Customer Review(s)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful, Masterful Pop Album -- NOW I'm A Fan
Comment: It's really weird how the same music can affect different people in such radically different ways. The varied opinions of VIVA LA VIDA on this forum are striking. I've never really considered myself to be much of a
Coldplay fan (was always more into Radiohead, by comparison) but - wow! - they really won me over on this one. I took a liking to it immediately.
Every song here is top quality and every song is expertly composed and orchestrated. Major props to Brian Eno whose production style is clearly evident. The musicians are never flashy - every instrument serves to compliment Chris Martin's superb vocal melodies. Chris has grown quite a bit as a vocalist and he sings in surprizingly different ways throughout the album.
Even though there are no mind-blowing solos or proggy freak-outs to be heard, the arrangements are sophisticated and reveal greater depth upon repeated listens. The instrumentation and musical textures are varied and engaging, yet the songs breathe naturally. Nothing feels contrived or forced.
No song on VIVA LA VIDA sticks out or dominates like previous pop juggernaut "Clocks." Rather, the album works as a cohesive whole. As with most any group, echos of influence can be detected, yet the album still feels original rather than derivative. "Cemetaries of London" employs a rythm reminiscent of an old sea shanty while "Yes" makes use of a Middle Eastern sounding violin before it launches off on an exuberant alt-rock tangent to close out the track. Meanwhile, "Violet Hill" sounds kinda like the best Supertramp or updated old-school Genesis song you've never heard (it's way better than those groups but employs their same sort of style). And the beautifully orchestrated "Strawberry Swing" is "feel-good" music of the highest order. In fact, this whole album feels so good it practically makes me high (well, not quite but close!). This despite some of the rather dark subject matter including politics, war, religion and death. I also love the luminous opening instrumental track whose synthesizer reappears at the end of the last song, a nice way to bookend the album and add to its cohesiveness.
Coldplay had some great hit songs on A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD, but I didn't know they (along with Eno and some other first-rate producers) could make an entire record this fantastic. I expect to be listening to VIVA LA VIDA years from now. Highly recommended.
AN ASIDE: yet another FN CD booklet with scrawled, obscured, incomplete and barely legible lyrics and other writing. This highly annoying practice has been around for decades and why anyone ever thought it was a good idea in the first place is beyond me. I'm also not too crazy about the cover, taking a classic painting and trashing it with graffiti. But that doesn't bother me nearly as much as the junky words all over the inside of the CD booklet. C'mon people: either publish your lyrics legibly and in their entirety or don't publish them at all. Don't make us strain our eyes trying to figure out what, if anything, you're trying to say in print. CD booklet rating: D
Customer Rating: Summary: So Unbelievably Addictive
Comment: I am not usually a music person. I rarely listen to the radio, mainly because of the dearth of compelling music these days. So when my husband said that he had heard a song on his car radio on the way to work one day that he really, really liked, I just tuned him out (sorry Dear)...He said that it was by
Coldplay, that he didn't know the title, but that it had a bunch of violins in it.
Coldplay? No thanks, I thought. Aren't they one of those alternative bands filled with angst and self-loathing, pretentious and riddled with caterwalling and plaintive wails---ugh, I'll pass. A few days later, in an attempt to drown out my three screaming children, I turned on the radio. I was immediately captivated by what I was hearing. It sounded like something right out of the 80's, like U2 with a touch of Duran Duran. I was spellbound. Then when I heard the violins, I figured that this must be the song to which my husband had referred. So I purchased the CD for my husband's b-day that was in a couple of weeks, and we have been listening to it daily ever since. We never, never tire of it. The cut Violet Hill is excellent also, but the entire CD is unique and wonderful and I would recommend it to everyone.
