Call me what you will, I'm down with Coldplay -- hell, I'm flat out excited for the new album coming out in June. This morning the band (taking a cue from Radiohead and NIN?) started giving away their first single. For one week you too can download "Violet Hill" from coldplay.com at no cost. I did before work this morning. In short I like it -- I might go so far as to say I like it a lot. BUT -- I do have a couple criticisms. For starters the first 40 seconds is this artsy mood music thing. I hate that and always have hated that, regardless of who the band is. Start with something catchy. I don't dislike long intros, but make them move. I was about three seconds away from fast forwarding to the middle of the song to make sure the download worked.
My other issue is the stale nature of the writing. It sounds just like everything else we've heard so far (but a little less brilliant as was the problem with a lot of "X&Y.") The risk is always alienating your fans and d-bags like me complaining that they messed with a good thing but if you can't release "Rush of Blood..." every couple years and call it new then you better do something to wow me. The early word on the new record (called Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends) is that there's a little Latin feel to it -- really? A Latin feeling album with a Latin feeling title -- no shit!
Anyway -- go download the free single and leave a comment or two below!
1 comment:
You know, I hear you - Coldplay is one of those bands that you're not supposed to like if you're into music. The fact is, though, they are a really good band and can't be held at fault just because it's so incredibly annoying to listen to every "this is the next Joshua Tree" news story leading up the release of the next album.
I will say that X&Y disappointed. But, any band that can put together A Rush of Blood to the Head deserves about a half-dozen byes in my book.
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