Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008, Capitol) Coldplay's fourth studio album. ****

Unfortunately for all the haters out there (and there are a lot), Coldplay's fourth album is not as terrible as they would like to claim. Even to claim that it is bad is a lie, it's actually quite good. That's not to say that the completely mainstream and utter sell-outs have fixed all their problems; they're far from that. What they have done, though, is made some very wise decisions. The best of those was to hire producer Brian Eno, a man who was obviously tough on them, pointing out the flaws in their first three releases, but then giving them the motivation they needed. Coldplay isn't a bad band. They're not like Nickelback, a band whose popularity is as puzzling as the fascination of Paris Hilton. Regardless, Eno was able to point out the band's moments of brilliance in a shroud of overly-pretentious, overly-corporate, and overly-simplistic releases.

Viva la Vida is an excellent album, as that must be put on the table first. It is also an extremely frustrating album, as the mistakes that they make become more and more apparent with each successive listen. One of the album's best moments is "Lost!" which features Martin's soaring vocals over a beautiful church organ arrangement. The lyrics, though, are difficult to interpret, as they - along with all the others on Viva la Vida - are overly vague and even contradicting. "42" marks another bold move, as it brilliantly transitions from dark to light and allowing for their Radiohead influences to creep back in. The lyrics here are a bit clearer, obviously about a man's struggle to determine the truth of the afterlife. But halfway through, it suddenly switches into progressive rock. It sounds amazing, but it falls into the trap of the too-structured chorus.

"Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love" again is far too vague for its own good, and while both parts feature an absolutely gorgeous piano arrangement (not to mention Martin's applaud-worthy vocal performance), it is a wasted moment. The words that Coldplay decides to use are so insincere and so half-assed that one wishes they had hired Yorke or Butler to do it for them. Another wasted moment is "Yes," with its obvious prog-rock attack, but with a message only horny Christian virgins will relate to. The pinnacle of the album hinges upon the title track, which is the best song on the album. But like everything else, the message is so muddled that it can't be understood what is literal and what is metaphorical; is it about the demise of God, or truly about a king?

In hindsight, the reader will ask himself "How can you give the album four stars when you just bashed it?" I'd like to think that I didn't. My words can't express my gratitude for the beautiful music that Coldplay has created. However, they have not been successful in shedding cheesy lyrics for ones that can clearly communicate the themes that the album screams: life, death, love, religion, politics. All that said, though, the band is one step closer to being what they want to be; respectable. Will Chris Martin and company become the rock gods they aspire to be? Probably not. They're far too mainstream and subdued in their own shortcomings to breakthrough. At least now. Viva la Vida is a very important transition for them, and they now need to ask themselves if Eno is capable of pushing them farther than he has already, because he pushed them the right way. (42, Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love, Viva la Vida)

Review on YouTube: Coldplay - Viva la Vida