The Beat Surrender

Coldplay have made it look easy in making it to the top of the pile in the UK alongside Radiohead. While sales wise and gig wise they have been on a par with them for a good while, the comparisons musically have been a little unkind in the press as you are dealing with two entirely different bands.

One thing that could be levied at Coldplay though was that they were getting into a comfort zone, where as Radiohead have frequently challenged themselves and their audience in the past. X & Y was a good album, but it was also a safe album, one that allowed them to play to their strengths and add to their ever-growing fanbase with a series of tracks that could have all graced any number of radio stations.

It’s a little ironic with that background then that in the last year we have seen Radiohead release one of their most accessible albums for years, even sounding upbeat on a some of the tracks and now Coldplay add the final piece in the jigsaw of musical upheaval as they release their most ambitious, brave and challenging album to date.

The reception to Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends has seemingly been split down the middle amongst Coldplay fans and journalists alike. While some applaud the gamble they have taken, others see it as a pretentious leap for a band that are probably so big they can get away with anything at the moment.

On a personal level I’m nearer to the first statement, as I think it is a brave decision they have made, this album will alienate some of their fans and it might not receive the level of acclaim that they are used to. It’s good to see a big band take that gamble though and I think it’s slightly patronising to think that their fans would want to see them churn out album after album of the same stuff.

As far as how good it is, well that’s a tricky one to judge as it does come with some preconceived feelings of pretension before you even start to listen to it. From the title of the album to the classic-art front cover it states that it’s going to be overblown and up itself.

Coldplay though are a band that are vastly underrated in the press if you ask me and they just about do enough on this album to show that they can get away with bold musical statements and pretensions, yet still make a good album, albeit not a great one.

The nearest they come to their easy on the ear past is on the two singles Viva La Vida which is dragged along superbly by Davide Rossi’s strings and Violet Hill. Elsewhere though it has denseness to the music that only really clears after several listens, an example of that is Cemeteries Of London which on first listen comes over a little bland. Further listens though reveal a track that mixes the jangly guitar with Brian Eno atmospherics to build steadily into a really nice track.

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