Well played, Coldplay

The new album Viva la Vida or Death and All of His Friends makes die hard Coldplay fans like myself truly proud. Two summers ago, when Coldplay's X&Y came out, I embraced the CD with lovingly open arms. In hindsight, X&Y did not exactly change the face of music—though “Fix You” may be one of the best driving songs to have graced airwaves in the last 3 years. Who doesn’t love throwing open the windows and screaming the lyrics, “Tears streammmm down youuuur faaace!”? I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t at least secretly dig that song.

After listening to Coldplay’s latest album, Viva la Vida or Death and All of his Friends, I fully realize how weak X&Y was. I will not, however, dwell on the negative. My point is that their new album proves that Coldplay can and will evolve. Right when I finished listening the entirety of Viva, I found myself almost choked up—and it wasn’t just due to Chris Martin’s angelic falsetto. No, it was more the fact that this CD reflects the promise of their early Radiohead-esque B side tracks. Yet, this promise is also blended with the energy and experience of having already released 3 albums. “Yes” takes us away from Martin’s formulaic mournful vocals. “Strawberry Swing” brings in almost a country sound that males me want to move to the country and eat me a lot of peaches. I find myself clapping along within he first few drum beats of “Lost!”

The CD is an evolution also because each song starts, grows, and changes into something completely different before the final chords. Just when you think the band has wooed you into a suicidal state in “42,” the song turns around 180 degrees and fills you with hope and near euphoria with the realization that though we didn’t get to heaven, but at very least we were within arms reach. Though, I worry that when Madonna, Gwenyth and Chris Martin had apple martinis at some point this last year, Madonna and Chris exchanged notes on getting close to heaven. Does anyone else think of the line from Madonna’s “4 Minutes”? “The road to hell is paved with good intentions—yeah!” Do you think they played rock, paper, scissors to determine who could use “heaven”?

Most important, the CD opens with an instrumental track. This proves—quite literally—that Coldplay does not need to rely on Martin to carry their tune. I cannot wait to see how the new songs sound live. I imagine the different movements to the tracks will lend themselves to some great solos, sprinkled with some classic Chris Martin self-deprecating humor in between songs. With Viva la Vida or Death and All of His Friends, Coldplay will not only seduce many new fans, but they will also restore the faith of any fans whose skepticism grew with X&Y. Viva fills me with parent-like pride for the band, who have come so far since they seduced me in a mere two sentences: “Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you.”