto?