Album Review: Coldplay/Viva la Vida
Viva la Vida, although darker, still retains Coldplay’s signature sound
MiltonSearch.com Album Review:
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends/Coldplay
(3 out of 4 stars)
The cumbersomely titled Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends marks the Oxford quartet’s most public effort yet at contributing some serious substance to their discography, enlisting the help of Brian Eno to put a bit of an unconventional spin on the band’s stadium-filling ruminations on love, death and religion.
The album comes with a few conservative risks that may please the critics, but for longtime, hardcore fans of the band, it’s not the total sonic overhaul that was feared. To me, it proves the band does have some interesting, if not earth-shattering, ideas up its sleeve.
After conveniently downloading the album from Apple’s iTunes (now without the maximum security digital encoding features to allow easier copying between computers and burning to CD’s I should add), my new preferred way to purchase music (life with a busy work schedule and two young children doesn’t often permit time to even make it out to the local music store for such hedonistic purchases) and putting the album through it’s paces, here are my thoughts:
Viva la Vida begins with the tasty intstrumental “Life in Technicolor”, before “Cemeteries of London” provides a little mood with some “Edge-like” guitars, reminiscent of U2’s “The Unforgettable Fire” album.
“Lost!” is a winner, employing a pipe organ and rhythmic percussion along with a signature Coldplay melody, despite it’s use of a lyric like: “You might be a big fish…. in a little pond”. The song also appears again at the end of the album with Martin singing solo on the piano. It’s a great version, but unless your name is Roger Waters or Neil Young, I’m against including songs twice on an album or cutting them in half etc. C’mon, save the solo version for concerts or a B-side album… geez.
Speaking of questionable lyrics, how about “those who are dead, are not dead, they’re just living in my head”? That beauty can be found on an otherwise solid “42″, the fourth track.
“Lovers in Japan” has a great energy and boucny, driving rhythm, followed up by “Reign of Love”, a slower, lower track – Martin has seriously toned down the “falsetto” vocals on their fourth studio album.
“Yes” is another solid, but darker song followed up by a great hidden track, mostly instrumental with a tight, driving beat and blaring guitars reminiscent of New Order which ends on a Neil Young-esque grungy, distorted chord (enough artist comparisons for you?).
“Viva la Vida” has the catchy, anthematic-sound Coldplay has become known for with a fresh twist – some nice violin work. From there, we jump into the first single, “Violet Hill”, an aggressive, head-pounding, fist-pumping tune.
“Strawberry Swing” brings out the “foot-stomping hillbilly” side of the band, while “Death and All His Friends” starts quietly before building into open-armed soccer-pitch anthemics.
Overall, a solid album from the British rockers. It doesn’t appear to be full of obvious smash radio hits for the masses like 2002’s “A Rush of Blood to the Head”, but it has a more refined, cohesive, moody feel, while again, retaining enough of the band’s loved (and criticized) signature sound.
Life-altering? No. Important? Not really. But it’ll do.
What do you think? We invite your comments below.