Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

Viewer Rating:HSP has rated Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends rating: 3 Star

As a person who loved Coldplay's first album Parachutes & expected more great things from them, I never really liked anything they did after that. I found myself changing radio stations in the car if Chris Martins annoying tones were invading my space & how they have become as big as they have actually mystifies me. I know it's all about taste & what not, but they remind me a lot like Aslan... same same same, unwilling to try anything different. Having said that, on hearing their first two singles from this new album I decided to go out and buy this one as I surprisingly really liked what I heard. We kick of with "Life in Technicolor" which is a short instrumental piece that acts as an intro to the album. It's the sort of thing you hear just before a band comes onto the stage at a live gig. Towards the end they can be heard doing their ooh's & aah's a bit like the Police's Synchronicity II track... knew I heard it before somewhere. This is followed by "Cemeteries Of London" which has a slow build up with Martin's familiar sound taking us into a decent song with lots of acoustic guitar movements picking up the pace before ending with that familiar Coldplay piano solo sound fading out. Track 3 is Lost! A much heavier intro to this one with that old church organ sound making this track one of those gospel type songs that you can imagine an American church choir clapping along to as they dance without moving their feet! Still a good song with full production which sounds great at full volume. So far so good.... Things slow right down with "42" with Martin telling us that "Those who are dead are not dead, they're just living in my head"... so we can see where this is going. It does pick up pace with a guitar solo accompanied by a heavy drumbeat which actually makes it sound like a completley different song as it finishes. "Lovers In Japan / Reign Of Love" follows nicely with racy guitar movement kept pace nicely with the bass which had been somewhat missing so far. Great track with plenty going on & one of my favourites. I like how it blends in to "Reign of Love" turning two songs into one. The latter being a lot slower but the familiar Coldplay piano sound keeps it honest & interesting. Moving on to track 6 "Yes! Chinese Sleep Chant" which has a brief strings intro but once again the guitars take over but this gets completly lost for me & goes nowhere so it's skip to the next track "Viva La Vida" which I am sure we are all familiar with. I love a track that features plenty of strings & this one certainly does so I love it. Actually this track convinced me to buy this album. It's not the fastest of songs but it doesn't need to... it's perfect & gets the repeat option on my I-Pod. Track 8 is "Violet Hill" which was their first single for a while which could do without it's 40 second intro of nothing really but it makes way or an excellent song. I remember when I first saw this video & couldn't believe I was actually watching Coldplay... that boring annoying band! Love this track too... excellent. Strawberry Swing follows this with another slow build up to a nice track. Nothing exciting about this one & it's gentle on the ears but it's just an album filler making way for the final track which is "Death & all his friends" which could have been lifted from any of their other albums with the familiar slow intro but it does pick up pace & is not a bad way to end things off. So overall I really enjoyed this album but am still not a fan. It's a good listen with more good tracks than bad so well done to Martin & Co... you pleasantly surprised me!

Review published on the 19 August 2008 12:14