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What’s better than going to your local CD store, grabbing a copy of your latest favourite pop artist, popping it into your CD player and being satisfied as anticipated? Grabbing a copy of Coldplay’s latest album and being delightfully surprised. When first holding and looking at the album you will find it quite enticing. The peculiar title, wonderful artwork and interesting song titles might raise some interest as it did in me. But, what you see is not what you get. It’s much, much more. I put the CD in my player expecting the latest from one of my favourite bands and what I got was a fantastic journey to another world.
Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends starts off with a short melodic instrumental track. I knew right away that I was in for a wonderful trip. This melodic masterpiece started my journey to my new favourite destination. As the intro faded into “Cemeteries of London” Chris Martin’s haunting voice welcomed me to my new destination. A place where conventional pop music does not exist. Where formulas and predictable structures in music are replaced by an innovative triumph in musical brilliance. Fittingly, the next track is called “Lost!” where you can get lost in brilliant lyrics and vivacious melodies. The album shifts into “42”. Douglas Adams describes the number 42 in his book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” as “The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.” This could have been a fitting description of this song. Adams wrote that 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question. The question in this case for me was: “Could this get any better?” and the answer is, yes!
“Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love” marked the first time in my journey that I was reminded of something familiar. Brian Eno co-produced the album along with Chris, Will, Jonny and Guy from Coldplay (and a bunch of other guys as well). Convincing me that Coldplay has the album of the year, maybe even the century so far, was the track “Yes”. Here I was fondly reminded of another British group, Radiohead. This is because Chris Martin’s voice rarely lifts to his signature falsetto. Rather, it has a deep humming resonance that displays Martin’s vocal ability and impressive range.
The title track “Viva La Vida” follows. The second single from the album is an energetic masterpiece that dispels the myth that Coldplay is, or ever was, “boring”. It is probably the most poppy song on the album, and would be liked by most music lovers. When I first heard the song, I had mixed reactions and did not know whether I liked it or not. Listening to it in context of the album, I now love it. “Violet Hill”, the album’s first single, follows. You might have heard it already so you know, like I do, that it is magnificent. The artistic use of instruments melodies and song structure in the song bellows brilliance.
Track 9, “Strawberry Swing,” sounds almost folky with a catchy clappy happiness. It’s quite different from the rest of the journey, but very welcome. Sadly, my journey reached an end as I reached “Death and All His Friends”.
Listening to it, satisfaction, and a sense of calmness, filled me. It’s wonderfully moving and the perfect note to end a fantastic voyage on. As the song ends, silence is broken one last time with a hidden track, called “The Escapist”. Listening to Coldplay’s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is an awesome journey anyone would love to take. For each person it would be different, but for almost everyone it will be enjoyable. Like a mini 45 minute holiday. Yep, the album is only 45 minutes long, but that does not mean you cannot strap yourself in and go back to your new found favourite world immediately. I did.
Reviewer: DN |
