Coldplay - Seventh

I have three different versions of Viva la Vida on my iTunes, and I know many more groups have covered this song. Besides the original, I have a bonus track cover by Weezer (I find it ironic that the only original song I like by that band is "Island in the Sun," I think they would serve a better role by just being a cover band) and an acoustic version by the talented Youtube based band Boyce Avenue.

I first heard the track while attending a high school basketball tournament held downtown. It struck me as an odd song for its melodic wailing and mention of St. Peter in the latter two choruses. Coldplay wasn't a band to which I paid heed - I knew friends who liked them, but hadn't the time or inclination to listen to that group quite yet. I decided to get around to it a few weeks later, when I picked up "Death and all of his Friends" - this was independent to having heard it at the game. However, once my CD player began playing it, I connected the two events and now had a source to the song.

I soon memorized the lyrics out of a curiosity to understand what they meant. It is a rare story song by the vague and artful band. I liked the album as a whole so much that I bought their previous work, hoping to mine similar sounding songs for my collection. Unfortunately, "Viva la Vida" was a turning point for the band, and Coldplay wasn't. "X&Y" has to be the most forgettable album to which I've listened - nothing stood out as either great or horrible. Speed of Sound was a hit from the album, but it felt buried in the flood of neutrality in the album. "Rush of Blood to the Head" had a good title track, it symbolized the album well: Very lethargically melancholy, like an insomniac man with a knife clutched in his fist. He isn't exactly a danger to you, but if he lapses, he might rest his head on his armed fist.

No, nothing was quite like the production on "Death and all of his Friends." Their next two albums have been The Message (hard to find, and reportedly not worth the effort), and Mylo Xyloto (very new, early listening appears to be production and little substance so far.). It is both disappointing and interesting that many of the albums I love the most appear to be flukes/diversions/side projects by groups. Maybe it is the uniqueness or exclusivity of these albums that draw me into a second listening of songs like the driving cello and resignedly despairing lyrics of that seventh track...