I just LOVE this album, period. Listening to it is like an addiction, or something...

New review from an ex-Coldplay hater.

 

This is easily my favorite review thus far, as it presents a convert to the good side:

 

Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

 

 

3-Chord Wonders Broaden Their Horizons.

Johnny Firecloud, CraveOnline

June 10, 2008

 

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Share this article Through some logic beyond my cynical vision, the masses are rabid for this new Coldplay album. When the Yellow hitmakers released the first single Violet Hill as a free download on April 29th, 2 million people downloaded it in a week. The song is good, a promising indication of the band's evolution. So, still not swallowing the '50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong' pill, I downloaded the leak last night with skepticism on high.

 

See, I badly wanted to hate this album. I'm no fan of Coldplay, and had every intention of declaring instrumental electro-pop opener "Life In Technicolor" the best song on the record, for the simple fact that Chris Martin's pillowy melodic annoyance is mercifully absent. The entire thing could be a backing track for an old Death Cab For Cutie song, and that's really not a bad thing. But goddamnit, the 'oooh oooh''s around the two minute mark (which appear in more epic form three minutes into title track "Viva la Vida") are subtly and beautifully epic in a way that bands don't seem to know how to put together anymore.

 

Coldplay have apparently taken lessons in grandiosity this time around, with Martin setting out to explore a decidedly lower singing range and Jonny Buckland's guitar work taking on a more majestic tone than on any of their previous work. Electro wizard producer Brian Eno has helped the band build a surprisingly organic-sounding album with Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. It's full of shimmering synth meanderings, string sections and soaring piano movements that weave tightly with Martin's ruminative obsessions with duality (couldn't even decide on one name for the record), delivered in a much more evolved manner than I certainly wanted to give them credit for.

 

The haunting atmosphere intro to "Cemeteries of London" sets the tone for an impressive, rising sound with underlying tones of, uh, Riverdance? Buckland’s searing solo minimalism pierces the thick rhythmic fog while Martin lays a darker variation of the standard platinum-megnet melody, conducting a backup chorus that's eerie and Gaelic as well.

 

"Lost!" - Stomping handclaps and funked out church organs lend a gospel air to this one, building to a crescendo that's disappointingly lacking in mojo, and even reeks of Radiohead theft.

 

If you want to talk about rising sounds however, "42"'s a good place to start. Pensive piano chords are the backdrop to Martin's shotgun-in-the-mouth fagcore vocals, making for an underwhelming suicide theme song until about 90 seconds in when the pace changes and things pick up rapidly. That's when shit gets epic, bursting with energy and more of those fucking handclaps.

 

"Lovers in Japan" starts off with gleaming pianos in outer space before bursting into a galloping arena-pop piece that would serve as a great show-closer. The song takes you into the narrated moment, and it's a lot more heterosexual than the bonus acoustic version.

 

"Reign of Love" is a dreamy roll through heaven's flowerbeds, delicate and distant. There's a beauty to this song that truly threatens to make me a fan of this band, but Yes is wounded, middle-of-the-road and never really goes anywhere. Nice guitars, but otherwise skiptastic.

 

"Chinese Sleep Chant" is hazy, with lyrics you can't understand, but it's oddly hypnotic. Feels like staring out the window of a fast-moving train after breaking up with your girlfriend. But you did the breaking up, not her.

 

Are you sick of "Violet Hill" yet? Because it's going to be on all kinds of commercials and "Remember the 00's" compilations until nuclear armageddon hits.

 

"Strawberry Swing" is pretty and captivating in a light, Beatlesque kind of way, but it sticks to safe ground and feels half-hearted. No room for that if you're trying to make an epic album.

 

"Death and All His Friends" is another rising tide, and an impressive reminder that the band's live show will hit a new high with these songs. But after the wave crashes the song rolls back out to sea, allowing "The Escapist" to glide in on translucent wings to close the album with a reprise of the opener. Pretty pianos and pulsing synths give way to Martin singing And in the end/ We lie awake and we dream of making an escape, before the song lifts into the stratosphere.

 

On their fifth release, Coldplay occasionally veer perilously close to U2's turf ("Lovers in Japan," "42"), but they do so sparingly. My only real complaint here is the overall sense that Coldplay are trying to be all things to everybody with this record, and it results in a bipolar atmosphere that lacks a sense of direction. Are we celebrating life and spiritual evolution? Or mourning the cost of revolution? You never can quite tell.

 

Biased premonitions aside, however, Coldplay's fifth offering is unpretentious enough to take its name from a painting by Frida Kahlo (it translates to "live the life"), even though the cover art features the French painting Liberty Leading the People, which about as pretentious as they come (I told you the album was bipolar). It's good enough to satiate the devoted, and although it won't move mountains or part the seas, it's probably enough convert a good amount of new blood.

 

Overall, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends qualifies as an epic musical piece. it's an album by a band who's harnessed a winning formula and pushed it to a new level, adding some flair along the way.

 

Crave Online Rating: 7.8 out of 10

It's good to get a "Coldplay-hater" perspective. They have absolutely nothing to gain from writing a review, and they are the most blunt. Sometimes we can be very biased. :D Thanks for this!

ok review is great!

one less coldplay hater in the world can't be bad...

 

btw fifth release....? bit ahead of himself there

typo, probably. Or since he's a reformed CP-hater, he might not know that they have four albums, not five.

no worries the 5th one also will come.

omg they talked about the SONGS instead of Chris Martin's personal life! Still the obligatory Radiohead reference (which doesn't make any sense because Lost! sounds nothing like a Radiohead song) but at least we're making some progress!

lmfao @ "shotgun-in-the-mouth fagcore"

this made me smile! I think Ill have a listen to Strawberry Swing and amplify it to extreme volume levels.

 

AGAIN!

Good to hear. It's hard to take many reviews seriously. Especially from fan message boards like this one. Because you know that the album could be worse than the ebola virus and it would be praised like the second coming.

 

Large magazines aren't much better. So, when someone like this changes their mind, you get a little more credible.

Wow, extremely witty and clever. And yes, he DOES talk just about the songs, and not about unneccessary stuff like who Chris is married to, and stuff like that. *applauds reviewer*

This sounds surprisingly like a Pitchfork review. Does anyone know when THAT one is coming out? I've been waiting for it. My Pitchfork prediction is probably like a 4.1 at best. Probably somewhere in the 2s or 3s I'd imagine, unless they surprise me.

Any takers on how many times Pitchfork mentions Radiohead in the review? Or Eno?

 

I'm guessing at least four for both.

Great review, I agree with most of it. Thanks for posting :)

No review for Yes or Viva La Vida?:uhoh:

Viva album review

 

http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/content/content_detail.php?id=2489&type=Albums

My thoughts on Vida la Vida (album)

 

We said this would be their achtung baby or their Ok Computer I think we were wrong.

 

Now im more inclined to say this is their Unforgettable fire, the experimental album with more good ideas than songs.

 

Life in technicolour is a rare event, an intresting instrumental, U2 did some instrumentals in their time with Eno and none of them really worked. It's a great opener for an album that suprisingly didn't take itself too seriously.

 

I was expecting they replaced the synth grandous of X&Y with another type of grandous, like string segments and such instead I was suprised to find Coldplay are now an art rock band and the songs wern't just martin song smithing with a Coldplay backing. This is definatly a revolution, for Coldplay at least.

 

The new sound seems to incorporate lots of world music influences, Cemetries of London's ghostly chants and the totally overcooked Lost (i like it, but theres too much going on)

 

42, im not sure on, this is Coldplay's attempt to create a track not unlike Paranoid andriod or Bohemian Rhapsody by joining songs together, the lack of an intresting transition between the 2 parts of the song (think the crazed weaving guitars of the above bands) don't do this one justice. That and the two parts of this song don't really link too well.

 

Lovers in Japan is lovely, not exactly classic Coldplay but a nice intresting yet happy song (just like Strawberry Swing) but it's only with repeated listens I realised I didn't like Reign of love.

 

Yes with its winding Indian string segment takes Coldplay to a new sleezy level of love song, propably the biggest suprise on the album and one of my favorates. The interlude leading off reminds me of something else riff wise but is another highlight (overall the best 7 minutes of the album)

 

Then you've got the 2 singles, Viva la vida has by now become a guilty pleasure to sing along to on a peaceful day now the lyrics have sunk in and Violet Hill is still a charming John Lennonish song. I worry these songs could get boring fast however due to the ammount of times i've already heard them.

 

Death and all his friends, another highlight for sure, a brilliant opening great build up and final closer. The weakness here is the albums too disjointed to have felt like a journey leading to the revalation the line 'I don't want to follow death and all his friends' provides. Its a similar situation to Muse's absolution, Ruled by secrecy works as a closer because the rest of the album was leading to it. For most of Vida la vida it wasn't.

 

Even so I was suprised, I was expecting a sad album and Coldplay's really shocked me with the exception of Reign of Love, a fantastic album and maybe another classic to join Parachutes and AROBTTH.

 

For some reason listening to this album made me stick on Pink Floyd's dark side of the moon afterwards, theres some similiarities for sure.

 

 

BUT why does Yes part 2 sound so familiar to me?

um yeah i agree but chris even said that this was their unforgettable fire before the album came out!

I'm probably going to get shot for saying this...

 

but I really don't think the album is anything special. I hope it grows on me but at the moment alot of the songs on the album just don't compare to songs on previous albums. I like DAAHF and SS is ok but other than that the other songs just don't do it for me. LIT is annoyingly repetative and yes I know my username is LIT :wink3:

 

Most of the songs on this album are quite weak lyrically and the songs aren't very catchy except for SS and DAAHF. VLV is ok but again nothing special. Theres no Fix You, The Scientist, Yellow, Don't Panic, Clocks on this album and what I mean by that is no song that makes me a little emotional when listening to it.

 

Anyway I know alot of people will disagree with me. I just hope this album is a grower. At the moment I would rate this album a 6 out of 10. Does anyone else feel a little let down?

Pang!

lol you're not gonna get shot... everyone has their favorite and least favorite album. VLV happens to be my favorite, and x&y my least. in fact Fix You & The Scientist (even though i love arobtth) are the only 2 coldplay songs i can't stand (that might just be because they were overplayed on the radio, and um everywhere else but i don't really remember lloving them to begin with).

but anywho, i hope it grows on you too, because i think you can get a whole lot from it if you just let it :)

VLV is my favourite Coldplay album too. LIT, it's not surprising that the album doesn't appeal to you. Cast your mind back to all of those interviews with Chris where he stated that the band intends to break away from their signature sound and try new things. Naturally, that's a direction which won't please everyone. It happens to the best bands out there. There were even Beatles fans who felt cold after listening to Revolver and Sgt Peppers, so its nothing new.

 

But I hope you do grow to like it as it has much to offer. I've found that some of the more timeless albums aren't always the ones that strike a chord with you first. Best of luck :)

The first 3 albums there was at least 1 song on each that I couldn't stand, this new one? I can listen to the album without skipping a track!!! So I guess that means I rather like it!!!

The first 3 albums there was at least 1 song on each that I couldn't stand, this new one? I can listen to the album without skipping a track!!! So I guess that means I rather like it!!!