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Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (Jun. 17, 2008) - Coldplay

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I am looking forward to hearing how the new Coldplay album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, will sound like as an album. "Violet Hill" was released as a freebie at the Coldplay Web site a few weeks ago and I've been playing it on Deaconlight at ErrorFM.com. Not sure if that is just for subscribers or if anybody could or can get it.

Recently I acquired the title track - "Viva La Vida" - from iTunes. This one is catchier and has that Coldplay way of hooking you.

From what I have read about this record, Chris Martin supposedly sings more in the lower registers than his characteristic falsetto. Somehow I had interpreted that to be some sort of bass-y-er sound, but he just sounds like regular Chris Martin to me.

Coldplay are amongst my favorite bands so I can't imagine finding this to be a bad record when it comes out June 17 [USA]. My favorite Coldplay record to date is A Rush of Blood to the Head. That will be a hard one to top.

One thing that I am very curious about is the CD cover. It is a replica of Eugène Delacroix's painting "Liberty Leading the People."

I studied this painting in art class at Wake Forest University and saw it at the Louvre the first time I went to Paris in the 1980s. "Liberty Leading the People" is a magnificent painting - maybe about 10 feet wide or so as I recall. The woman with the French tricolor in one hand and the musket in the other I think is supposed to symbolize the victory of the French proletariat over the bourgeoisie. Not sure specifically which event of the French Revolution, sparked in 1789, inspired this painting. Delacroix painted it in 1830 and from what I understand, it was not publicly displayed until Napoleon came into power. (Don't rely on me for the actual history; look it up for yourself if you are interested.)

So the enigma to me is why Coldplay decided to take this painting and make it look like someone painted over it. Maybe that will come out in some article or interivew. We'll see.

-- May 30, 2008 (DDT)

(iTunes Canada download here)

Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends Original Album Tracks

Life in Technicolor Cemeteries of London Lost! 42 Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love Yes Viva la Vida Violet Hill Strawberry Swing Death and All His Friends

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