|
  |
|
|
Coldplay Viva La Vida Death and All His Friends Album
I recently bought my first full album online through Amazon. The album in question was Coldplay's Viva la Vida (Death and All His Friends). I bought the album because I was hired to review it for a music website, otherwise I might not have chosen it because I don't consider myself to be a Coldplay fan. For those who don't know, Coldplay emerged from the UK (Britain) in the late 1990's, rising to prominence at the beginning of the 2000's with their hit song Yellow. As most successful pop groups experience, their song wound up being played endlessly on radio and MTV. That's a large portion of what annoyed me with Yellow. At the time it came out I lived in college dorms and heard it many, many times. Chris Martin, the lead vocalist of Coldplay, sings in a high-pitched "falsetto" style which never set to well with me. Understanding that bit about my musical tastes, you'll see why I mustered precious little enthusiasm towards this album which is Coldplay's fourth studio release and hit the streets of the USA on June 17th, 2008 (the same day I downloaded it). In the interest of fairness and an attempt towards objectivity, I tried to be open-minded. I loaded up the songs and sank into a comfortable spot for a good listen. With a running time of just over 45 minutes, Viva la Vida offers up ten tracks and two 'hidden bonus' tracks. Here are the songs in order: 1. "Life in Technicolor"
2. "Cemeteries of London"
3. "Lost!"
4. "42"
5. "Lovers in Japan" / "Reign of Love"
* "Lovers in Japan"
* "Reign of Love"
6. "Yes"
* "Yes"
* "Chinese Sleep Chant"
7. "Viva la Vida"
8. "Violet Hill"
9. "Strawberry Swing"
10. "Death and All His Friends"
* "Death and All His Friends"
* "The Escapist" The first track listed is an instrumental bit, spacey and free-floating techno-style. It shows the fingerprints of Brian Eno, the man who brought us 'ambient music' many decades ago. He worked with Coldplay this time around and as he's done with David Bowie, Devo and other bands in the past, he helped craft a deeply atmospheric setting. The influence seems to have taken Coldplay's sound in a more abstract direction that comes close to avant garde, but doesn't quite nail it in my opinion. It's certainly a widening of their creative spectrum, but at the same time, as a pop group they're obviously going to need to stick with radio friendly music as much as possible. In the interest of keeping this piece short and to the point I won't bore you with my analysis of each song. I can say with confidence that 'Violet Hill' and 'Viva la Vida' make sense for the band's singles seeking airtime on the radio, though. They're much more "poppy" than the rest of the album. You'll also notice that the last track's tune (The Escapist) bleeds into the music for the intro (Life in Technicolor). Quite a clever way to encourage repeat plays of the album, really. Coldplay stated in numerous interviews that they wished for this album to express an intangible feeling of "famous old paintings" and oddly enough, that comes through in the songs. While I'm not going to claim I changed my mind entirely about the band, I definitely feel confident recommending it to you if you enjoy radio-friendly alternative rock or if you're a big fan of music with heavy atmospherics. At $8.99 from Amazon as a download, you really can't go wrong. Hope you found this review helpful and thanks for reading! :)
|
Contributor's Note
Wolfgang Nibori is a 29-year-old artist and entrepreneur from Phoenix, Arizona. He's the founder of the Million Dollar Poetry Project where he's attempting to earn $1 million through selling poetry for $1 per line. His passions include art, music, fiction and animals.
|
|
The Official Coldplay Website
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
The copyright for this content entitled "Coldplay Viva La Vida Death and All His Friends Album" has been specified by the contributor as:
All Rights Reserved
This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
|
 |
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
