Not as much music listened to this week as I hoped. A caravanning road trip with me driving alone ended up in one car with others so that put a kibosh on more than six hours of potential tunes roundtrip.
But I managed to get a few songs and two surprising albums in for Sept. 19 to Sept. 25th.
- TobyMac – Promised Land (song)
A repeat from last week. It’s been a while since a song really struck a chord and I repeatedly played it. “Promised Land” from TobyMac shows amazing depth in song writing and singing.
- Coldplay – Coloratura (song)
A 10 minute track from their forthcoming album. I was hoping Music of the Spheres would return the band to pre-2014 but I have my doubts with this lengthy song that doesn’t really go anywhere. At least there’s still (a) “Higher Power.” Ha ha, get it?
- Coldplay – My Universe (song)
Their latest single released for Music of the Spheres did little to assure me that “Coloratura” was simply an odd duck on a record of delightful music. Rappers. Why do they have to include rappers?
- Thrice – Horizons / East (album)
I had this really long paragraph written for this section because my initial attempts to review the album proved futile. My frustration around not being able to review the album forced me to listen and come up with something. And, Horizons/East turned out to be a pretty good album, it just needed some time to simmer.
- Third Eye Blind – Our Bande Apart (album)
Another new album. This one settled in pretty well, with the second half better than the first. And, I managed a review for Our Bande Apart.
Drew's Reviews 
I agree with your words on Thrice to the fact that sometimes its takes time to simmer. Sometimes those end up being the best albums.
that’s what I’m wondering. and the ones that catch quickly eventually wear thin.
Coldplay was one of my top 3 or 4 favorite bands from 2003 through 2014, as I really liked their album “Ghost Stories”. But like you, I’ve been rather disappointed with their more recent offerings, and also had high hopes for “Music of the Spheres” (it seems just about everyone wants them to do more slow, alt/indie songs like “Yellow” and “Fix You”).
“Coloratura” is a lovely, atmospheric song, but you’re right about it not really going anywhere. It surely doesn’t need to go on for more than 10 minutes, when 5 would have sufficed. “Higher Power” is a nice, pleasant-enough song, but nowhere near the caliber of “Clocks”, “The Scientist” or “Viva La Vida”. It just sounds like formulaic pop to me. It would have been fine had it been done by an unknown band, but coming from a band as talented and renowned as Coldplay was disappointing to me. And as for “My Universe”, their teaming up with BTS, the biggest band on the planet, will most assuredly make it become one of their biggest hits ever.
can’t disagree with any of this. great comment. thanks!
You’re welcome!
Based on EclecticMusicLover’s comment, it sounds like Coldplay are trying to be trendy and will do anything to get a hit. As for BTS, I got sick of them pretty quickly (if anything, I just like watching them gradually improve their English-speaking skills).
I did not know they were called BTS but know exactly who they are. there’s another artist named BT who does techo.
BT does sound like a DJ name!