Look Up To The Sky (The Godfatherecords G.R.1001)
(73:07) Ghost Stories “An NBC TV Special, May 18th, 2014” Recorded in Los Angeles, CA, Sony Studios on March 21-22, 2014: Always In My Head, Magic, Clocks, Ink, True Love, Midnight, Viva La Vida, Another’s Arms, Oceans, A Sky Full Of Stars, O, Paradise.
Bonus Tracks: BBC Live Lounge, BBC Radio 1 Studios, London, UK – April 23, 2014: Magic, Oceans.
Later…with Jools Holland, BBC Two Studios, London, UK – April 29, 2014: A Sky Full Of Stars.
BBC Christmas Live Lounge, Secret Location – December 19, 2013 (Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland): Christmas Lights, White Christmas
Coldplay kicked off the release of their sixth LP, Ghost Stories, with an NBC TV Special on May 18th, 2014. Wikipedia had this to say:
“A TV special titled Coldplay: Ghost Stories was filmed in March 2014 by the Grammy-nominated director Paul Dugdale (Adele, The Rolling Stones) in a custom-built amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Coldplay performed material from the album in its entirety for the first time. The show, which included cinematic vignettes and 360-degree projections, was attended by an audience of 800 fans and press, and will be broadcast in prime time in several countries in May and June 2014.”
The event was filmed over March 21-22, 2014 at Sony Studios in Los Angeles and its airing (not the performance dates) coincided with the release of the new record so essentially the audience are hearing most of these tracks for the first time here. The sound quality is absolutely perfect and the performance itself is mesmerizing. The near flawless reading of the new material creates such a mood for the listener that it is difficult not to recognize the hard work that went into the production of this new record. The themes behind Ghost Stories are spiritually driven and are perfectly conveyed through their music.
After “Clocks” Chris mentions “this is incredibly fun for us….sometimes things get so big in places that we lose the whites of people’s eyes…” referring to the semi-intimate setting. You can tell by the audience’s reaction that they are aware they are seeing something very special and are very vocal between songs even participating during “Viva La Vida” as well as in a few other places.
The first three bonus tracks present more new songs from BBC radio and television appearances. All the bonus material comes from excellent sources and sounds very clean. The final two tracks on the disc were featured on BBC Christmas Live Lounge on December 19th, 2013 and features only Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland on piano and guitar. They, of course, play Christmas music including a rendition of “White Christmas”. Martin hits a wrong chord in the intro and stops and says “that was terrible I am going to start that again, this is national radio”. Some female voices join in on the latter choruses for support.
I have never been more than a casual fan of Coldplay but this release from Godfather gave me a new found respect for these guys. Nice packaging and perfect sound make this a no brainer for Coldplay fans, die-hard or casual. Highly recommended.
