Yes

As Kraig and I were sitting in between bands at the What Laura Says/Dear and the Headlights show, the "set change music" came on and it happened to be a super-Coldplay mix.  This, of course, got us talking about the new album and Coldplay in general.  Kraig espoused the theory that everyone, whether they will admit it or not, likes Coldplay.  Even Chris Rock.  Not like that that proves anything (no offense Chris Rock), but I kept pondering his theory and what I can't get past is the simple fact that I can't think of anyone I know that actually hates Coldplay.  Very strange indeed...

It has been hard for me to pinpoint my feelings on this album.  On the first couple listens I thought it was excellent, a marked improvement from the utterly disappointing X&Y.  But after a few more listens, the album started to go stale on me.  Certain aspects that I really loved began to sound dull and faded.  After taking a couple days off from listening, I came back and everything sounded crisp and solid to me again.  Now, as I listen to this album yet again, I think I may have finally figured this record out:

Life in Technicolor is a very good start to the album; I don't think of Coldplay for instrumental songs, but they definitely pulled this one off.  A good transition takes us to Cemeteries of London, which features some good use of handclaps and a much darker tone than the colorful opener.  Kraig is probably angry about the "la-la-la's" in this one, but they aren't too bad.  Well, to be honest, they're not too good either.  We flow next into Lost!, a song built on organ, hand-claps, and bongos.  Lost! gets kind of spacey as it starts to wind down, with different deep and high-pitched "Oooh"s, and a lot of floaty organ and guitars.  Taking it down a notch is 42 and its piano and string-filled intro.  The slowdown doesn't last long though, the second-half of 42 comes back up-beat with a vengeance until the outro.

Next one of the more interesting things on this album crops up: the tracks that seem to hold two songs under one title.  I wonder why they tried this; Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love really sound like two separate songs, as do Yes and its other half.  There's a decent amount of dead air smack dab in the middle of both songs, which makes the flow of the "single song" nonexistent.  I wonder if it was perhaps an attempt to play on the title and the "or" concept with these 2-for-1's.  Speaking of Yes, I'm a fan up until the 4 minute mark.  It's very well done up to that point (I really like the stringed instruments in there) then it switches to that second song, its monotonous counterpart, to dull its way to a finish.

I like Viva La Vida; it's good, poppy, catchy, makes sense as a first single.  And I really, really like Violet Hill, and was very surprised and excited for this album when I was able to download it way back when.  Violet Hill's strengths are its guitar play and, surprisingly, its very basic and simple drumming.  The piano-ending is beautiful too.  This song almost convinced me that Coldplay could rock all the time if they wanted to.  However, taken with the rest of the album, it's almost as if Violet Hill was made to say, "here's the rock, now we're going to try something else."

Bringing up the rear, Strawberry Swing has an interesting sound, but after you get past that it is unfortunately fairly boring.  The title reminds me of Strawberry Fields Forever, so maybe that's something.  I don't like the way Death and All His Friends ends the album either.  The intro doesn't do it for me, but it flows decently into the, "I don't wanna cycle recycle revenge / I don't wanna follow death and all of his friends" part, which I rather like.  Then another all-too-familiar pause, then you hear the start of Life in Technicolor again, but this time it's decided that words should be put to it.  Maybe those words should give me hope for future Coldplay albums: "and in the end we lie awake and dream of making our escape."  (Or perhaps not, since they only dream of making their escape and don't do any actual escaping.)

Some important things to note from this album: the drumming continues to be uninspired and lacking (when there is real drumming that is).  It almost makes me think that lead singer Chris Martin decided that, since their drumming was usually, well, lame, that they should make the switch to bongos and drum machines.  This is generally a bad way to go about things.  Amazingly, there are no "slow songs" on this record, something that is generally a Coldplay staple.  What will they put in the important scenes of movies now?!  Basically my conclusion is this: Viva La Vida is an okay album, but it is completely unable to hold my attention.  After one, sometimes one and a half listens through, I'm done, I can't listen to the album anymore.  And that is exactly what you do not want from any given album.

[mp3] Yes

[mp3] Violet Hill

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