Viva La Vida
Alright, I’ll admit it: I like Coldplay’s Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
Honestly, I’m not sure what the deal is – has the band’s songwriting really improved this much? Or is Brian Eno’s production completely responsible for the change in sound, towards something much more intriguing and deep? A little of both, I’d guess.
Certainly Chris Martin’s singing is much better and more nuanced here (his voice drove me nuts on Parachutes). The songs are more varied and textured than previously, and the band breaks from the usual verse-chorus-verse structure on quite a few of the songs, giving the album a feel of unpredictability – which ultimately makes even the straightforward arena anthems, when they appear, sound much more distinct and interesting by contrast. But, that said, the anthems are here, and ultimately the album doesn’t stray all that far from where Coldplay’s been before. But they sound so much more ambitious and interesting now, it’s a little difficult to believe that this is the same band.
There are quite a few highlights – the anthemic “Lovers In Japan”, the pulsing post-punk rush of “Chinese Sleep Chant”, the stirring “Viva La Vida”, and the Peter Gabriel–esque “Strawberry Swing” all come to mind – but it’s a sign of the album’s quality (and excellent sequencing) that even the songs that, by themselves, would sound dull or uninteresting, work well in the ebb and flow of the tracklist. The album culminates with “Death And All His Friends”, which starts off as a piano ballad but transforms midway into a soaring anthem, complete with an urgent chant-along chorus at the end. It’s a fantastic conclusion, and perfectly encapsulates the album’s ambitions.
(So it seemed that maybe I’d been underestimating Coldplay all these years, and I went out and picked up a copy of A Rush Of Blood To The Head. Guess what? It sucked.)
in Alternative Press (I think) a few months later, I ran out and picked up the 10″ vinyl version. Translucent lime green vinyl, as I recall.
, the Merge Records five year anniversary compilation. I was only about two months out of school when I picked this up via mail-order in 1994 (along with, as I recall, a pile of 7″ singles), and even now it surprises me just how many great bands are on this comp.
for a couple weeks now, and it’s been an interesting experience. I went into (too much) detail 
, which apparently came out early this year but of which I was completely ignorant ’til I was doing some poking around the Internet in my pajamas this morning.
, their 2006 album. I could happily listen to it all day.
is, hands down, my favorite album of all time. It also has the distinction of being the only “classic” record that I actually got into by myself, before it gained its critical adulation, thanks to picking up their earlier Glider e.p. when I found it in a 99¢ bin following a positive review in L.A. Weekly. It’s kind of weird when you felt like you were enjoying an album in complete isolation – nobody I knew back then were into it, or had even heard of the band – and later it starts showing up on “best of the decade” lists in the top slot.
by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, the fourth book in his Captain Alatriste series. A decidedly classicist and literary take on the swashbuckling novel, the series follows the adventures of the titular hero as seen (largely) through the eyes of his page, Íñigo Balboa y Aguirre, in 17th Century Spain – and with that country’s slow slide in power and prestige during the era a significant feature of the backdrop.