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Review: Viva La Vida by Coldplay

While I don’t usually veer off from reviewing films or books, I figured this new album would be worth my two pence since, after all, Coldplay makes some reliably cinematic music.

I remember 2000’s “Parachutes” album from the soon-to-be pop stars Coldplay. In one fell swoop those Brits invaded our shores and frontman Chris Martin stole many of our girlfriends with his ruggedized nerdy white boy swagger. Damn them, I said as a high school sophomore; they’re music is too girly. I’ll just sit over here and jam out to Lit or Blink 182 because I’m so cool. As quickly as the group became chic it became even more-so to hate on them.

But the truth is they’re amazing, that album in particular.

Back then, what they were doing with instrumentation and beats wasn’t really seen in songs that tweeners and up might generally rock out to. If not original, it was certainly fresh. And so they came kicking back with 2002’s prolific “A Rush of Blood to the Head”. They gave the world not only another take on that sound they teased us with on the previous album, they perfected it into something astounding. They set the bar extremely for what pop could become, and they have been consistently imitated ever since.

The latest imitator of their best sounds: Coldplay.

“X&Y” really was a xerox of “A Rush…”, or maybe even a sequel. Granted, I have spent plenty of time rocking out to it over the years (by rocking out, of course I mean I pretend I’m having an indie-film realization moment whilst ascending the subway stairwell), but I don’t even think the boys can deny the similarities, track for track, to their best album. Every band is allowed to do that after awhile: they can’t all be the Beatles, right? “Viva La Vida”, however, gives us just more of the same again, which isn’t so bad because that same is pretty good.

Perhaps as a recognition of the countless media makers who invoke their music when heavy-handedness is needed, the first track is titled “Life in Technicolor” and boy is it climactic. It may be my favorite song on the disc, perhaps because Mr. Martin has stayed well enough away from drizzling his vocals all over it. It’s full of peaks and valleys that really gear you up for what could be a really experiential album, but you are soon let down once track two kicks in. While “X&Y” had an obvious structure albeit culled from their usual bag of tricks, this meanders around songs thrown together.

Look, I could go down the list of which tracks sound like older songs and why, but screw that. Let me tell what I did like. Maybe it’s just my percussive blood talking but my favorite track has to be “Lost!” which starts off in a fairly tribal manner, kinda Enya meets the organ from “Fix You”. I think hands down the most explorative aspect to this album is Will Champion’s drum work. It really is a welcome change and this track really shows some new riffs on a relatively staid melody.

Again, “Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love” offers up some really cool beats, and overall is probably the most original track on the album. That loud piano banging that once shook our bones out of the ordinary when they first started is back and everyone really steps up to make something special happen here. I promise it’ll be a frequent iPod selection for me.

The title track again offers up some more interesting rhythms, but that’s about it. While I love the drums, it seems the rest of the band is sticking too closely to the percussion on their respective instruments, making the song get quite boring after about ten seconds. Don’t worry, folks, it won’t stop this song from making a big summer splash. It’s easy to tap along to and mimic Mr. Martin’s crooning in the shower.

Do I hate this album? Nah. Do they need to reinvent themselves? Hell yes. Then again, we probably wouldn’t buy their albums if they didn’t sound like Coldplay. With all the knockoffs available to your ears, you still can’t beat the original.