Viva La Vida - Coldplay Album Review

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Album Review

For some of us, Coldplay have turned into the band we 'love to hate'. Popularity and success maybe? No, I think it's a lot more than that. Something to do with blandness I believe.

Some three years ago, after a bashing from the US press, principally, they decided to take a long break, with a view to re-inventing their music. So now we get Viva La Vida, subtitled Death And All His Friends. Grand eh? Just like the CD artwork of Eugene Delacroix's masterpiece Liberty Leading The People (1830). Pity the album doesn't have all the same trappings. Ultimately, Viva La Vida is a tad pretentious. It's as if they've gone out of their way to make a change, for change's sake, and a drastic one at that. Much was expected of their fourth, and for, me their difficult album. In truth, this is a transitional period for Coldplay, and we knew it would be after X&Y's panning.

There was never any doubt that it would zoom to the top of the UK charts in the first week, with Play.com getting its biggest pre-orders ever, with copies being sold at one per minute. Viva La Vida (to us 'Long Live Life') is a rather confusing sort of album. The LP artwork is a starting point. The painting by French artist Eugene Delacroix is called People Leading The People. The LP title is from another painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Confused ? Me too. Then we get word that the starting point for the music is from an early Blur song 'Sing'. Ok ,we get the picture - running out of ideas? There are also musical reference points such as Radiohead, Arcade Fire, My Bloody Valentine, Tinariwen, and yes, even Pink Floyd. On the latter, they're surely deluded. So keen to impress, they elected to experiment with different sounds, such as taking acoustic guitars into churches in Spain and Latin America, trying to assimilate a Hispanic feel, but not sound. Confused again? Me too. So, we can assume that this isn't Coldplay actually being, well, Coldplay. A bit of a 'steal' maybe?

There is a very grand and opulent beginning - Life In Technicolour , which the credits tell us uses a large sample of Light Through The Veins by Jon Hopkins, who provides additional production. To their credit though, they have brought a new sense of adventure, even if it's sort of indirectly forced upon them. We don't get anything as direct as the superb Clocks or Fix You, as this is far more expansive, if in a contrived way. One thing hasn't changed, well only a little, is Chris Martin's register, even if he tries to hide his often nauseating falsetto. So the reinvention is almost complete, almost. Instead of Martin's piano as a feature we've got new percussive stylings characterised on Life In...and Cemeteries, all of course geared (brilliantly) for their forthcoming 'arena' world tour. If fact, Life and Cemeteries..could be a U2 track with Buckland doing sterling Edge-like jangly riffs. It may also be something to do with Brian Eno's association with, er, U2. Snippets of the past emerged right at the end where Martin can't resist some ivory tinkles. Lost! (appropriate me thinks at this point) is equally big on handclaps and organ, chugging along at a cool pace. Maybe those churches had some influence too. Messy 42 could have been left out as it's that percussive formula returning on a drab track, and oh, the piano's back, whereas Lover In Japan has, (here we go again), U2 arena riffs and soaring chorus. Of all the tracks, Yes has something near Coldplay originality with sweeping Eastern flavours, though it never builds into anything significant or awesome like Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. The title track is a whopper, sounding like Coldplay of old, with new bits, surely the work of Eno. Single Violet Hill (which is near Abbey Road) lends itself to a Beatles rhythm, and the band's first anti-war protest song, hasn't done much in the UK charts either, peaking at #8, not going to #1 in any of the significant world charts. The album's serious low point is the disastrously muddled, and appropriately titled closer Death And All His Friends.

Despite all the apparent adventure, and expectation, Viva La Vida does not totally deliver the goods. Shame.

File under: Good in bits. Not enough of them.

Elly Roberts