Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends : Limited Edition (EU) [Limited]

Rolling Stone (p.73) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[With] stadium-scale melodies and singalong choruses....The experimentation makes this their most musically interesting album to date..." Rolling Stone (p.89) - Ranked #7 in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums Of 2008 -- "[A]n album that's massively expansive yet intimate enough to incite lighter-waving from London to Tokyo." Spin (p.91) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here's no doubting that VIVA LA VIDA, with its sturdy melodies and universal themes -- think love, war, and peace -- is an album meant to connect with the masses....The band's triumph lies in how exciting they make that prospect seem." Spin (p.51) - Ranked #09 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "[The songs] burned with the audible passion of a great band getting back on track." Entertainment Weekly (p.65) - "[The album] feels emboldened at almost every turn. Jonny Buckland's guitars howl insistently; Martin has discovered sub-falsetto vocal registers; and a stark, recurring string section lends an edge." -- Grade: A- Q (Magazine) (p.95) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A]n emphatic success -- radical in its own measured way but easy to embrace." Blender (Magazine) (pp.69-70) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[The album] has all the hallmarks of daring artistic independence....Songs fade in and out through washes of somber electronics..." Clash (Magazine) (p.122) - "Coldplay have stretched their limits, reaching to capture the zeitgeist, and in doing so have made the album the universe has been waiting for....We get Coldplay with the windows thrown open. Album of the year? Most probably." Clash (Magazine) (p.67) - Ranked #14 in Clash's "The 40 Best Albums of 2008" -- "Here, visions were broadened, sonic landscapes lavishly crafted, themes of death and loss permeated..."

ヘヴィーな先行カット“Violet Hill”で〈あれれ?〉っと思った人もご安心を。アルバム全体には昂揚感溢れるナンバーが多数入っているし、ロマンティシズムも満開。氷のナイフを思わせる初期の繊細さは見当たらないものの、疾走感とダイナミズムとハートウォーミングな世界観がメランコリックに包み込んでくれる。ブライアン・イーノと門下生のマーカス・ドラヴスが手掛けたサウンドは、夜空を掻きむしるギターがU2だったりと、各所でネタバレがあるにはあるが、クリス・マーティンの澄み渡った瞳と同様、とことん素直な仕上がりという印象。ロック・バンドらしさの後退と引き替えに、まるでシンフォニーを思わせる優雅な趣が漲っている。見方によれば、エンヤのようなムード大作と言えなくもないほど。
bounce (C)村上 ひさし