Tue
Jun
17
The trappings surrounding Coldplay’s fourth album, “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” (Capitol), telegraph the driving emotion behind it.
Its title isn’t actually a title, but a choice between two possible titles. There are two different versions of a song called “Lost” - one boldly rhythmic, another mildly acoustic. And the most believable line from the album is when Chris Martin sings “I used to rule the world” in “Viva La Vida” and then talks about becoming a street-sweeper.
For lesser bands, such indecision would spell disaster. For Coldplay, it’s simply a minor setback that they sometimes overcome by owning up to the uncertainty. After all, the magnificent “Viva La Vida” has already become the band’s biggest hit single - not just because it’s the group’s catchiest song or because it’s also in an iPod commercial, but because it covers lyrical ground Martin clearly relates to, while the band tries its hand at new things.
The spareness of “Viva La Vida’s” musical backdrop, along with help from producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, was supposed to hail the birth of a new, more experimental band. However, those working orders arrive and depart quickly - sometimes in the middle of a song, leading to uneven pairings like the familiar, if bland, “Yes” with the thrilling, early-U2ish “Chinese Sleep Chant,” and mixed messages about the need for their midtempo rock and its big, anthem-like choruses, brainy verses and falsetto flourishes.
Its title isn’t actually a title, but a choice between two possible titles. There are two different versions of a song called “Lost” - one boldly rhythmic, another mildly acoustic. And the most believable line from the album is when Chris Martin sings “I used to rule the world” in “Viva La Vida” and then talks about becoming a street-sweeper.
For lesser bands, such indecision would spell disaster. For Coldplay, it’s simply a minor setback that they sometimes overcome by owning up to the uncertainty. After all, the magnificent “Viva La Vida” has already become the band’s biggest hit single - not just because it’s the group’s catchiest song or because it’s also in an iPod commercial, but because it covers lyrical ground Martin clearly relates to, while the band tries its hand at new things.
The spareness of “Viva La Vida’s” musical backdrop, along with help from producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, was supposed to hail the birth of a new, more experimental band. However, those working orders arrive and depart quickly - sometimes in the middle of a song, leading to uneven pairings like the familiar, if bland, “Yes” with the thrilling, early-U2ish “Chinese Sleep Chant,” and mixed messages about the need for their midtempo rock and its big, anthem-like choruses, brainy verses and falsetto flourishes.
