Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 193
 Brrrrrr August 30, 2008
M. S. Flagg (Wales UK)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
Coldplay kinda slowly crept up on us with Yellow (I think giving their CD away free with a Sunday Newspaper set them off) and the drizly video for Yellow, meant we could say 'yeah I been there'...but sorry the fake blokeishness, the strange , idot, beatle-esque clothing, the use of tiny tatty guitars, and 18th centurt military drums , have made me turn my face away from these guys......their not communicating with me anymore...cos i dont get them.....
 Excellent album August 30, 2008
Music addict (London)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm not a big fan of the singles (though they are good) but the album is excellent. Brian Eno's consistently brilliant touch is evident and the band explore new sonic ground with some nice low basslines and Chris Martin demonstrates his vocal range still further. Buy it and enjoy it.
I love this CD! August 29, 2008
L. Macdonald (Glasgow)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've always liked Coldplay and previously bought Parachutes and A rush of blood to the head. However I didn't rush out to the buy this one as I wasn't overly impressed by the single Violet Hill but Viva La Vida does not disappoint. I feel with this album they have grown and evolved, it is creative, full of feeling and depth, gentler than A rush of blood to the head. I love so many tracks especially 42, Reign of Love, Lovers in Japan, and Death and his friends. There is only one track that I skip - Yes. It's the type of album that gives you goosebumps. People assume that Coldplay are dull and pretentious but IMO they are talented and provide something different from the rest. Give it a try and I'm sure you'll grow to love it!
 Hoots man! August 29, 2008
Mr. J. E. Constable (Cambridge, England)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Since their successful and widely popular debut 'Parachutes', Coldplay have been accused of playing it safe; sticking to the same routine and allowing themselves to stagnate in a well of mediocrity. This latest effort, then, could be regarded as a step into the unknown - a risk aimed at breaking into the world of rock immortality. The sleeve certainly makes it look this way. Gone is the standard font and minimalist cover art, and in with the romantic, renaissance war scene, with the album title scrawled nihilistically on the front in white chalk (doesn't the guy lying dead in the bottom right look like Chris Martin?).
So no one can accuse Coldplay of sticking to the agenda here. Unfortunately, the direction they've stepped in has left them waist-deep in manure, frantically clawing at the reeds and perhaps wishing they'd stayed on the safe footpath of 'Parachutes' et al instead of leaping wildly into the undergrowth in search of musical evolution.
Ok so it's not that bad. There are some really nice noises coming out from time to time - for instance the intro/outro loop and the latter half of 'Death and All His Friends'. Sadly, the majority of the album sounds like an anthology of Scottish line-dancing anthems. Some of the beats are unforgivably cheesy and cloying, making the listener's spine concertina in loathing and vitriol. I'm looking specifically at 'Lost!', 'Strawberry Swing' and 'Lovers in Japan' here. There's an impossible tension between the rare but enticing synth tones of 'Life in Technicolour' and the morbidly cringe-worthy stomp of 'Strawberry Swing' and 'Lost!' that makes you wonder if Chris Martin is trying to make a Proclaimers tribute album or an alternative score for the 'Lord of The Rings' movies. Intelligent, sickeningly beautiful guitar melodies from the 'Parachutes' era have been replaced over time with over-produced, pedestrian instrumental hooks that leave you wanting to bite off your own face in frustration and disappointment.
And then there're the lyrics. My word. I can remember being at primary school and being told to write a four line poem that rhymed. A simple exercise, that left me feeling satisfied at my own puerile creativity. I can imagine a similar aura of smug surrounding Chris Martin, after penning the gem:
'You might be a big fish in a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
Cos along may come a bigger one'
It's the kind of thing you might shout at a bully from the safety of your dad's car when he's driving you home from school. It's disgraceful, and unfortunately it shows (if we weren't sure already) that Coldplay and Chris Martin have run out of ideas. Moving in a new direction is fine, but it doesn't mean you can just release a collection of substandard B-sides and call it innovation. If you're unable to stray from a formula, stick to the knitting - at least you'll never be accused of selling out.
Empty and vile August 24, 2008
Mr. M. J. Turner (London, England)
13 out of 27 found this review helpful
The absence of everything spontaneous, beautiful and courageous in music. Cod poetry mired down by turgid dirgery with all the wit and sophistication of a rotten cat dropping.
Some posh boy warbles unconvincingly over U2's sub-Bsides and expects the world to be saved while I boak heartily into a straw boater.
Music for people with no love for music and no clue about life.
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