Viva La Vida/Prospekts March [Limited Edition]

 

 

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Let me start by saying that I feel the best rock bands have come from the U.K. (I'm from Canada). Also Chris Martin's voice is I believe one of the most instantly recognizable voices upon hearing a Coldplay song immediately. He has the must luscious recordable voice in keeping as well Thom Yorke of Radiohead.
However, having said that I still have to say that the last 2 Coldplay CD's I feel have fallen short of potential greatness. Are they worth buying still; absolutely. Will you have them in your collection for a lifetime; for sure. Will their music stand the test of time; without a doubt.
But here is where I feel Coldplay (or I should say their producers) are falling off track. On some of the songs e.g. 42; the song starts off with such a spellbinding vocal performance by Chris Martin & then over halfway through the song...it is lessoned by throwing in bland rock instrumentation which I think totally diminishes the beautiful beginning of the song.
Please guys if your going to do a rock song....then do a rock song....if your going to do a ballad (& brilliant ones at that) then do the ballad; but don't mix the 2 together!!!
I really think this could have been a really historically memorable (& it still will on a different level) CD on a much higher level had they not woven the 2 styles of music together.
That is what made "Parachutes" & " A Rush of Blood to the Head" so amazingly fantastic CD's. I wish the good old boys from Brit would go back to this way when mixing, producing & colaborrating for their CD's because those 2 CD's I think will go down in history along with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or Radiohead's The Bends as being the best rock CD's written.
Both Lost versions on Viva La Vida or Prospekt's March are excellent; as is the intro for 42, Reign of Love is gorgeous(but we could have done without having to listen to Lovers In Japan first; hate it when they put 2 songs together), Yes is I think the most Chris Martin has challenged his gifted vocal abilities here using a much lower deeper vocal range one that he should use more often as it was an amazing vocal on this track, Violet Hill is great rock song, Strawberry Swing-nice little ditty. On Prospekt's March; Postcards from Far Away is lovely, Prospekt's March/Poppyfields is really great; Lost+ (with Jay-Z) excellent (although I thought their collaboration on the Grammy's was better than this recorded version) & Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground is awesome.
As always their lyrics & Chris's voice are 10+; can't say with the exception of the above songs that I liked the musical arrangements of the others songs & many of the "string" arrangements that they did use I think could have been used more effectively in a different way throughout this CD making it even more groundbreaking.
For anyone buying Coldplay for the 1st time; then buy Parachutes or A Rush of Blood to the Head first.....then move to this CD or X&Y because you will have a much better appreciation then for why Coldplay is so respected by fans, peers or commentators of their music.

I have just recently begun listening to Coldplay. I tend to like music that has a richness of melody, beat and some orchestration. I also like when groups use real instruments in the background as opposed to lots of synthetic produced sounds. It harkens back to a period when groups travelled with an orchestra and had real violins, trumpets, piano's etc. This is pretty rare today. I swear I can hear real background instruments in this disk. The melody is just a little more sweeter and the sound evoked and creates a vision as you listen.
Back in the late 70's and 80's I was a real fan of Supertramp for many of the same reasons. Viva La Vida and Fools Overture have some similarities. It seems to me that perhaps Coldplay is taking up where Supertramp left off and are doing a fine job of it. At first I found that I quickly breezed through the disk, making premature assumptions, and then the more I listened to it, the more I began to like it. It grows on you to the point where I haven't found a group in a long time where I like all the tracks, usually there is one or two and the rest is mediocre. However this is definately not one of them. Everyone has their own tastes and their own reasons for listening to music, but I would recommend Viva La Vida and Coldplay. Without "typecasting" them they truly are the Supertramp of the 21st century.

I found both albums really good. Neither to the caliber of "A rush of Blood". But nevertheless decent albums on their own. Especially good were the remixes on "Prospekts March".

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