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UK Mall 1 - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £5.23
Your Save: £ ( % )
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Parlophone/EMI
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 5099921211409
Label: Parlophone/EMI
Manufacturer: Parlophone/EMI
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Parlophone/EMI
Release Date: 2008-06-12
Studio: Parlophone/EMI
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: I love this CD!
Comment: I've always liked Coldplay and previously bought Parachutes and A rush of blood to the head. However I didn't rush out to the buy this one as I wasn't overly impressed by the single Violet Hill but Viva La Vida does not disappoint. I feel with this album they have grown and evolved, it is creative, full of feeling and depth, gentler than A rush of blood to the head. I love so many tracks especially 42, Reign of Love, Lovers in Japan, and Death and his friends. There is only one track that I skip - Yes. It's the type of album that gives you goosebumps. People assume that Coldplay are dull and pretentious but IMO they are talented and provide something different from the rest. Give it a try and I'm sure you'll grow to love it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hoots man!
Comment: Since their successful and widely popular debut 'Parachutes', Coldplay have been accused of playing it safe; sticking to the same routine and allowing themselves to stagnate in a well of mediocrity. This latest effort, then, could be regarded as a step into the unknown - a risk aimed at breaking into the world of rock immortality. The sleeve certainly makes it look this way. Gone is the standard font and minimalist cover art, and in with the romantic, renaissance war scene, with the album title scrawled nihilistically on the front in white chalk (doesn't the guy lying dead in the bottom right look like Chris Martin?).
So no one can accuse Coldplay of sticking to the agenda here. Unfortunately, the direction they've stepped in has left them waist-deep in manure, frantically clawing at the reeds and perhaps wishing they'd stayed on the safe footpath of 'Parachutes' et al instead of leaping wildly into the undergrowth in search of musical evolution.
Ok so it's not that bad. There are some really nice noises coming out from time to time - for instance the intro/outro loop and the latter half of 'Death and All His Friends'. Sadly, the majority of the album sounds like an anthology of Scottish line-dancing anthems. Some of the beats are unforgivably plain and cheesy, making the spine concertina in loathing. I'm looking specifically at 'Lost!', 'Strawberry Swing' and 'Lovers in Japan' here. There's an impossible tension between the rare but enticing synth tones of 'Life in Technicolour' and the morbidly cringe-worthy stomp of 'Strawberry Swing' and 'Lost!' that makes you wonder if Chris Martin is trying to make a Proclaimers tribute album or an alternative score for the 'Lord of The Rings' movies. Intelligent, sickeningly beautiful guitar melodies from the 'Parachutes' era have been replaced over time with over-produced, pedestrian instrumental hooks that leave you wanting to bite off your own face in frustration and disappointment.
And then there're the lyrics. My word. I can remember being at primary school and being told to write a four line poem that rhymed. A simple exercise, that left me feeling satisfied at my own puerile creativity. I can imagine a similar aura of smug surrounding Chris Martin, after penning the gem:
'You might be a big fish in a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
Cos along may come a bigger one'
It's the kind of thing you might shout at a bully from the safety of your dad's car when he's driving you home from school. It's disgraceful, and unfortunately it shows (if we weren't sure already) that Coldplay and Chris Martin have run out of ideas. Moving in a new direction is fine, but it doesn't mean you can just release a collection of substandard B-sides and call it innovation. If you're unable to stray from a formula, stick to the knitting - at least you'll never be accused of selling out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Empty and vile
Comment: The absence of everything spontaneous, beautiful and courageous in music. Cod poetry mired down by turgid dirgery with all the wit and sophistication of a rotten cat dropping.
Some posh boy warbles unconvincingly over U2's sub-Bsides and expects the world to be saved while I boak heartily into a straw boater.
Music for people with no love for music and no clue about life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Their best yet
Comment: I haven't always liked Coldplay. Parachutes I could take or leave (and generally left). 'Rush of Blood' was good in parts but only really 'The Scientist' and 'Warning Sign' have lasted for me. 'X and Y' attended to their main fault - a lack of variety in building a melody - and also gave us sound washes, instumental development and nearly sixty minutes of sound.
Viva La Vida (a much shorter work) has attended to most of their remaining weaknesses and come up with their first classic pop/rock album that can be enjoyed as a whole. The lyrics are less pretentious - the title track even manages to be witty - and the songs are tidier and organised; they all tell their own particular story in music and lyrics. Critically the instrumentation has real variety with the percussion particularly good. Meanwhile Chris Martin's vocals have matured allowing most melody lines to range well over one octave.
The conceit of 'Fix You' ie two competing musical ideas on one particular track is arguably done to death but there is really not a single weak contribution here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just give it time...
Comment: This is Coldplay, but with a bit of a twist. I doubt these guys want to create an album that sounds generically similar every time they decide to release a collection of tracks.
So what's the big fuss, and why is everyone having a go at them? Is it because it's Coldplay and it's 'cool' to criticise them? Or is it because they are boring and dull and unimaginative? Or is it because all of their stuff sounds similar?
On the last few counts, I can say that 'Viva La Vida' is NOT boring and NOT dull. Neither is it unimaginative. It is probably the most diverse record Coldplay have produced...but does that necessarily mean that it's their best?
Flip a coin.
On one side, you have the critics who hate it for not being Coldplay - too different, too experimental, too 'bits and pieces'.
On the other hand, you have the people who enjoy it for being a diverse record, with plenty of variety shown in the songs in structure and in how they sound.
I admit myself, it's the kind of record that grows on you. They do say that the best records tend to do so.
'Viva La Vida' is a great album. And it's great because Coldplay create wonderful music.
The standout tracks are: 'Lost!', '42', 'Lovers in Japan', 'Violet Hill', and the title-track, 'Viva La Vida'.
However, there isn't one bad track on it, despite many people dismissing the album. Other tracks, 'Life in Technicolor', 'Cemeteries of London', 'Yes', 'Strawberry Swing', and 'Death and All of His Friends' are good, but don't grab you by the scruff of the neck and beg for your listening attention.
Maybe we take Coldplay for granted. They create excellent music, but some people fail to recognize this. They perceive them as dull and unimaginative. But 'Viva La Vida' is anything but. It is the bravest Coldplay album yet. And quite possibly one of the best, if only because of that. 8/10.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: I love this CD!
Comment: I've always liked Coldplay and previously bought Parachutes and A rush of blood to the head. However I didn't rush out to the buy this one as I wasn't overly impressed by the single Violet Hill but Viva La Vida does not disappoint. I feel with this album they have grown and evolved, it is creative, full of feeling and depth, gentler than A rush of blood to the head. I love so many tracks especially 42, Reign of Love, Lovers in Japan, and Death and his friends. There is only one track that I skip - Yes. It's the type of album that gives you goosebumps. People assume that Coldplay are dull and pretentious but IMO they are talented and provide something different from the rest. Give it a try and I'm sure you'll grow to love it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hoots man!
Comment: Since their successful and widely popular debut 'Parachutes', Coldplay have been accused of playing it safe; sticking to the same routine and allowing themselves to stagnate in a well of mediocrity. This latest effort, then, could be regarded as a step into the unknown - a risk aimed at breaking into the world of rock immortality. The sleeve certainly makes it look this way. Gone is the standard font and minimalist cover art, and in with the romantic, renaissance war scene, with the album title scrawled nihilistically on the front in white chalk (doesn't the guy lying dead in the bottom right look like Chris Martin?).
So no one can accuse Coldplay of sticking to the agenda here. Unfortunately, the direction they've stepped in has left them waist-deep in manure, frantically clawing at the reeds and perhaps wishing they'd stayed on the safe footpath of 'Parachutes' et al instead of leaping wildly into the undergrowth in search of musical evolution.
Ok so it's not that bad. There are some really nice noises coming out from time to time - for instance the intro/outro loop and the latter half of 'Death and All His Friends'. Sadly, the majority of the album sounds like an anthology of Scottish line-dancing anthems. Some of the beats are unforgivably plain and cheesy, making the spine concertina in loathing. I'm looking specifically at 'Lost!', 'Strawberry Swing' and 'Lovers in Japan' here. There's an impossible tension between the rare but enticing synth tones of 'Life in Technicolour' and the morbidly cringe-worthy stomp of 'Strawberry Swing' and 'Lost!' that makes you wonder if Chris Martin is trying to make a Proclaimers tribute album or an alternative score for the 'Lord of The Rings' movies. Intelligent, sickeningly beautiful guitar melodies from the 'Parachutes' era have been replaced over time with over-produced, pedestrian instrumental hooks that leave you wanting to bite off your own face in frustration and disappointment.
And then there're the lyrics. My word. I can remember being at primary school and being told to write a four line poem that rhymed. A simple exercise, that left me feeling satisfied at my own puerile creativity. I can imagine a similar aura of smug surrounding Chris Martin, after penning the gem:
'You might be a big fish in a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
Cos along may come a bigger one'
It's the kind of thing you might shout at a bully from the safety of your dad's car when he's driving you home from school. It's disgraceful, and unfortunately it shows (if we weren't sure already) that Coldplay and Chris Martin have run out of ideas. Moving in a new direction is fine, but it doesn't mean you can just release a collection of substandard B-sides and call it innovation. If you're unable to stray from a formula, stick to the knitting - at least you'll never be accused of selling out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Empty and vile
Comment: The absence of everything spontaneous, beautiful and courageous in music. Cod poetry mired down by turgid dirgery with all the wit and sophistication of a rotten cat dropping.
Some posh boy warbles unconvincingly over U2's sub-Bsides and expects the world to be saved while I boak heartily into a straw boater.
Music for people with no love for music and no clue about life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Their best yet
Comment: I haven't always liked Coldplay. Parachutes I could take or leave (and generally left). 'Rush of Blood' was good in parts but only really 'The Scientist' and 'Warning Sign' have lasted for me. 'X and Y' attended to their main fault - a lack of variety in building a melody - and also gave us sound washes, instumental development and nearly sixty minutes of sound.
Viva La Vida (a much shorter work) has attended to most of their remaining weaknesses and come up with their first classic pop/rock album that can be enjoyed as a whole. The lyrics are less pretentious - the title track even manages to be witty - and the songs are tidier and organised; they all tell their own particular story in music and lyrics. Critically the instrumentation has real variety with the percussion particularly good. Meanwhile Chris Martin's vocals have matured allowing most melody lines to range well over one octave.
The conceit of 'Fix You' ie two competing musical ideas on one particular track is arguably done to death but there is really not a single weak contribution here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just give it time...
Comment: This is Coldplay, but with a bit of a twist. I doubt these guys want to create an album that sounds generically similar every time they decide to release a collection of tracks.
So what's the big fuss, and why is everyone having a go at them? Is it because it's Coldplay and it's 'cool' to criticise them? Or is it because they are boring and dull and unimaginative? Or is it because all of their stuff sounds similar?
On the last few counts, I can say that 'Viva La Vida' is NOT boring and NOT dull. Neither is it unimaginative. It is probably the most diverse record Coldplay have produced...but does that necessarily mean that it's their best?
Flip a coin.
On one side, you have the critics who hate it for not being Coldplay - too different, too experimental, too 'bits and pieces'.
On the other hand, you have the people who enjoy it for being a diverse record, with plenty of variety shown in the songs in structure and in how they sound.
I admit myself, it's the kind of record that grows on you. They do say that the best records tend to do so.
'Viva La Vida' is a great album. And it's great because Coldplay create wonderful music.
The standout tracks are: 'Lost!', '42', 'Lovers in Japan', 'Violet Hill', and the title-track, 'Viva La Vida'.
However, there isn't one bad track on it, despite many people dismissing the album. Other tracks, 'Life in Technicolor', 'Cemeteries of London', 'Yes', 'Strawberry Swing', and 'Death and All of His Friends' are good, but don't grab you by the scruff of the neck and beg for your listening attention.
Maybe we take Coldplay for granted. They create excellent music, but some people fail to recognize this. They perceive them as dull and unimaginative. But 'Viva La Vida' is anything but. It is the bravest Coldplay album yet. And quite possibly one of the best, if only because of that. 8/10.
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