Friday, June 27, 2008

Review, sort of...

I recently purchased the new Coldplay cd. My initial reaction? Ehh…There really are no low lights, each song is listenable and somewhat enjoyable, but there really are no strong highlights I don’t think either. The songs I like the most are the ones they’ve released to public (Viva la Vida and Violet Hill). Other than that, there just aren’t any real memorable songs. There is no “Shiver”, “Yellow”, “Clocks”, “God Put a Smile upon Your Face”, “Square One” or “Talk”. Of their four albums, this is my fourth favorite and they rank in my mind in the order of their release. I don’t know where they are going next. I have a friend who can’t wait for the eventual Martin/Paltrow breakup so that he can get back to writing songs of depth and meaning. I don’t know about that, but I’m not down on the cd just not really up about it either.

I have noticed a lot of religious imagery on the cd. Here are a few samples:

Viva La Vida – mention of missionaries in a foreign field, as well as a mention of St. Peter, who will not call his name.

42 – you didn’t get to heaven but you made it close

Cemeteries of London - Through the dark streets they go searching to see God in their own way…God is in the houses and God is in my head… and all the cemeteries in London…I see God come in my garden, but I don’t know what he said,
For my heart it wasn’t open…

Violet Hill – Priest clutched onto Bibles, hollowed out to fit their rifles and the cross, was held aloft.

Reign of Love - By the church, we’re waiting, Reign of love My knees go praying

Yes - when we were dying of frustration/Saying Lord lead me not into temptation
But it’s not easy when she turns you on/Sin, stay gone
If you’d only, if you’d only say yes/Whether you will's anybody’s guess
God only God knows I'm trying my best/But I’m just so tired of this loneliness

Not saying these are remotely Christian statements or if they reveal anything of the spiritual life of Chris Martin, but they are there and I wonder what they mean. (I know he had a somewhat religious upbringing but I don’t think that it had much of a hold on him. Maybe this is some of that seeping through his subconscious).

5 comments:

Ben said...

I had the same reaction. Ehhhhhhhh.

The MAN Fan Club said...

Should I go ahead and purchase the first one? Is that the one with Clocks? See you Tuesday.

TheMAN

Bill Victor said...

The first one is Parachutes, and it has Spies and Yellow. The second one is A Rush of Blood to the Head and it has "Clocks" and "The Scientist" and "In My Place" as its biggest songs. Both are worth getting.

The MAN Fan Club said...

bv,

maybe you could burn me bv's favorites for my trip back to Texas.

THEMAN

Anonymous said...

oh my that’s terrible, wishing personal hurt on someone JUST so they can hear some good music again...DUMP HIM!!