OnlookerDelay

As lavish as most of the production is on most of Viva La Vida, I can't see how they're going to get around heavier use of backing tracks, especially if Chris expands his stage antics. I'm pretty much a purist, when I go to a concert I expect to see a musician of some description creating every sound I hear. That's getting to be less and less the case with Coldplay. I'd be less concerned if I saw a keyboardist producing sampled strings and synth effects from a keyboard than know that an unseen sound engineer is mixing in the proper recorded track at the appropriate time. I hate to throw the Goo Goo Dolls out here to make a point, but they at least have a keyboardist doing this during their live shows, even though he's not an integral part of the core band. I'm satisfied that at least someone is doing something more akin to playing an instrument to reproduce the sampled strings. I'd rather see the silhouette of an unnamed musician at a keyboard, inconspicuously played at the edge of the stage, to account for the string content I'm hearing. I guess the argument against it is that we don't want anyone but Chris, Guy, Jonny, and Will on stage, but if the guy's in the shadows away from the spotlight, who's going to see him other than anal purists like me looking for accountability for the sound? :wink3: You're all over it mate! Chris is too talented a musician to not spend more time on stage practicing his craft. I'm not saying he needs to give up flittering around altogether, just try to keep the balance in check before it goes over the top.

I'm thinking the vocal track was recorded with the echo and compressed dynamic range so as to replicate what vocals would sound like to someone who was in an alpha state, just prior to drifing off to sleep. I don't think they were meant to be clearly decipherable... but I'm not the band, nor am I Brian Eno, so I don't know that for sure.

IMO, it is its own track. The break after Yes concludes is defined enough to where I totally disassociate Yes from Chinese Sleep Chant. BTW, I love CSC for what it is... it's a hooky, brilliant guitar solo break etherial chant (not a song designed to deliver a complex lyrical message). I saw the AOL video of it being performed in Amsterdam and I was surprised at how well it worked live. I can't get its haunting riff out of my mind when I start replaying it in my head.

Starting with favorite: Life In Technicolor Lost! Cemeteries of London Lovers in Japan Chinese Sleep Chant Yes Reign of Love 42 Strawberry Swing Viva La Vida Violet Hill The Escapist Death and All His Friends Really interesting to see how varied these lists are!

I predicted this would happen to my friends last week when I learned of the inspiration for the lyric. I saw the piece last night on the O'Reilly Factor and it pretty much went as expected. Bill challenged Chris (as he's done before) to be a man and come on the program and go toe-to-toe. I wouldn't want to see Chris do it... I personally think he (and any other prominant musician) needs to separate themselves from venues that strip away the mystique of their persona. IMO, most musicians taint their stock when they delve into political crusades, especially with today's soundbite media. Now that I know the inspiration for the lyric, it cheapens the song to think that they used it to take a jab at a cable news network. Coldplay seems to be bigger than that, but that's just my $.02

My daughter says that Chris somehow makes goofy dancing "cool". Sometimes there's a fine line between coolness and cloddy. It's his signature and somehow, I think the live show would be something less disctinctive were Chris to not do it. I think what bothers me the most is when Chris sits at the piano and plays a bit, gets up and dances a while during a break in the piano part, then the piano part gets "piped-in" while he's still dancing and strutting around. I'm still not sure how to take Coldplay's heavy use of backing tracks and pads during a live performance. I'm thinking that Chris' need to get about on stage necessitates more use of backing tracks. If it gets much heavier, it could go over the line and ultimately compromise the "liveness" of the performance, turning it into more of a panamine, IMO.

JackD391, I'm a sandlapper myself and I pretty much agree with you... certainly none of their original material even sniffs what is considered country music in my experience. However, I saw them perform Johnny Cash' - I Walk the Line, on their 2006 tour. They sounded somewhat country then, but I'm sure true country fans would have thrown tomatos at them! I hear it way more than I'd like as well (at work)... I have never grown to appreciate country music, much to the dismay of some of my friends and co-workers. Country music just leaves me unaffected... I don't hate it, but it doesn't speak to me at all. It seems to rely on gimmicky lyrics and predictable formulas. It mostly connotes a lifestyle with which I can't relate either. As for my favs (and I'll confess they're embarassingly predictable): Parachutes: Yellow AROBTTH: Clocks X & Y: Fix You Viva: Lost!

Life in technicolor - 8 Cemeteries - 6.5 lost! - 8.5 42 - 7 lovers in japan - 8.5 Reign of Love - 6 Yes - 8 Chinese Sleep Chant - 6 viva la vida - 7 violet hill - 7.5 strawberry swing - 8 DAAHF - 6 The Escapist - 6 This is an interesting, experimentally balanced album. However, I'm not sure how much appeal this one is going to have to non-Coldplay fans. I've read several comments to the effect that this is the album that X&Y 'should have been'... I disagree wholeheartedly. X&Y is what converted me to Coldplayism. I had a moderate interest in the band prior to X&Y, but that was a masterfully written, performed, and produced piece of work. X&Y is the most accessible, yet enduring rock/pop album I've ever heard... PERIOD! The first time I heard Viva La Vida, I wasn't grabbed by a whole lot of what I heard right away. The opening riff of LIJ stood out, as did the haunting melody of Lost. I started feeling Yes and Strawberry Swing after about three listens. Much of the rest has had to grow on me, but it has become more appealing with each listen. Still, there are many moments throughout this album where a Coldplay agnostic is gonna go... "ouch, what's that!?" Finally, I must be really missing something on DAAHF. It doesn't yet flow as a song to me, for some reason. It has some interesting musical work in it, but it seems to be a bit patchy, vocally. Maybe I'll have an epiphany and get it later on?