Coldplay-- Viva La Vida

[Josh]

After one listen, I'm pretty confident about this: It's their best album since Parachutes. Possibly their best yet-- time will tell.

More to come!

[TheWanderer]

man, Josh and I are agreeing a lot lately.  Apocalypse, mayhaps? 

[Josh]

Nah-- it's just that your tastes are maturing. 

I think this is what I like about the album: Its focus. At first, it doesn't feel like they've changed much about their sound, but, listening to it again just now, I'm inclined to say that this is the first Coldplay album since Parachutes where you appreciate their craft more than you do their image.

[spacebrat311]

Agreed.

I also feel that its darker moments (Yes, Violet Hill) and lowered reliance on falsetto serves to provide a sense of balance that was never present before.

[TheWanderer]

Nah-- it's just that your tastes are maturing. 

I had that coming.

[dgp11776]

I'm loving it, too.  For those interested, the double LP is on sale over at Amazon for $15.99.

[Josh]

For those interested...

Huh? You mean someone around here doesn't like vinyl? 

[dgp11776]

I could name names. 

Either they don't like it or don't have a record player.

[TheWanderer]

or don't have a record player.

Me.  If I did, I'd be a vinyl whore...

[murlough23]

Damn. I shoulda waited until this thread to make that dumb R.E.M. reference.

[Josh]

My review.

[murlough23]

My review.

Thanks for that. I am now officially excited to hear this album.

[bloop]

I didn't read many of the details, but it's cool to see how many aren't down on Coldplay with this one.

[murlough23]

I didn't read many of the details, but it's cool to see how many aren't down on Coldplay with this one.

It's trendy to hate Coldplay. I can understand people's reasons for finding them annoying, but I kind of feel that a lot of those reasons are akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. For me, the problem has always been that they come up with something beautiful and then overkill it. So I can see real talent there that's just being marred by a neurotic fear of breaking away from the formula that most frequently generates good songs for them - you can do something really well once and then try to do it again and find that it doesn't work so well the second time. I think on this new album, they may have been given the "slight push" that they needed to fix that problem and emphasize more of a diversity of ideas, without needing to ditch the hallmarks of their sound, the things that people identify them with.

Of course, this is all wishful thinking on my part - I haven't actually heard the album yet.

NP: "Heaven", The Benjamin Gate

[valleycat]

Part of me wants to buy Coldplay albums just to be normal.  But my tastes just don't go this way.

BUT, I heard "Violet Hill" and I loved it.  The lyrics are acceptable but the music is rapturous...that one has me.

[Josh]

My favorite thing about the album, I think, is that "Violet Hill" comes toward the very end of the album, and that there really isn't any song on the album that sounds to me like it's designed to be a single. "Violet Hill" is the closest it comes, and surely that song isn't nearly as obvious a single as any number of other Coldplay songs have been.

[dgp11776]

Yeah, I agree - not much single material here.  Incidentally, my favorite Coldplay album is the one that is pretty much all single material, AROBTTH.

[murlough23]

Listened to it twice within the last 24 hours. Good stuff. The download I got wasn't the best quality - I will probably just by it today now that I know it easily tops X&Y (which I bought the day it came out). I agree about nothing sounding like an obvious single, though for my money, "Lovers in Japan" is pretty dang catchy, and I think several other songs will be impossible to get out of my head after a few more listens - it's just that none of them go for the obvious, easy hook. To be able to subvert almost all of the cliches your band has become known for and yet still be able to come up with songs that are melodically memorable and lyrically rich is difficult to do. Good on you, Coldplay.

The really interesting thing about this record is that I can still tell it's Coldplay, but if another band had released this exact same record, I wouldn't accuse them of being Coldplay sound-alikes. It's not as drastic a reinvention as U2 in the 90's or anything, but as I surmised based on some of you guys' earlier comments about the album, it's a good revision of the band's sound. I think they've come close to fixing pretty much everything that they were easily criticized for before. Maybe some sappiness remains in the lyrics here and there, but I never thought this was a bad thing - it only seemed like the cheap way out when it wasn't backed up by more memorable music.

The line about banks becoming cathedrals in "Violet Hill" really jumped out at me, as if they were quoting another song that I couldn't quite place, but that vaguely seemed like it might be a U2 song. Turns out I was thinking of the line "Man builds a city with banks and cathedrals" in "Lemon". Brian Eno produced Zooropa as well, so I wonder if it's intentional, or just a quinkydink.

NP: "Sad Song", Shaun Groves

[Josh]

Your assessment sounds pretty much like mine, mur-- basically, that the band has honed their craft and changed their sound without abandoning or re-inventing their sound. It's a Coldplay record through and through, but it's much better than their last couple.

"Lovers in Japan" is definitely catchy, but too long for a single, I think.

And did Eno produce Zooropa? I could've sworn The Edge produced that one himself.

[murlough23]

Your assessment sounds pretty much like mine, mur-- basically, that the band has honed their craft and changed their sound without abandoning or re-inventing their sound. It's a Coldplay record through and through, but it's much better than their last couple.

It might be their best of all. Parachutes is pretty solid, but comes up a bit short on content for me. This one technically has 13 songs (if you count the hidden tracks). Of course, X&Y had 13 songs and it got tedious, but this one, at least so far, doesn't seem to have any clunkers on it.

"Lovers in Japan" is definitely catchy, but too long for a single, I think.

Is it really that long? There are two songs on that one track, so I wasn't sure how long the actual song was. (EDIT: It's about 3:55 long. It could likely be played on the radio with minimal or no editing.)

For what it's worth, the sticker on the front of the CD says "Includes Violet Hill, Lost!, Lovers in Japan and Viva la Vida". So it would seem it's slated to be a future single.

And did Eno produce Zooropa? I could've sworn The Edge produced that one himself.

I thought Eno and Flood were involved, but maybe that was just on specific tracks.

[Ian]

I like it.  Favorites are: Cemeteries in London, Yes, Violet Hill, Strawberry Swing and Death.  Lost! is probably my least favorite, but even that is solid.

[murlough23]

To avoid hijacking the "Recent Music Acquired" thread with constant discussion of Coldplay, I'm transferring this bit about the vinyl version:

It's listed the same way except that there is a Side A and a Side B as must be the case for the medium (B begins with "Yes").

That's a good logical break, I suppose. 5+1 on side A, 5+2 on side B (assuming "The Escapist" is still there, but since that's the bookend that accompanies "Life in Technicolor", it kind of has to be).

I read that Chris Martin's intent in cramming two songs onto one track in a few places was meant as a bonus for fans who purchased the music digitally - buying tracks 5, 6, or 10 individually on iTunes would give them 2 for the price of one. I think that's kind of cool, but then, the obsessive-compulsive part of me finds it really annoying to not be able to put one song into a playlist without the other being tacked on (example: "Lovers in Japan" will probably go on my latest "soundtrack", but I don't want "Reign of Love" attached to it). I will probably keep an edited version of the mp3 files (as ripped from the CD) on my computer that has each individual song as a separate track, so that there are 13 individual files.

The CD that came with it is just in a little promo pocket, but still, nice deal.

The CD I bought was a Digipak, and it has one of those little CD sleeves inside it instead of the traditional CD tray with the plastic thingie that holds the center of the disc in place.  I wonder if it's the same sleeve (there are very splashy colors on it).

On a different subject, does anyone else find it amusing that the tracks "Lost!" and "42" are back-to-back? I smell a golden opportunity for a cheesy fan-made music video that will be posted to YouTube.

NP: "Rise Against", P.O.D.

[bloop]

The CD I bought was a Digipak, and it has one of those little CD sleeves inside it instead of the traditional CD tray with the plastic thingie that holds the center of the disc in place.  I wonder if it's the same sleeve (there are very splashy colors on it).

No, they are definitely not the same sleeve, then.  The CD sleeve for sale with the vinyl is very plain off-white speckled stuff.

[latinchic]

Me.  If I did, I'd be a vinyl whore...

ditto:(

[murlough23]

I really like Russ Breimer's analysis of this album.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/glimpses/2008/vivalavida.html

NP: "Jean Val Jean", Edison Glass

[Escuchame]

Anybody here think this is Coldplay's first masterpiece?

It's pretty dang close to being one, methinks!

-AF

[murlough23]

Anybody here think this is Coldplay's first masterpiece?

It's definitely not their second one.

[spacebrat311]

It's definitely not their second one.

LOL

[Escuchame]

I forgot artists are only allowed to have one masterpiece. My bad.

[bloop]

I personally wouldn't describe the album as a masterpiece, but it certainly has some masterful moments.

I think what murlough meant by that was that he doesn't regard any of their previous work as masterpieces.

[murlough23]

I personally wouldn't describe the album as a masterpiece, but it certainly has some masterful moments.

I can see where a few songs are not all that they could be, but in terms of overall consistency, they've hit far closer to the mark than any of their other albums, so it's certainly their closest thing to a "masterpiece" yet. If "masterpiece" is a singular, definitive label that cannot be overridden by a later, better work, then sure, let's not impose that label upon anything that they do.

What's interesting about this album is that I might find myself nitpicking the individual pieces and going, "I wish this song said a little more so that I had more to interpret" or "This intercalary piece in between two listed songs feels incomplete", etc., but as I listen more, I'm getting a better feel for the interconnectedness of it. I tend to focus on the strength of individual songs and then expect that strength to be maintained throughout an album in order to give it the highest grade possible, but here, I feel like the individual songs - while many of them do play well on their own as singles or as entries on a mix CD - are jigsaw puzzle pieces that make more sense when you hold them up next to one another, rotate them, figure out how they fit into one another.

(Dang. I'm getting ahead of myself despite being lazy and not having written the actual review yet. When I do write it, I think I'm going to paste in the above paragraph almost verbatim.)

[bloop]

I can see where a few songs are not all that they could be, but in terms of overall consistency, they've hit far closer to the mark than any of their other albums, so it's certainly their closest thing to a "masterpiece" yet. If "masterpiece" is a singular, definitive label that cannot be overridden by a later, better work, then sure, let's not impose that label upon anything that they do.

I agree that it's the closest they've come, but if I thought it was a masterpiece, I would call it that regardless of what the future holds.  Artists are permitted to have more than one, and quite a few do.

[murlough23]

I agree that it's the closest they've come, but if I thought it was a masterpiece, I would call it that regardless of what the future holds.  Artists are permitted to have more than one, and quite a few do.

Fair enough. We'll just consider it Coldplay's best work so far. If they have a better album left in 'em, I ain't gonna complain.

(It is interesting to consider Viva la Vida in light of the hubris Chris Martin displayed right before A Rush of Blood to the Head was released - "This is the best album we're ever gonna make, so we might as well break up now!")

[Josh]

If by "masterpiece" you mean five stars/A+/10.0, then no, it's not a masterpiece-- though it comes a lot closer than I ever thought a Coldplay album would come.

If by masterpiece you mean their best, most essential, most defining album, then yes-- by an Obama landslide.

But here's what I really think: It does a truly masterful job of maintaining a consistent tone, and it's masterful in its overall effect. It displays a mastery of craft-- songcraft as well as studiocraft-- and there's not a weak song, or even a weak moment, on the whole album. It might end up being my favorite rock album of the year, and I'll say so unashamedly.

[ajyouthguy]

I forgot artists are only allowed to have one masterpiece. My bad.

well duh, it says right there in that link "one entry found," right?

[murlough23]

If by "masterpiece" you mean five stars/A+/10.0, then no, it's not a masterpiece-- though it comes a lot closer than I ever thought a Coldplay album would come.

Indeed. I think it's also worth pointing out that the rare handful of albums I'd give that high of a rating to (really, I'm not sure there are any 10.0's in my collection), I certainly didn't realize I loved them that much within the first few weeks of listening to them.

If by masterpiece you mean their best, most essential, most defining album, then yes-- by an Obama landslide.

That's rather presumptuous, though I'm right behind you with the wishful thinking.

But here's what I really think: It does a truly masterful job of maintaining a consistent tone, and it's masterful in its overall effect. It displays a mastery of craft-- songcraft as well as studiocraft-- and there's not a weak song, or even a weak moment, on the whole album. It might end up being my favorite rock album of the year, and I'll say so unashamedly.

There are more rock albums to compete with on my list, but it's pretty darn close to my favorite album period this year. I just found the latest from Thrice and The Myriad to be even more consistent - though certainly neither of those will get nearly as much buzz or critical plaudits as Coldplay.

[bloop]

If by "masterpiece" you mean five stars/A+/10.0, then no, it's not a masterpiece-- though it comes a lot closer than I ever thought a Coldplay album would come.

This is basically along the lines I was thinking.  An A+ with extra credit on top of that, if you will.

[valleycat]

I don't get it. I hear a whole lot of nothing in the first 2/3 of this album, the title track is okay, I still love "Violet Hill", and then nothing again.  This album doesn't engage me at all. And I can't stand the lyrics. I can't explain why yet but they sound really awful to me.

[Ian]

The lyrics are kinda bad.  Not Kutless bad, but I think Coldplay has done better in that department.  Musically however, it's easily Coldplay's mostvaried work since Parachutes, while maintaining better consistency.

[Josh]

I like the lyrics. Mysterious and riddlesome without being vague, individual but not personal, universal but not generic-- and hey, Martin even writes in character on some of 'em! It's a huge step forward. (And that's to say nothing of the biblical imagery, which of course I'm always a sucker for.)