Sneak Peak: Coldplay - Viva La Vida — OR — Death And All His Friends
I’ve been nervous about this one. I love Parachutes and A Rush of Blood To The Head but X&Y was a real letdown for me. I knew there was no way I wouldn’t roll the dice on Viva La Vida but I the anticipation and eventual letdown of X&Y stopped me from getting real excited about this one.
Matters were not helped with Chris Martin’s growing insistence on trying to out-Bono Bono. Their last tour had the same set design as U2’s Vertigo Tour. Martin is championing almost all the same causes. They’ve hired Brian Eno to produce this new record, and they’ve given it a hopelessly clumsy and stupid title. I’m waiting for Anton Corbijn album artwork or video shoot and the circle will be complete.
Still, I like U2 and I like Coldplay. The album was on sale for $10 and I had a $5 off coupon at Satan Best Buy. I get to sample Vida La Vida — OR — Death And All His Friends for $5.39. I’ve taken bigger gambles in my life. All right, fellas, what have you got?
I’ve now listened to it all the way through once and it’s the best U2 album since __________________. You’re going to read that phrase a lot. I wanted to go ahead and get it out of the way. There’s no escaping the similarities, but what does a dismissive statement like that really tell you about the record? Fuck all, is what. It tells you dick.
What can I tell you about the record? Not much more than that… yet. I’m on the second spin through the record. I haven’t formed a definitive conclusion other than to say I already like it better than X&Y. There just seems to be more life to these songs. The songs are more ambitious and and you need some ambition to go with Coldplay’s brand of earnestness (again, see U2). X&Y seemed too often to want to downplay the songs and it took the legs out from under the album. On Viva, the songs are overstated sonic landscapes without sounding bloated (again, see U2).
So, yes, the influence and stylings of U2 are evident on the record but those influences and stylings fit Coldplay well on Viva. I’m going to have to listen to the record a few more times and live with these songs awhile before I lock myself in to anything more, but I’m comfortable saying I like the record and feel like I’ve more than gotten my $5 worth.
Filed under: Tags: Coldplay
It’s okay, maybe even. I like it a lot more than I expected. I had to give it a shot for the Enossification. I was just too curious to hear what he’d done and he is all over the place. I hoped for something equally “surprising” as Paul Simon’s Surprise and while I can’t say this is it, I can say I’ll be listening to it more. There is some beautiful stuff on here.
One other band this sounds a lot like in places is James, another of Eno’s proteges - the “Lovers In Japan” part of that two-part track is vintage James. I’m a little weirded out listening to a band that so apes others, not generally my thing, but I’m enjoying it, so what can I say?
First line should read “maybe even great.” Tired thoughts cut off by a small child who wanted her teeth brushed. Anyway, I need more time to determine where it sits between good and great.
These last two Coldplay records have been more modeled after other bands than their first two. Parachutes is a quiet masterpiece. Rush of Blood shows a few influences but, to me, is still uniquely Coldplay and was the sound of a band that was full of itself making an album that showed why they deserved to be.
X&Y was their Kraftwerk moment and Viva is them trying to be U2. They’re a better U2 than they are Kraftwerk, I guess, because I like this album. It’s a pleasant listen. Like you, I need more time with it to go beyond that.
They are definitely try to beat U2 at their game here. There are moments with the atmospherics and the chink a chinking guitars bubbling to the surface where you almost expect to hear the words “I wanna run…I wanna hide” busting out of the mix.
Oh wait. I already wrote that on BC didn’t I?
Sorry. I do like this though, minor complaints aside.
-Glen