Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Posted by Shay

Capitol Records
2008
Coldplay’s fourth, full-length Viva La Vida is making the top of everyone’s playlist–even the cool kids. For lack of adjectives… Viva La Vida is awesome.

I actually saw Coldplay here in southern California and Chris Martin said they wouldn’t be back for three years. He went on to explain how they were going “into hiding” and needed the time off–that was two years ago. Though I’m not a fan of liars, I can enjoy the music they make. And the reality is, Coldplay might have outdone themselves with this album. Describing themselves as “soft-hitting rock n roll”, they keep the hits coming track after track and it’s not what you might expect. These aren’t necessarily hits that deserve radio play and a marketing campaign, they are the kind of songs that you’ll keep coming back to just to hear bridge again. Viva La Vida is full of songs that took thought, preparation, creativity, and a lot of talent to create.

Viva La Vida is quite possibly the most well-marketed album I’ve seen in my life. This doesn’t mean it’s the best album I’ve heard in my life, just the best marketed. I don’t think the bloggers were prepared for this one–it seemed to just appear one day. I keep my ear to the ground for rumors and I honestly heard nothing. The next thing I know I’m getting emails from people to download a free single, watch a video, and sign up for mailing lists. By the time I made it Coldplay.com to get the “Vilolet Hill” giveaway I was starting to see Coldplay on Apple commercials. Where the heck did that come from? To be basically silent for a few years and then suddenly start showing up in big marketing campaigns amazes me. Now showing up alongside major companies and giving away free stuff doesn’t guarantee a quality album, but I believe that Viva La Vida lives up to it’s hype ten fold.

Despite what your opinions may be of Coldplay’s fame–these guys can write. That’s clear in songs like “42″ which starts as an open-ended piano ballad, but finishes with an almost instrumental, but poppy chorus/outro. If that sounds confusing, it’s because I don’t think I’ve quite heard a song take such a dramatic turn and therefore trying to explain that is even more confusing. But “42″ is a definite favorite for me. The same goes for the song “Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love”. The whole slash song title is strange, yet this song will have you stomping your foot with the bass drum. Driven by a old-western style piano, and riddled with a synth and driving guitar loops, it’s definitely a song that you would take out for a drive during a cool summer evening. Like “42″, it takes a dramatic turn a becomes a different song altogether. Why they decided to put these in the same track is beside me, but I enjoy it the whole way through.

Of course, it would be wrong of me not to mention the single “Viva La Vida” which is a fitting title track for this album. Though the song has had some bad press from a guy who says he wrote it, the song is about as original as they come. With a small orchestra, a pounding drum beat, and even a large bell–this song has it all. I’m actually convinced that artists who use bells in their music will go places. Other artists that use large bells include The Smashing Pumpkins in their song “Disarm” and Mae in their song “Anything”. I’m telling you, bells are hot. But I could spend all day discussing each track and their beautiful subtleties, but why don’t you just do yourself a favor and pick up copy for yourself. Viva La Vida is an album you’ll continually rediscover after each listen. Everything from the beautiful artwork to the interesting intro and outro of the entire record repeatedly impress me–I trust you’ll feel the same way.

Experience more at Coldplay.com.
Buy Viva La Vida on Amazon.com or iTunes.