Filed under: music, review | Tags: coldplay, viva la vida, viva la vida or death and all his friends
You know, ever since The 40-Year-Old Virgin, it seems that it’s sort of been taboo to enjoy a Coldplay album. It would seem that enjoying Parachutes makes me gay. Well if that’s true, turn my stool upside-down, cover me in rainbows and give me a lisp, ’cause I’d be a queer.
While I may be a Coldplay loving (more like enjoying) queer, I failed to see the majestic beauty that everyone else saw in “Viva La Vida”. I mean, yes, it is a good song, but everyone held it up on this pedestal like it was the Coldplay song. But I’m wandering (slightly) off topic.
Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, aside from having a ridiculously long title, isn’t that bad. With every new CD from a band I like, there’s always a nagging doubt in the back of my as to whether or not they’ll retain their sound (see Narrow Stairs). So with Viva, I kind of went into the experience hoping everything would be just like the last time we were together, but at the same time, trying to be open to the change.
But Viva is definitely Coldplay, and during some of it, it’s them at their finest. Tracks like “42″ and “Lost!” are great example of what Chris Martin & Co. are capable of. Sadly though, most of the album consists of tracks that are altogether skippable. Granted, it’s not like the tracks are bad, but at the same time, they just kind of felt like filler between the tracks that I actually did enjoy.
In the end, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is a good CD. By no means is it their best work, but it’s a nice follow up to X & Y. Also, in a Nevermind-like fashion, there’s a sticker on the album to cover up the boobs, for those of us who can’t handle 14th century breasts…
***/*****
I don’t watch that many movies, and read books even less, which always leads me to wonder why I feel this urge to be some sort of writer. But futures aside, I believe that I tend to stay away from movies for a couple of reasons. One would be cost and another would be the lack of a story that you can really sink your teeth into. Not to say that it lacks a plot, but it’s about at thick as tracing paper and simply serves as a device to move the characters from point A to B.
Now I don’t mean to say that all movies should be four-hour slow moving epics, but it’s nice to have some substance. But at the same time, there are a quite a number of exception to this idea, because I’m pretty sure I don’t want a heavy dose of story served with my Iron Man. Those are the movies where I’ll gladly replace engrossing story for flashy visuals and special effects. But it’s the movies that try to do both things at once that fail so miserably in my mind.
Take Spiderman 3 for example. Seeing as how it was the third (and final) installment in the series, it had plenty of loose ends to tie up. It’s the same way for anything that consists of three acts. So when it came out, and consisted of plenty of, what we’ll call, emotional substance, I don’t see why anyone was surprised. The Peter Parker/Mary Jane (or PP/MJ if you’re into abreviations) relationship had it’s ups and downs over the first two movies, and if they (they being writers/producers/director/etc) had simply left them alone, they would have sacrificed a large element of the story.
So yes, Parker did go a little…emo, if that’s what you choose to call it, but it was because, as far as I’m concerned, inevitable. But what they forgot is that people went to the Spiderman series for the entertainment value, not the story. Spiderman was cool. It had great CG, special effects and all of that flashy visual stuff. It didn’t play to it’s audience.
And sadly, that seems to be becoming our reality. Screw in-depth story and characters you grow to care about. As long as it has an A-List celebrity and flashy visuals, those are the movies that will succeed. The only saving grace for the other end of the spectrum seems to be an Oscar nomination, and even those don’t seem to do much.
Maybe this is just an age-old gripe. Good things always tend to be overlooked while flashy, shitty whatever gets all the attention. I guess that’s just how it goes, but as of late, it seems to be getting worse. Meet The Spartans? Really?
I absolutely hate country music, and while I don’t particularly care for this song, the video is just pure emotion. It sends chills down my spine whenever I watch it.
There are a two things during my adolesence that I can remember that really confused me sexually. One of these things was a comic book I randomly picked up that contained a little girl putting a sugar cube in her vagina and having a cow lick it out while, and the other is a sequence in the Rockstar video by N*E*R*D where the coach and cheerleader make out. Granted, things have changed, and while the video itself was/is a good video, that memory will always come to mind whenever N*E*R*D is mentioned.
Now if only I could find that comic…
But on a different note, Seeing Sounds has found its way to store shelves and it isn’t half bad. Granted, I haven’t spent too much time with the album, but the time I have has been enjoyable. With most albums, songs don’t make very strong first impressions, or even second or third impressions for that matter. But with Seeing Sounds, most of the CD stood out right away.
There’s definitely some different sounds and influences on Sounds. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I listen to too much Girl Talk, but the mash-up/sampling on “Anti Matter” sounded a lot like Gillis’s work, and is one of my favorite songs off the album. At the same time, there are some songs with a strong sense of style like “Sooner or Later”, which also sticks its head out above the rest of the album.
While I had a copy of Fly or Die on my computer, I never really got around to it. But now that Sounds is out, and I’ve seen the quality, maybe it’s time to give that album the chance it (seems to) deserves. Sounds is a very consistent album with some damn good music. Not to mention there’s a big red gorilla on the cover, and who doesn’t love big red animals?
****/*****
