Coldplay - Viva la Vida
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Free Music Notes for Viva la Vida
Free Music Review: Viva la Vida - A Consumate Album
Hit: 5 Stars
Quite simply, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends blew my mind. Coldplay's 1st 3 albums are good, but none of them stuck out to me. There were good songs, great for the iPod generation. But for those of us that remember the concept of an album, Viva la Vida is a breath of fresh air.
The musical experimentaion of the album is really the high point of Viva la Vida. Every song is somehow interwoven into a larger concept that simultaneously draws from the great rock and roll albums of the past as well as presenting an entirely new sound.
The two singles from the album, Viva la Vida & Violet Hill, can stand solidly on their own. But through the support of the other 8 songs on the album, they are brought to a higher plane. Life in Technicolor and Cemeteries of London are intriguing starts and set the tone for the album. Lost! and 42 continue to build the album's intensity and its contemplations of life, death and life thereafter. The latter half of 42 begins to tie the album together musically; this short stretch was very surprising to me and very much unexpected. Lovers in Japan and Yes continue to build on the albums themes and add some intriguing musical experimentations ahead of the album headliners, Viva la Vida & Violet Hill. Strawberry Swing is a fun, laid back song to set up the final climax of Death & All His Friends.
Musically, this is one of the best albums that I have heard in over a decade. Coldplay went a long way to expand their abilities and found a new fan in me. Viva la Vida may very well go down as one of the best albums of the decade, right up there with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, U2's The Joshua Tree, and Nirvana's Nevermind.
Free Music Review: Simply put...their best album so far.
Hit: 5 Stars
In the weeks leading up to this albums released I have read many professional reviews as well as reviews from fans about Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. The one thing that all of the dissatisfied "customers" have in common is this....."it is too experimental or it doesn't sound like "Parachutes" or "X&Y" etc. Well, I have one thing to say, if you want an album that sounds like "Parachutes" why don't you just, I don't know, listen to "Parachutes?"
Imagine if all artists allowed themselves to be pigeonholed by the immature ears of their fans. Nobody would ever evolve and nobody would ever last longer than about 2-3 records. Radiohead would have died with "OK Computer." "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" is indeed Coldplay's first foray into "experimentation" and they pulled it off with a resounding success that leads me to believe that this band will be around for a very long while.
Admittedly there isn't much here besides "Violet Hill" or "Viva La Vida" that can be considered a radio friendly single but who cares? It's 2008 and all of us listen to our iPods anyway. The first listen to this album floored me. I fell in love with it after listening to it a second time. If you have an open mind and a discerning ear you will love this album. The rest of you can go listen to "X&Y" for the thousandth time.
My favorite tracks? Let's just say that in my iTunes library of over 1000 albums that "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" is the FIRST ALBUM THAT GOT A FIVE STAR RATING ON EVERY SONG. Buy it people. You owe it to yourself and music this good deserves our patronage!
Free Music Review: Coldplay's Masterpiece!
Hit: 5 Stars
"Life in Technicolor" - 2:29 - Very good opener! 5/5
"Cemeteries of London" - 3:21 - Love the guitar and melody in this song so much! 5/5
"Lost!" - 3:55 -The beat and everything thrown in on the album version is so genious. I take this album as very religious and this one hits a place for me. 5/5
"42" - 3:57 - My favorite song on the album..the songwriting is genious..the way it moves from classic coldplay to pure catchiness. 5/5
"Lovers in Japan"/"Reign of Love" - 6:51 - Lovers in Japan is so genious..the music the melody the piano line. It blows me away everytime i hear it. Reign Of Love is sooo good the piano in it is so epic. 5/5
"Yes/Chinese Sleep Chant" - 7:06 - Yes is classic Coldplay and Chinese Sleep Chant is good noise rock even with the hard to understand lyrics. ha 5/5
"Viva la Vida" - 4:01 - Classic song for sure..their biggest US hit ever. 5/5
"Violet Hill" - 3:42 - Probably my least favorite on the cd cause i wore out the song months before this cd came out due to the early release of the song. I still love it tho. 4.9/5
"Strawberry Swing" - 4:09 - Very creative pop song I LOVE IT. 5/5
"Death and All His Friends/The Escapist" - 6:18 - Their album closers are always hard to beat. I love the catchiness in this song so much! 5/5
All you haters out there need to really listen to this cd with an open mind and forget the fact that they "only have the same formula" if you look back to all the classic albums by classic bands...they all evolved as musicians just like these guys...Coldplay are very talented don't be hatin :)
Free Music Review: Coldplay have just become interesting
Hit: 5 Stars
This is Coldplay's 'The Unforgettable Fire'. The whole album has a lush sonic palette akin to that classic U2 album. Indeed the instrumental opener 'Life in Technicolour' definitely has the feel of 'A sort of homecoming'. That song, 'Cemeteries of London', 'Lovers in Japan', 'Reign of Love', 'Chinese sleep chant', '42', 'Lost!' and 'Death and all his friends' will appeal to the experimental ansd avant-garde fan. In short, these are the songs by which this album will really come to be judged. Of course they're still obviously by Coldplay (indeed 'Violet Hill', 'Yes' and 'Viva la Vida' are pretty standard Coldplay) but they're far more original, sonically lush and interesting. If you thought Coldplay were boring before, I would urge you to lay aside your prejudices and listen to this album. It is genuinely good - not great - and I suspect will come to be seen as a brilliant departure for the band. I have a feeling this may be 'The Unforgettable Fire' to their 'Joshua Tree'. I always liked certain tracks by the old Coldplay - 'Don't panic', 'Spies', 'Everything's not lost', 'Clocks', 'The Scientist', A whisper', Square One', 'A message' - in short, the moody songs alluding to something more grandiose and interesting - but felt constrained by some terribly lazy songs and bad ones - 'What if?' and 'Twisted Logic' for example. Now I can honestly say I am a fan of them. They're now in the same league as Radiohead and the early U2.
Standout tracks: 'Lost!', 'Death and all his friends', '42', 'Lovers in Japan' and 'Chinese Sleep Chant'. Weakest tracks (sorry Coldplay obsessives!): 'Violet Hill' and 'Yes'.
Free Music Review: Elegant, ambitious, and... fun?!
Hit: 5 Stars
First off, I should preface this review by stating I found their first CD "Parachutes" to be a promising (if uneven) effort, was absolutely blown away by "Rush of Blood" (still one of my all-time favorites from any artist), and hugely disappointed with "X&Y" (sterile, overproduced, and somewhat whiny). I've noticed from previous reviewers here that they either loved X&Y or didn't much care for it. So I would say that if X&Y was your least favorite Coldplay CD, then you are going to love "Viva La Vida", and vice-versa. This new CD is quite different. The songs here are not as accessible or instantly-likable as those on "Rush". However, after several "spins" of this CD, all but one ("Yes") have really grown on me. Starting off the disc with an instrumental ("Life in Technicolor"), for example, seemed kind of stange at first. But I think what they were trying to do was set the "tone" of this new CD -- and it works. The songs remaing strong throughout. I will eat a copy of this review if "Lost!" doesn't become a major radio hit. And I have to say I'm glad that Chris Martin toned down the falsetto on this disc. All in all, a great effort from one of the few bands that still seems to care about making "music", as opposed to disposable crap that no one will care about even five years from now. I would give this CD four-and-a-half stars if possible (only because I still don't think it's quite as good as "Rush of Blood to the Head" -- although I wouldn't be entirely surprised if I changed my mind after repeated listens). But I opted to go with five stars because it's just... that... good.