Coldplay are a band that RealMusic Blog really wants to like. They always look clean and tidy, their music is often well constructed and sometimes ethereal, and in Chris Martin they have a frontman with well-conditioned hair and ultra-moisturised skin. But then… Well, then we think of the contradictions that lie within. That they can produce a great song like “Yellow”, but that it’s painful to hear their lead singer attempt it; that “Fix You” makes us want to jam the skip button permanently down and never come up for air; that Jo Whiley is a HUGE FAN; and that their fourth album is too pretentiously titled for words. So it is that we approach “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends” with equal amounts of hope and trepidation - but probably not as much as EMI’s Guy Hands, who, after the loss of Radiohead and Macca has everything riding on this one…
Turns out, he shouldn’t worry. Despite the fact that the cover looks like an ad for “Les Miserables”, Coldplay’s latest is simply the next chapter in the band’s story and the good news is that there’s no song on here to grate as much as “Fix You”. As you would expect, there’s a colossal amount of orchestral numbers, rows of strings ushering in sweeping stadium choruses heard on anthems like “Cemeteries Of London”, “Lost!” and “Viva La Vida”. Banging drums, piano and rock guitars also feature heavily (”Death And All His Friends”), and Chris Martin still sings in that non-committal rock-lite style, wheeling out his irksome falsetto on occasion just to check it still grates. It does. This record is epic, it’s vague, it’s all a bit U2 - listen to the intro to “Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love” and try not to break out into a chorus of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. Chris Martin is not quite as annoying as Bono yet, but it’s surely only a matter of time.
Beneath all of the quibbles though, Coldplay have actually churned out another decent album - for all the gripes about them, Coldplay’s music is consistently sound. The foursome are now a global b(r)and, and their three preceeding albums have sold by the skipload and with good reason - the precisely preened quartet are a band who appeal to many. Their sound is soothingly melancholy, their dreamy melodies invade your senses, their ear for a poetic lyric legendary. In “Viva La Vida”, they have again stitched together a patchwork of tracks to ponder the meaning of life to, and the eponymous track is the best on the album.
RealMusic Blog’s main gripe with Coldplay is that they never seem to shift gear - but at least on this album, they’ve remembered what they’re good at and are sticking faithfully to it. For our money, Elbow do this brand of indie rock better, but this is still a solid album. Coldplay might come across as pompous and staid, but as Paul McCartney remarked on leaving EMI: “Everybody there had become part of the furniture. I was a couch, Coldplay are an armchair.” If you’re after a quiet night in, make yourself comfortable.
To watch Coldplay’s single “Violet Hill”, click here…
Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends” is out now. For more: www.coldplay.com
(Clare Lydon)
