#3 -- Best Songs of 2008

Viva La Vida by Coldplay

I could write about Coldplay for a long, long time... and I have like when I attempted to figure out if Coldplay was the most obviously unobvious band of all time. I'm never sure what to do with them. Take this song. The string arrangement is sweet. The vocals are nice, the song is well constructed and builds to something. It sounds good. You want to hear it again. The lyrics are oddly charming and give great imagery. The song sort of pumps you up. It's a great song right?

But it is so obvious. I feel lame for even putting it on the list... because it's so obvious. Everyone knows this song is good, but it's by Coldplay so intellectually there is some problem with the song. But I can't downgrade the song just because Coldplay does it. It's like this song should be better almost...

And then there is the issue that they stole the rift from Joe Satriani. But here's the thing—Coldplay does it so much better. And even though musically they don't take any chances, they make better music because they're really good musicians. Think about how great a Coldplay best of album is after only four records? Who wouldn't buy that CD?

#3a -- Life in Technicolor ii by Coldplay

Going back to the obviously unobvious idea... the frustrating thing about Coldplay is that Viva La Vida is a really good, but unadventurous song when compared to the opener off of their underwhelming album, "Life in Technicolor". But LiT doesn't do enough to warrant a place in the top 25...

And then came the release of the Prospekt's March EP. And even though the lyrics don't add anything imo, it puts "Life in Technicolor" over the top. THIS is an adventurous and beautiful song. And this is what Coldplay should be doing (along with, arguably, Lovers in Japan).

These two songs sum up the frustrating thing about Coldplay: they are better musicians and can do things better than most other musicans (ala Viva La Vida) but it isn't all that adventitious even though it sounds really good. BUT then they do something adventurous and different and it's better than nearly everything else out there.

Coldplay is stuck in some weird spiral... I won't say they're as talent as say, Radiohead, or even U2, but it's not like they're all that far behind at the same time. But unlike both bands Coldplay ALWAYS plays it safe. They could write an album of "Shiver" and "Life in Technicolor"... but they play it safe... it's like they're scared to try and fulfill their potential. They're like the anti-indie band in many ways. Which is a bummer... I'd love to see Coldplay go though a strech like U2 did in the 90s.

Finally... why is this Life in Technicolor and not Life in Technicolour?