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Review: Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida ...'

GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

June 17, 2008

Coldplay performs at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday June 1, 2008, in Los Angeles. (Matt Sayles, Associated Press / June 1, 2008)

The trappings surrounding Coldplay's fourth album, "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Capitol), telegraph the driving emotion behind it.

Its title isn't actually a title, but a choice between two possible titles. There are two different versions of a song called "Lost" - one boldly rhythmic, another mildly acoustic. And the most believable line from the album is when Chris Martin sings "I used to rule the world" in "Viva La Vida" and then talks about becoming a street-sweeper.

For lesser bands, such indecision would spell disaster. For Coldplay, it's simply a minor setback that they sometimes overcome by owning up to the uncertainty. After all, the magnificent "Viva La Vida" has already become the band's biggest hit single - not just because it's the group's catchiest song or because it's also in an iPod commercial, but because it covers lyrical ground Martin clearly relates to, while the band tries its hand at new things.

The spareness of "Viva La Vida's" musical backdrop, along with help from producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, was supposed to hail the birth of a new, more experimental band. However, those working orders arrive and depart quickly - sometimes in the middle of a song, leading to uneven pairings like the familiar, if bland, "Yes" with the thrilling, early-U2ish "Chinese Sleep Chant," and mixed messages about the need for their midtempo rock and its big, anthem-like choruses, brainy verses and falsetto flourishes.

THE ALBUM
"Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends"

THE GRADE
B-

BOTTOM LINE
Oddly uncertain, though sometimes nicely unhinged, Coldplay questions its future.

COLDPLAY CUTS

Sure, the Coldplay sound is defined by the simple sing-along "Yellow" and the chiming, piano-driven "Clocks," but there's more to the band than just their hits.

"Everything's Not Lost" (from 2000's "Parachutes"): Building on a Billy Joel-tinged, piano-mannish opening, the epic unfolds into a stirring, "come on, yeah" affirmation.

"Politik" (from 2002's "A Rush of Blood to the Head"): The dramatic pounding guitar bits bust into the bits of piano calm to suggest something as different as Chris Martin's laundry list for new world leaders.

"Swallowed in the Sea" (from 2005's "X&Y"): It's a standard Coldplay love song filtered through a bit of Pogues booziness and seafaring traditions that makes you want to raise a pint in their honor.

SEE THEM

Coldplay is playing a free concert at Madison Square Garden on Monday, with tickets handed out through their Web site, coldplay .com. They return for a show at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., Oct. 26, but ticket info is not yet available.

IN STORES

The Jonas Brothers-filled soundtrack to "Camp Rock" (Disney)

The Offspring's "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace" (Columbia)

Girl-kissing Katy Perry's debut, "One of the Boys" (Capitol)

Simply Red's Mick Hucknall's "Tribute to Bobby" (Rhino) for Bobby "Blue" Bland

The repackaged edition of Rihanna's (at right) "Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded" (Def Jam), with "Take a Bow" and a DVD