Coldplay - Viva la Vida: Album Review
Coldplay, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (Capitol, 2008)
The English rock band Coldplay hardly needs any introduction. They're pretty much every black person's favorite white group evar, right up there with John Mayer and Spandau Ballet. White people, to their credit, have been known to love them some Coldplay, too. This album's gonna be huge.
LIFE IN TECHNICOLOR
There's about 10 seconds of silence at the very beginning, which had me concerned that this was gonna be one of those bullshit world's lengthiest instrumental fade-ins a la The Joshua Tree, which, you'll recall, was also produced by Brian Eno. Thankfully, this isn't nearly as torturous as it could have been. The extended instrumental bit that bookends the album actually kinda cranks in a world's hippest elevator music kind of way.
CEMETERIES OF LONDON
Lyrically, for whatever reason, this album is really obsessed with death. Maybe this is Chris Martin's bid to maintain a certain degree edge so to speak despite his seemingly idyllic existence. He isn't even on drugs, is he? As if he's ever gonna die... Gwyneth Paltrow isn't what she once was, but shit, I'll take her.
LOST!
This one goes for more of a hip-hop feel, in the most lamest, white bread way possible. It's like a four minute-long variation on the funky handclap breakdown from "Jack and Diane." What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in the studio when Chris plays this for Kanye and Kanye has to pretend to be impressed.
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I almost got some of the great American lager on my laptop when I heard this song's main lyrical motif. "Those who are dead aren't really dead. They're just living in my head." Then I was like, you know? That's not really that dumb. I've heard dumber. Plus, the rest of the song - which has more of that X&Y prog steez that I've been missing - kinda redeems it.
LOVERS IN JAPAN/REIGN OF LOVE
The title to the first half of this one turns out to be a bit more literal than you might have liked. The transition into the more subdued Reign of Love doesn't make that much sense to me. I guess there's a thematic connection, but you get the idea that if it was a bit more interesting, they probably would have let it stand on its own. It probably could have been a single.
YES/CHINESE SLEEP CHANT
And now for a taste of the Orient. Er, I guess Japan counts as the Orient as well. But this one actually has more of an Asian sound to it. It sounds like they took a random-ass Coldplay song and had a few Chinamen come in and play instruments on it. Some zithers or whatever. As with the last song, this is actually two songs in one. The second half of this sounds just like Broken Social Scene.
VIVA LA VIDA
You know who else used to do those two songs in one deals? Chicago circa "Hard to Say I'm Sorry." I'm just saying. The thing is, as they say on the Internets, I fucks with Chicago circa "Hard to Say I'm Sorry." Nullus.
Perhaps befitting its status as the title track (well, sort of), this might be the first thing on the album that really, really grabs me. It goes a long way towards breathing some life back into this mess after the first half, which is neither as catchy nor as interesting to listen as it could be.
VIOLET HILL
And the roll continues with this, the lead single. I kinda liked it anyway, despite how retarded it is, but it really does take hearing it within the context of the rest of this to realize why they decided to roll with this out the gate. And here I thought it was some bold artistic statement, a la that eight minute-long stalker record by Death Cab.
STRAWBERRY SWING
The more you listen to this one, the more things you can hear going on in the mix. It could have just as easily been him singing along to a lone acoustic guitar strum. The thing is, the song itself isn't quite as evocative as its title.
DEATH AND ALL HIS FRIENDS/THE ESCAPIST
The opposite book end. This one begins with a solo piano number that's more of a phrase than an actual song. The build into The Escapist, which is the instrumental bit a la the intro, is handled especially well, I think. I could've done without the goofy quiet to loud effect, which just ends up sounding weird in your stereo. I bet it really comes off live though.
COMMENTS: I realize I went pretty hard on this one, but it's still Coldplay. And Coldplay probably couldn't be that bad if they wanted. I'm not going to, but I'm sure I could listen to this shit ad nauseum. It sounds incredible, it's just that not all of the songs are really that good, and there's a whole lot of pretentious bullshit going on that really didn't strike me as being all that impressive.
BEST TRACKS: "Viva la Vida" "Violet Hill"
BONUS VIDEO: "Violet Hill"
