Coldplay - Viva la Vida
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Free Music Notes for Viva la Vida
Free Music Review: Magnificent
Hit: 5 Stars
When I first heard the song "Viva la Vida" at a friend's request, I wasn't sure I liked it. But there was some kind of catch to it that said, "Listen to me again." So I did. When I listened to it a third time, I was hooked.
For me, some songs stand out as giants. They hit me at the right time, at the right place, and in the right way, and they remain favorites for years. "Viva la Vida" was one of those. I was enchanted by the unique subject matter and the beautiful imagery conveyed by the equally beautiful lyrics. I loved the melancholy, and most importantly, I loved the story it told. So I decided to buy the CD.
At first, I thought this CD was a dud. I loved "Life in Technicolor" and "Viva la Vida," and for a long time, the other songs simply irritated me. They seemed rather plain overall, and a little too sad on the whole. Several songs changed tempo and melody mid-song, which annoyed me at the time. I moved them from my mixes for a month or so. On a whim one day, when I was looking for a change of pace, I moved them back. I'm very glad I did; slowly, but surely, each song began to open up. First, "42," then "Lost," and "Strawberry Swing," until I could listen to every song on the CD and love every minute of it.
What is difficult to hear on first hearings is that underneath the melancholy of these tunes is defiance. "I don't want to follow Death and all his friends," "Just because I'm hurting, doesn't mean I'm hurt," "people moving all the time inside a perfect straight line, don't you want to curve away?" What makes it melancholy is that there isn't much hope of winning; but there is a paradox in that the singer lingers in hope. He hopes he can make it, even if the odds are all against him; he holds to it even though it makes no logical sense to do so. I found that extremely attractive. So, in its own way, this album is optimistic.
Certainly, there are lyrics that linger on failure of reaching that ultimate goal ("You thought you might be a ghost; you never got to heaven, but you made it close"; "I was held from the rooftop and they let go"), but the sensation here is that he's still fighting to win. Not only is he still fighting, he is doing everything he can: "God, only God, knows I'm trying my best!" That's the overall feeling of the album: reaching up through devastation, striving and struggling to do one's best, and knowing that that's all one can do.
This was a unique CD for me. I fell in love with the lyrics and then the tunes followed after. I had to give it a couple of months, but it proved to be a great purchase in the end. I now rank it as one of my favorite albums.
Free Music Review: Negative reviewers pay heed.....
Hit: 5 Stars
Ok, so I'll start off saying I absolutely love the album. Its a cohesive, full-bodied work, that's been better produced than most things out there. The songs are melodic, with complete and intriguing harmonies, and the album has a powerful rhythmic aspect that is not often seen in this type of music. Oh, and did I mention that this is my OPINION?
Reviews are completely useless...including this one, but I'll go on anyways. How can anyone "review" something that is so subjective? A review may tell an opinion, but also highlights the actual aspects of the songs. Loud, soft? Strings, percussion? Dissonant, melodic? Fast, slow? Etc..etc...I had to laugh at how all the people giving this album said how much they didn't like it because of blah blah blah, and then proceeded to give the reasons why Coldplay and this album suck. I like this one by James C. Nielsen... "This album really is not sincere Coldplay. This is a departure from what they truly are as musicians." UM.....are YOU Coldplay? That'd be like me walking up to some random guy in the grocery store buying Coke (while I'm a Pepsi fan) and saying "dude, thats SO not you. Go back to your roots and be yourself." WTF?? Better yet James, why don't YOU go write an album? Then everyone can tell you why and how you didn't write what you should have?
And here's one by David Ljunggren. "Even by Coldplay's standards, this is a bad album." Did Coldplay say themselves this was a bad album? I know what you mean, or at least are trying to mean, but saying that "this is a bad album" is trying to pass fact much like insisting that 2+2=5. Radiohead reference anyone? Instead, David, say something like "I THINK this is a bad album." Then, that at least lets everyone know that we're dealing with an OPINION, rather than someone trying to pass off opinion as FACT.
And the examples could go on. Oh, and I know that you can find people who say that "this is a good album," or that "this is sincere Coldplay." The difference is, those praising it are really saying, "hey, I liked it, and you should give it a shot. If you don't like it, ok." Those hatin' on it are saying, "Abandon all hope, ye who enters here. Don't even try it. And if you like it, you're a moron. This album is crap. Period."
Lastly, I acknowledge that this is my personal opinion, subject to criticism and holds true only to myself. But next time you write a review, actually REVIEW the album rather than barfing all over the English language and regurgitating the negative. To heed my own advice, this is more a review of the reviews, rather than a review of the album!!
Free Music Review: So beautiful it may make you doubt the greatness of their previous efforts...
Hit: 5 Stars
I have purchased every Coldplay album since their first release, yet have never considered myself an actual fan. While never considering any purchase a waste I have typically liked two or three songs off of each album they have put out and considered the rest to be mediocre and forgettable at best and downright annoying at worst. They do become tiresome rather quickly because, quite frankly, a lot of their songs sound the same (an example: Speed of Sound is basically just a re-hash of Clocks). Although some of their stuff has been beautiful and Martin's passion is undeniable his whine tends to wear on me a bit and every album has the inevitable crap song or two that I cannot bear to listen to which forces me to hit the >> button.
Even though I have faithfully purchased each album I have always considered Coldplay to be slightly overrated, for lack of a more appropriate term (I am sure there must be one). And I have never been able to relate to the "Mel" type psycho fans of the band. They seemed to be harboring the potential for greatness but never quite delivering it and constantly left me slightly put off.
Given all of this I was glad to see that they had a new album forthcoming and planned on buying it off the bat expecting the same thing I got the last three times: some really good songs. What I actually got in Viva La Vida was (finally) that greatness and uniqueness I did not even realize I had been waiting for. How anyone can give this album one star is beyond me! This is different than anything the band has given us before, which may upset the Mels but it truly seems as though it was all leading up to this. The run-of-the-mill, everyband, predictable, formulaic element is just about gone. Obviously that has served them well in the past but at long last they took some risks and tried something new and it is a dreamy, somewhat sad, also uplifting energetic change for the better! The music of Viva La Vida is so good that it has actually made me like some of their previous work less.
I am so connected to music yet it's always been tough for me to explain what or how I feel about it in words...so I don't know how helpful my review will be but I figured it is worth a try. Hopefully the old fans will give this new sound the chance it most certainly deserves and the fickle crowd will realize what Coldplay is capable of. Good or bad, from here on out these guys will be held up to a new standard in my book and anything they produce in the future will be compared to Viva. Now that it is here I will expect nothing less!
Free Music Review: Viva La Vida
Hit: 5 Stars
The song tells an emotional story of how he used to rule the world then how he went from having everything to having nothing. The song Viva La Vida shows a'lot of the same pop tones found in the band U2 and is very similar to U2's songs.
"Viva La Vida" has both modern and postmodern ideas as it tells the story of a man who had everything then lost it. Coldplay starts by comparing how things used to be when he ruled the world and how things where after he lost everything. They talk about how "Seas would rise when I gave the word," They also mention "I used to roll the dice," and "Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes" (2,5-6). Then they talk about how he lost everything "Now in the morning I sleep alone / Sweep the streets that I used to own," also the song says "One minute I held the key / Next the walls were closed on me" (3-4, 10-11). I think the song is kind of both a modern and a postmodern song. The song is postmodern when it talks about how he had everything then he lost it but its kind of modern when it talks about him bouncing back and having Saint Peter call his name.
The strong religious base of the song becomes very apparent when you really look into the lyrics and their meanings. This religious base is shown in the third paragraph when they say "And I discovered that my castles stand / Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand" (12-13). I thought that this kind of mimics the parable Jesus told about the wise man building his house on the rock and the foolish man building his house on sand. So what they are saying is he is the foolish man because he built his castles on pillars of sand. These lines are also a good example of a hyperbole because he didn't actually build his castles on pillars of salt and sand, but he is exaggerating to to show that his castles didn't have a good foundation.. The religious feel is also shown in the chorus when they mention "Be my mirror my sword and shield" (16). I think that this means that he is calling out to God to protect him and help him. This is also an example of a metaphor because he doesn't actually mean be my mirror, sword, and shield but he is speaking more figuratively. Then later in the song it says "I know Saint Peter will call my name" (46). So this I think this is him hoping Saint Peter will call him to show that he had become a better man than he was. The song also has a great example of another metaphor when it says "It was the wicked and wild wind" (23). This is a good example of a metaphor because the wind isn't actually wicked and wild and wind can't have these attributes.
Free Music Review: The Answer To Everything Is 42.
Hit: 5 Stars
You know, after listening to "Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends" all week, and after listening to music for 30 years, Coldplay have something about them that makes listening pleasurable.
Their first album was okay, and I initially skipped "A Rush Of Blood To The Head", and their third album "X&Y" was strangely under-appreciated by fans. Now, I see their artist arc. Like their heroes, U2, Coldplay are following the same trajectory. By U2's fourth album, "The Unforgettable Fire" (1984), they were still relatively unknown but gathering steam. Likewise, Coldplay have the same 'it' factor and are building momentum with each successive release. Will Coldplay make their own "Joshua Tree" or "Achtung Baby"? That remains to be seen.
With "Viva", Coldplay expand their signature sound with different instruments, adjustments to their arrangements and a change in vocals and tempos. There isn't one bad song on "Viva".
From the opening instrumental "Life In Technicolor", with its soaring melody and an almost hopefulness in scope, to "Cemeteries Of London" with it's 'la, la, la's', to "Lost!" which should be a single, and "42" with it's somber "those who are dead, are not dead, they're just living in my head", to the fantastic near 7 minute opus of "Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love" to the other 7 minute opus of "Yes" to what should have been the first single (and my vote for song of the year Grammy) "Viva La Vida", to the first single "Violet Hill" and the shimmering "Strawberry Swing" and finally the moving "Death And All His Friends" with it's closing statement of resisting anger and revenge.
I listen to over a hundred albums a year, plus whatever else I can get my hands on, and "Viva" is definitely one of the best of 2008 along with Radiohead's "In Rainbows". Coldplay have what it takes to become something great, like U2 or R.E.M.
I don't understand the negative reviews coming from fans when it's obvious that "Viva" shows more growth and maturity than "Parachutes". I wasn't sure about Coldplay in the beginning, but with album number four, I am certain they are destined for superstardom. It's also not lost on me that Brian Eno had a hand in producing "Viva" either.
It may seem like selling out to jump on the Coldplay bandwagon (after all I didn't like U2 for many, many years, until their heyday had passed), but the truth is, if you listen with open ears and mind, "Viva" is a welcome retreat from most assembly line pop/hip hop/whiny emo out there.