themook7

Here you go dude, now calm down a bit. Coldplay: Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends 3 out of 5 Reviewed by Andy Gill My argument here would be that this is, after all, a Coldplay record, not a Brian Eno one. While the songs might contain many elements previously employed by the band , sonically this album is quite different from anything they’ve done before. Will’s drumming in particular is quite a departure from his previous work. The criticism of Viva La Vida as a “simple, memorable melody line and ramming it home through endless repetition" is a particularly lame critique. Countless other pop songs have been crafted the same way. Chris Martin’s melodies are what make Coldplay great. One of the reasons this album shines over X & Y is the simple fact that the melodies are much stronger on Viva. Chris writes a damn good pop song, did we expect him to stop? And The Guardian review... Coldplay, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends *** (Parlophone) Alexis Petridis When a reviewer waits two paragraphs to actually discuss the point of the piece, you have to wonder if there’s a bit of an axe to grind. It’s almost as if he’s got his arms folded in disgust waiting to here an album that he’s already decided he won’t like no matter what. The words continue to deal only in the most general of generalities - "Just be patient and don't worry", "You've got to soldier on". And here’s where he loses all credibility. Take the world’s finest pop/rock songwriters, Lennon/McCartney, Dylan, Bono/Edge, and you can find the same generalities in their work. I hate it when reviewers nit pick a lyricist. One could just as easily find good/great lyrics in probably the same songs. For example, Radiohead’s “House of Cards” contains the line “I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover.” Even by Prince’s lyrically low standards, that’s fairly lame. Still, it’s a great freaking song. My biggest complaint regarding these reviews is that it seems they have a premeditated agenda. They don’t like Chris, they don’t like Gwyneth, they don’t like their mothers. Who knows for sure.