Coldplay’s “A L I E N S” Is a Good Brian Eno Song
“They are hungry to do something else,” Brian Eno said of his hopes for Coldplay. “And they will. I’m sure they’ll turn out to be a great band.” That was back in 2009, back when the band had pushed past their beginnings as a sentimental Radiohead cover band, and reached with outstretched hand toward U2-style arena rock pretensions. Regardless of what you think about their music, it would be hard to ignore that the best of it—”Clocks,” “Yellow,” Viva La Vida—had already been released by the time Eno made his comments. They made one more record with Eno, 2010’s Mylo Xyloto—which had its rousing moments, like the much-better-than-its-title “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall”—before making an extremely unnecessary turn toward EDM with 2014’s Ghost Stories, and announcing their retirement from studio albums after the underwhelming Adventure of a Lifetime.
So…