Coldplay - Violet Hill - Single Review

By Gerard McGarry on Tuesday, 29 April 2008.
Filed under Rock Music, Single Reviews. Tags: 2008, Coldplay, Thumbs Up

Well, they promised us different, and I can confirm that Coldplay have delivered something different. But is it good? Hell yeah.
Even speaking as a determined Coldplay hater, Violet Hill sounds dark, foreboding, and heavy. Less of the piano-sturbation, and Chris Martin retires the falsetto in favour of a more earthy vocal tone.

Violet Hill is a song rich in texture: fuzzed-up power chords, wailing string bends in the background, and some very atmospheric drumming from Will Champion. This most definitely rocks.
If this is a sampler of Coldplay’s new direction, then it’s certainly enough to persuade me to listen to the album. Unlike other Coldplay songs I’ve heard, this has balls.
Gentlemen…well played. Thumbs up.

A personal review by Age Six Race

and I’m going out on a limb saying this!

I think Violet hill is one of the best songs I’ve heard coldplay produce.

it is refreshing to hear something different from them,
the guitars, the drums, and the soft vocals on the intro/outro make this song too good to be true, the solo during the middle 8 makes me want to sway my arms left and right with a massive smile on my face…

I’ve listened to this song about 45 times today, and I just can’t get enough of it. it’s fantastic,

it was well worth the 3 year wait and already may be better than many of the songs off their last 3 albums.

Coldplay have since Yellow, been my favourite band,
every album, every song (Even a whisper) has been phenomenal, and this new offering is no different.

The only thing left to say after letting this song grow on you is “Bring on the album”

I give this song an 9/10, but then agin, I may be a tad biased…

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The longly anticipated new and free-to-get single out of the Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends record, Coldplay want to take us back into the new recruitment of their spiritual adventures of their somehow changed attitude to sound and recording.

Coldplay’s qualities of hit-making, familiarity to the audience and Martin’s voice have stayed the same but the more classic rock influences and just more rock make the sound more energizing and great.

The other songs of the record should be as good as ‘Violet Hill’.

http://thisisrobis.com/?p=167

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The new Coldplay single, and the first from forthcoming longplayer Viva la Vida and Death or All His Friends (details), isn’t as far a departure from the band’s trademark sound as the album’s title would have you believe. From the sounds of ‘Violet Hill’ this isn’t going to be the album where Coldplay look down from atop their piles of dough, go into a headspin and start rapping in non-sequiturs about the Congo or filling their bodies with silicone and junk.

Brian Eno is here just in case, though, and the song drifts in on one of the trademark, Blade Runner drones colouring things like Ambient 1: Music for Airports, (think the start of ‘2/1’). Any fears that Coldplay have the balls to follow this path are waylaid when the plod happens and Chris Martin sleepwalks into a vocal that recalls Oasis track ‘Don’t Go Away’ as much as anything else.

The song trots into life with five strikes of a crashing piano – as arch now as they were slowed down in Bowie’s ‘We Are the Dead’, which is strange given that Eno wasn’t around for that and most of ‘Violet Hill’ is as earnestly heroic as you’d expect from Coldplay, (“I wanna be a soldier who a captain on some sinking ship would stow far below/if you love me, won’t you let me know?”).

The fact that it sounds heroic at all probably points to a return to Rush of Blood…-era musings, which somehow seemed darker-eyed and more manly than the frailties felt on last album X&Y. Taking that into account, along with the album’s art and title, it’s tempting to assume that Coldplay hear Viva la Vida… as a marker of resurgence – as a vengeful comeback of sorts. That’s all well and good, but to these ears ‘Violet Hill’ suffers just like the rest of Coldplay’s work – Martin’s desire to be a martyr is let down by the lack of a tangible cause and as such his band’s new single sounds too suffocated and self-absorbed. 5/10

http://www.drownedinsound.com

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Don’t get me wrong, I hate hate Coldplay as much as the next guy. Nevertheless, I think their new single, “Violet Hill” is pretty sick.

There’s a good chance I’m more into the production than the actual song. So be it. Brian Eno is the man. The mix is complex and well layered, giving particular attention to the rich, crunchy guitar tones. All together, it’s a great combination of diverse textures featuring a low and gentle synth, Chris Martin’s roomy vocals, deep drums, and a meticulously blended acoustic piano.

As for craftsmanship, the song is good–for Coldplay. I’ve never been a huge fan of their work, but I dig that they’ve put something together that appeals to my sensibility. The melodies are nice, but nothing too ground-breaking. My least favorite part of the whole song is the obligatory 8-bar riff section that comes in at 2:18. For lack of a better example, it reminds me of the riff from that Franz Ferdinand song that went huge. I’m too lazy to look it up AND I really don’t care. In any case, it’s unoriginal. Points off.

The ending, however, is super solid. They introduce a brand new melody, kill everything but piano and vocals–like some kind of breakdown or bridge–and then tie the new melody back into the refrain seamlessly to close things up. It’s really cool, really classy, and above all else: original.

Unrelated to the music, it’s noteworthy that the band is actually giving this track away all week to anyone with an email address. Furthermore, they’ve announced they they’ll be playing free shows in New York, London, and now Barcelona. Not bad.

http://www.lukemccormick.net

When a band like Coldplay takes 3 years to produce new material, the build-up to its release is always going to be highly anticipated and speculated about. The time, however, is here; Violet Hill was aired for the first time yesterday, and is available as a free download on their official site. So now, the question is whether it was worth the wait.

The short answer is “yes”. The much-touted new direction is evident in the mid-section’s guitar solo, in the more deliberated lyrics, in the atmospheric introduction which, unlike so much of X&Y, reverberates without arrogance or pretentiousness. But this is still Coldplay. It still has that edge. It is still going to be screamed along to in sold-out venues.

Eno’s production shows, and although the song’s structure is not massively unconventional, it still shows a desire to move that way. Given also that this will undoubtedly be one of the most populist songs on the new album, things bode well for Martin and company.

What Coldplay have managed to produce is a song no less incredible on its surface than underneath. There is no hidden depth or inspiring quality to this track, but only because it is so blatant that it hurts. As the haunting line “Priests hold onto Bibles/Hollowed out to fit their rifles” echoes through a sharp piano and guitar, you have to wonder whether this could be the start of something very, very good indeed.

Zane Lowe (Radio 1 DJ, presenter, music buff and member of the band Breaks Co-op) had VH as ‘The Hottest Record in the World” last night on his show and he said:

It’s fantastic, brilliant return, can really see Brian Eno’s influence with the atmosphere and evolution but it the retains pure essence of Coldplay, people are sick of Coldplay but they’re pushing it forward.

Then after some texts came in he read out one that said “Finally it’s cool to like Coldplay again, excellent song” and Zane referenced Chris on Jo’s show and how he was saying he know CP fans suffer and said that he that Parachutes is a classic debut album, followed up by AROBTTH and he thinks they’ve made a good return to form and that they’re good guys, that make good music. He also praised them for playing free gigs “it’s good they’re giving back to the fans, a lot of bands don’t have the money, but some do and most of them wouldn’t do that”

Pardon our lateness to the Coldplay listening party.

By now I’m sure you know the narrative: Coldplay dabbles in Radiohead/NIN online altruism by making the the first single from their upcoming Brian Eno-produced album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends available for download (upon surrendering your email address) from their official site yesterday. And yet, by the time our morbid curiosity got the best of us, it took three different email submissions before we finally got the goods.

And that anecdote is about as exciting as it gets. Granted, we’ve never been huge Coldplay fans, but who could possibly mistake “Violet Hill” as a dynamic and interesting song? MTV!

And seeing as their gushing “review” of “Violet Hill” is far more engrossing than the actual song, let’s train our curmudgeonly glare upon it instead. Thanks to this piece, historians will one day be able to pinpoint the exact time and date when music journalism died: April 28, 2008 at 4;47 pm EDT. It was at that moment that this review appeared online and actually pleaded with MTV readers to read a - gasp - written assessment of music instead of just listening to it…the horror!!!

And no, we haven’t swung some sort of streaming deal with Capitol Records. Rather, this is a written preview of the track[...]And while we realize that reading about a song doesn’t compare to actually hearing it, what else are you gonna do for the next 15-odd hours?

So very sad. And after apologizing to their readers for…making them read, our besotted MTV scribe then attempts to describe the revolutionary song structure of “Violet Hill”; and there doesn’t seem to be enough words in the English language to talk about a song that starts quietly, gets loud, and then ends quietly. But at least MTV tries, detailing the “wall of gauzy, all-encompassing white noise” before the “breakneck shifts” or “sudden shifts from spacey to stomping” that cue “some of Queen’s most garish moments” and a “curling solo”, all of which “is strongly indicative of the breadth of song structures you’ll hear on the Brian Eno-produced album”.

I honestly couldn’t pick this song out of a police lineup based on that description. Really, “Violet Hill” is about as dynamic as the Subway “Five Dollar Footlong” jingle. So much for the goodwill we thought MTV built based on yesterday’s I Want My MTV.

http://earfarm.blogspot.com/2008/04/…mtvs-mind.html

Coldplay: another one from the heart

After rumours of splits and strange musical experiments, Coldplay have ended their silence with a new album, produced by Brian Eno.

After an absence of two years, during which their record company EMI has changed hands and the future of the mainstream commercial music business has been cast into doubt, the biggest-selling rock band of the 21st century have returned to the fray.

Coldplay came in from the cold this week with a free digital download single, Violet Hill. Amid rumours that the group had forsaken populism for high-minded artistic experimentation, the wobbly synths that introduce the song may have caused fans (and EMI executives) a moment of anxiety.

But when Chris Martin starts singing, his stately piano rings out and the band pile in, it is business as usual. This is exactly the kind of song that has made them the defining group of our times, a gloriously catchy piece of epic melancholia.

There is almost a Seventies pop groove to the song, albeit crossed with a darker rock sensibility. It could be the Feeling with more feeling, or Wings taking flight into the lyrical ether.

There has always been something McCartney-esque about Martin’s melodies and the band’s harmonic style.

But there is something more, too. He conjures up Macca’s old bandmate John Lennon with the line, “I don’t want to be a soldier”, but adds his own poetic twist: “Who the captain of some sinking ship would stow/down below/ If you love me, why’d'you let me go?”

The song is the lament of a fearful foot-soldier, remembering a moment’s affection in a snow-covered place called Violet Hill. Like Lennon, Martin strives to get to the raw, emotional core of a song.

With its intimations of mortality, this is not a silly love song, it’s a rumination on the futility and hypocrisy of religious conflict, wrapped up in a tune you can imagine vast crowds singing along to.

This is what their critics (and there have been many) dislike about Coldplay: their sincerity, populism and lack of irony. It annoys the same people who have an intense antipathy to U2. But Coldplay are unashamed fans of the Irish supergroup.

Martin once said: “Maybe it’s because we were raised on reading U2 books, but there is no shame in joining the mainstream, of wanting the biggest possible platform for your views.”

Sixteen million sales of 2002’s A Rush of Blood to the Head and 10 million of 2005’s X&Y (the biggest selling albums worldwide in their respective years) have certainly given them the platform they desired (even their 2000 debut, Parachutes, has clocked up more than four million).

The New York Times famously described Coldplay as “the most insufferable band of the decade”, but the public apparently disagreed. Martin went from being a curly-haired geek to an international sex symbol, married to movie star Gwyneth Paltrow, with a brace of eccentrically-named children (Apple and Moses).

He appeared as a spokesman for the Fairtrade campaign, among other charitable concerns.

But when the group appeared at the 2006 Brit Awards to accept the gong for best album, Martin suggested that success had become a burden. “People are fed up with us and so are we,” he said. “You won’t see us at one of these for many, many years.”

Rumours that the band were breaking up were quickly dismissed when Coldplay bought a mansion to convert into rehearsal and recording space in the desirable north London suburb of Hampstead. There did seem to be some truth to the notion that they were embarking on a period of experimentation, however.

“For a long time, people felt like we were a band in black and white, and now we feel like we can do whatever we like and try all kinds of new things,” said Martin.

Leading US hip-hop producer Timbaland (most recently at the helm of Madonna’s album) revealed that he was in discussions to produce Coldplay, tapping into Martin’s love of urban music (he has written for Jamelia and collaborated with Jay Z and Kanye West).

It might have been intriguing, but it would have done little for the nerves of Guy Hands and his EMI investors, who must be hoping that another blockbuster from their most bankable stars will get EMI out of the hole.

In the event, it was to Brian Eno that Coldplay turned. Eno is renowned for his experimental work - solo, and with Roxy Music, David Bowie and Talking Heads - but he has also produced some of U2’s most successful albums, including The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.

It would appear that it is this side of Eno that Coldplay tapped into. Martin said the group are still “obsessed with making songs that can be sung to the rafters”.

The album’s title, Viva La Vida, has unfortunate connotations of Ricky Martin. In fact the phrase, which means “Long live life”, was spotted by Martin on a Frida Kahlo painting. “I loved the boldness of it,” he has said.

In 2007, they road-tested material on a short South American tour. On a subsequent trip to Barcelona, they did some location recording in Catalan churches.

A post on the band’s website claimed: “The sights, sounds and flavours of Latin America and Spain have definitely infused into this album.” Having heard it myself, all I can say is that it must have infused so deeply you can’t even taste it anymore.

Members of the music press were invited to playbacks this week, albeit only after agreeing to forgo detailed discussion of the content prior to its release on June 16. What I can say is that themes of death and resurrection are strongly present, apparently confirming a long-held suspicion that, like their heroes U2, there is a Christian element to Coldplay.

With a production that the band describe as “dense” with “melodies and colours packed into a relatively short space”, Eno loads on the atmospherics and introduces plenty of rhythmic and sonic twists, but Martin’s innate pop sensibility shines through.

If anything, the new Coldplay are brighter and more uplifting than ever. These are songs full of the kind of anthemic touches that will make people want to hold their mobile phones in the air.

If you liked Coldplay before, chances are you will like them still. If you couldn’t stand them, block your ears now. They are going to be hard to escape.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main…affdrv07053100

Coldplay Violet Hill Single review: what is the verdict?
Topic: Music | April 29th, 2008 | By: Jim

The new single from Coldplay called Violet Hill was released today and is the first single from their upcoming album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. So what should we expect from the new album then? Well there are some stomping guitar chords which Chris Martin sings to perfectly and the great thing about the album is how hushed Martin’s vocals are.

The first single as I said is Violet Hill and starts off with a synthesizer that bubble away which then lends itself in guitar fuzz. It all starts of quietly and then slowly manages to fill the room, all the while we hear the background noise of white noise and if you don’t like it tough, as it is a bit of a theme on the whole album.

Then there are the vocals from frontman Chris Martin, he starts of singing about “a long and dark December/ From the rooftops I remember there was snow.” That’s when things then pickup and starts to stomp, it is a startling change from a whimsy start then to powerful pounding muscular guitar and piano chords.

However; it does not stop there the momentum seems to build and build until we reach the point where guitarist Jonny Buckland gives a guitar solo, Buckland then brings things down again with a smooth and sexy midsection with a little crooning from Martin in the background.

Violet Hill is a great first single from Coldplay’s new album, if you have heard the new single please let us know what you think.

Free shows, free single — Coldplay is just feeling so free right now! Well, that single will only be free for another few days, so you’d better head to their website and snap it up while you still can. Of course, I filled out their form a couple days ago, twice, and I have yet to receive the magical email bearing “Violet Hill” in either my work or personal inbox… but assuming you can get your mitts on an MP3, what will you be getting into?

First off, Brian Eno’s production has done these guys well. “Violet Hill” opens with a thin synth wash that’s very Music for Airports, and proceeds from there to some droning, stabbing guitar textures that sound cooler than most any Coldplay tunes I can think of. Still, the songcraft itself feels lacking. The melody’s fine, if nothing special; I can accept that Chris Martin may have spent up all his truly indelible melodies on the band’s first few albums. But those lyrics! Surely even he knows how clunky the words he’s singing these days are. (Forcing a slant-rhyme out of “December” and “cathedrals”? For real?)

Then again, Gwyneth thinks the whole album is “brilliant.” And who am I to argue with her? You tell me — am I the only one left a little, er, cold by playing “Violet Hill”? And while we’re at it, can anyone figure out what’s up with that bizarre, Delacroix-jacking cover art?

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008…ay-violet.html

What Happened Coldplay?

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So many of you have now heard the first single off of Coldplay’s new record Viva Lavida. The did a great thing by having you submit your email then sending you a free download link. Unfortunately for me no link ever came to any of my three email addresses (configured to accept this mystery email).

My take is that Coldplay just doesn’t like pasta…or maybe technology doesn’t like pasta (that’s more like it). So thanks to Audio Therapy I was able to obtain the track, though thoroughly let down by the CP website. That being said, the new track, Violet Hill, is pretty good and pleasantly different than most Coldplay tracks. It’s got the standard sound, but with a Phil Collins sheen on it (don’t knock Phil Collins). They really changed up their standard rhythms on this and went for a new direction with much success in my opinion. Check it for yourself.

Coldplay - Violet Hill: I know I sort of gave Chris Martin and Co. a rough time in the introduction, but this is actually a great song. Not only is the music heavier than anything I’ve heard them do before, but it’s crafted in a way that makes you want to pay attention to it, which is a nice change of pace from their snooze-worthy sounds of the past. Strangely (or maybe not), the same can be said for Martin’s songwriting and vocals. His voice actually floats between edgy and alt-rock in this gem, and I can’t help but latch onto the way he slips out lines like “If you love me/Won’t you let me know.” I suppose it’s possible that the whole record won’t be anything like this song, but if it is then I think it’s going to end up being something I’ll listen to frequently.

http://sideonetrackone.com/archive/2008/may/050208.htm

Coldplay Unveil “Violet Hill”

Coldplay (London, UK) What’s you verdict on the new Coldplay track “Violet Hill?” The track is off the band’s forthcoming FOURTH album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. The ten track disc will be released June 12th and was produced by none other than BRIAN ENO. I think you can definately hear his production on this track. Specifically the driving bass line and ethereal distant vocals - more so than usual for a Coldplay single. This is definitely a darker more brooding number and a far departure from the hope filled swells and starry guitars of X&Y. Is Coldplay starting to develop (GASP!) a bit of an edge?

http://www.rockinsider.com/2008/05/coldplay-unveil-hill.html

Today, after a wait of nearly three years, we’ve finally been treated to a new Coldplay tune. ‘Violet Hill’, the lead single from the band’s upcoming Viva La Vida LP, has been available for download from Coldplay’s official site since 12.15pm today. The price? A very generous 0p - thanks Chris!

Our verdict: it’s a definite hit that fits snugly alongside the best material from their career. Built around Will Champion’s tribal drum thumps and a swirling wall of guitars, producer Brian Eno has helped turn the band into the U2-style stadium conquerors that X&Y never quite managed. The usual piano tinkling, falsetto vocals and funky Jonny Buckland guitar solo are all present and correct, but, intriguingly, Chris Martin’s lyrics seem to be more political than ever before. What could he mean by the future being “architectured” by a “carnival of idiots on show”? Hmm…

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a9…-any-good.html

Snap judgment: Coldplay’s ‘Violet Hill’

Free shows, free single — Coldplay is just feeling so free right now! Well, that single will only be free for another few days, so you’d better head to their website and snap it up while you still can. Of course, I filled out their form a couple days ago, twice, and I have yet to receive the magical email bearing “Violet Hill” in either my work or personal inbox… but assuming you can get your mitts on an MP3, what will you be getting into?

First off, Brian Eno’s production has done these guys well. “Violet Hill” opens with a thin synth wash that’s very Music for Airports, and proceeds from there to some droning, stabbing guitar textures that sound cooler than most any Coldplay tunes I can think of. Still, the songcraft itself feels lacking. The melody’s fine, if nothing special; I can accept that Chris Martin may have spent up all his truly indelible melodies on the band’s first few albums. But those lyrics! Surely even he knows how clunky the words he’s singing these days are. (Forcing a slant-rhyme out of “December” and “cathedrals”? For real?)

Then again, Gwyneth thinks the whole album is “brilliant.” And who am I to argue with her? You tell me — am I the only one left a little, er, cold by playing “Violet Hill”? And while we’re at it, can anyone figure out what’s up with that bizarre, Delacroix-jacking cover art?

http://popwatch.ew.com/