ugadawg5

I don't know really; "Friends" has similar echoey talk right before the guitar kicks in, and the initial guitar part just sounds Zeppeliny. I just thought other Zep fans might have made the same connection.

...sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin. I totally get the Zeppelin vibes with the background echoed chatter and then the guitar beginning. Anyone with me?

the intro with the guys in the background and the first riff reminds me exactly of Led Zeppelin.

phil who - what is the relation to the band?

who is it?

this article confirms how much of an angry liberal martin is. i cannot believe the stupidity in the blanket stereotypes he makes about americans. he sure does have all the answers, doesn't he?

bump

I trust this site's reviews over everyone else's. Enjoy. Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine When Coldplay sampled Kraftwerk on their third album, X&Y, it was a signifier for the British band, telegraphing their classicist good taste while signaling how they prefer the eternally hip to the truly adventurous; it was stylish window dressing for soft arena rock. Hiring Brian Eno to produce the bulk of their fourth album, Viva la Vida, is another matter entirely. Eno pushes them, not necessarily to experiment but rather to focus and refine, to not leave their comfort zone but to find some tremulous discomfort within it. In his hands, this most staid of bands looks to shake things up, albeit politely, but such good manners are so inherent to Coldplay's DNA that they remain courteous even when they experiment. With his big-budget production, Eno has a knack for amplifying an artist's personality, as he allows bands to be just as risky as they want to be — which is quite a lot in the case of U2 and James and even Paul Simon, but not quite so much with Coldplay. And yet this gentle encouragement — he's almost a kindly uncle giving his nephews permission to rummage through his study — pays great dividends for Coldplay, as it winds up changing the specifics without altering the core. They wind up with the same self-styled grandiosity; they've just found a more interesting way to get to the same point. Gone are Chris Martin's piano recitals and gone are the washes of meticulously majestic guitar, replaced by orchestrations of sound, sometimes literally consisting of strings but usually a tapestry of synthesizers, percussion, organs, electronics, and guitars that avoid playing riffs. Gone too are simpering schoolboy ballads like "Fix You," and along with them the soaring melodies designed to fill arenas. In fact, there are no insistent hooks to be found anywhere on Viva la Vida, and there are no clear singles in this collection of insinuatingly ingratiating songs. This reliance on elliptical melodies isn't off-putting — alienation is alien to Coldplay — and this is where Eno's guidance pays off, as he helps sculpt Viva la Vida to work as a musical whole, where there are long stretches of instrumentals and where only "Strawberry Swing," with its light, gently infectious melody and insistent rhythmic pulse, breaks from the album's appealingly meditative murk. Whatever iciness there is to the sound of Viva la Vida is warmed by Martin's voice, but the music is by design an heir to the earnest British art rock of '80s Peter Gabriel and U2 — arty enough to convey sober intelligence without seeming snobby, the kind of album that deserves to take its title from Frida Kahlo and album art from Eugene Delacroix. That Delacroix painting depicts the French Revolution, so it does fit that Martin tones down his relentless self-obsession — the songs aren't heavy on lyrics and some are shockingly written in character — which is a development as welcome as the expanded sonic palette. Martin's refined writing topics may be outpaced by the band's guided adventure, but they're both indicative that Coldplay are desperate to not just strive for the title of great band — a title they seem to believe that they're to the manor born — but to actually burrow into the explorative work of creating music. And so the greatest thing Coldplay may have learned from Eno is his work ethic, as they demonstrate a focused concentration throughout this tight album — it's only 47 minutes yet covers more ground than X&Y and arguably A Rush of Blood to the Head — that turns Viva la Vida into something quietly satisfying. ****/5 Track Picks: Violet Hill, Viva La Vida, Life In Technicolour, Lost! http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:knfuxzrjldje~T1

typical complaining yankee. if i lived in detroit, all i'd do is bitch too...

Ivanovic is super hot!

Leading up to X&Y, I was on this board every day and could totally keep up with all the threads on this board...now, I check it every day or two, and I can't even keep with all the new leaks and threads (granted, I'm holding out until the album comes out.) I guess it's just me getting older or something. Whatever; hopefully I'll eventually download all the acoustic versions of tracks and so on... viva la coldplay.

i have only listend to VH and VLV. waiting for a beach trip in a few weeks to bust out the album then - makes better memories when you hear the songs from then on. i'm huge on listening to albums for the first time in a memorable or ideal setting/situation - i can always reference when i first heard the song and I want it to be a great memory, not just sitting at my computer listening to a leak on a wed. afternoon.

I think X&Y never got the credit it deserved. Beautiful chorus, just sweeping and a wonderful outro - coldplay magic.

1. AROBTTH 2. X&Y 3. Parachutes 4. Viva La Vida

Atlanta Pre-Sales??? In 2005 there was an early sign-up for 99x Freeloaders. Now I'm not sure if there is anything like that. Any ideas?

Talk about trite, Proof is terrible. So sacharrine and mushy. X&Y's b-sides were horrible compared to the first two album's incredible catalog. The only good songs on X&Y were the faster songs like Talk, Low, White Shadows, X&Y.

hahahha!!!!!!!

Why does it burn when I pee??!??

is it a squirrel, where is it from?

the b-side version feels forced and over-produced - the live version from Valby Hallen, Denmark in 2002 is sincere, simplistic, and beautiful.

In My Place is the strongest song by far. Nothing beats that opening drum beat and the explosion of shimmering guitars with the first chord of the song. Pure brilliance, just like the rest of AROBTTH.

No, I'd say it is stronger than Speed of Sound, but not nearly as strong as Shiver and especially In My Place.

please let this album be more like AROBTTH than X&Y

Story

Any one else preoccupied with clicking on new threads and links at the risk of being rick rolled? What happens when the first single is released, or the album does leak? Will the fear of being rick rolled prevent us from finding out the latest Coldplay news? I fear that the person who invented the rick roll might not have foreseen its dire consequences...