Doing covers of beloved songs are always risky. Commit a safe, straightforward take and you’ll likely cause murmurs of “What was the point?”; But try to get all ambitious and re-work the song to fit your own unique style and there’s a big chance the people will be coming at you with pitchforks and sharpened fangs, ready to burn you at the stake for “destroying” one of their most cherished tunes.
“Viva La Vida” might be on the verge of celebrating only it’s first birthday, but it’s already been given the “classic” tag, due to it’s majestic melody hooks, smart lyricism, Chris Martin’s soaring vocal sweeps and the fact that it’s damn near impossible to tackle without sounding foolish. Both Solange and American Idol contestant Matt Giraud proved in their own ill-advised cover attempts that unless you’re Gwyneth Paltrow’s baby daddy you should just leave it alone as far as performing it live. Add Lady Gaga to that list.
To her credit, Gaga’s an entertaining one to watch with a better-than-you’d-think voice and a quirky, Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons-reminiscent futuro pop diva fashion sense, and it would be nice to hear more of these kooky, cabaret-pop things from her, but damn if she doesn’t rip this one to shreds with her many lyrical and keyboard-playing flubs and penchant for unnecessary wailing bursts.
It’s a fun train wreck to view but we’re guessing this is one moment in time she wishes she could have had another go at, 17 Again-style.
Mixtape Maestro isn’t ashamed to admit to being a proud sipper of the Solange Kool-Aid. Not only did she pull out one of ’08′s finest R&B releases, but with ONE single managed to singlehandedly best nearly the entire underwhelming (and under-selling) multi-solo album output of all of Destiny’s other children, not to mention previously multi-platinum (and now somewhat pointless) chanteuses like Ashanti.
But the praise has got to stop somewhere, and with Solange, she definitely hits a wall with this ill-advised cover of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”. As the American Idol judges famously sneer, this song is just too big for her, her humble chops hopelessly unable to match the track’s epic loom (and those needless melismastic runs she attempts to sneak in? Major no-no!).
When the only positive comment someone can say about your performance centers on the goofy choreography of your back-up dancers, you know you’ve pulled off a dud. Where’s the winning 60′s girl group motif when you need it?
The guys from Coldplay give into the holiday spirit by temporarily offering this free-to-download Thin White Duke remix of “Viva La Vida”, which fixes the song’s soaring hurrah to the usual playground of can’t-sit-still dance beat franticism.
It’s best trick: the majestic hook release doesn’t pop up until three-quarteres of the way in, while in it’s inter-song place, we get more doses of that breathtaking harmonics exercise that tagged the original’s fade-out.
Pick it up from their website. Below, catch a small clip of the band performing an harmonica-led rendition of “Jingle Bells”.
He probably won’t ever convince anyone to believe in him as a rapper, but Swizz Beatz‘ role as a charismatic hype-man is hard to deny, especially when he’s coming up with golden, “sure-to-be-adopted-by-wannabe-baller” hook chants like “Michael Jordan/ Tiger Woods/ I’m tryna to get that Oprah” (If only he could have brought in someone with a stronger spit game to fill in the spaces between that one line, instead of offering us his lame attempt at a “freestyle”).
FYI Swizz, chopping up “Viva La Vida” into a bounce number is kinda cool, but beware, those Coldplay fanatics are truly “gangsta” and you’re about to get a ton of e-thug heat for messing with what’s become a cherished nu-classic.
Whether you’re a fan of Coldplay or not, you can’t front: “Viva La Vida” is the JAM!! That opening string hook is probably the single most satisfying piece of instrumentation to drop in ’08. It’s pop-tastic, epic-rrific and spiritual-licious all rolled into one (no surprise the song became Coldplay’s first to top the US pop chart), and somewhere U2 is green with envy that they didn’t come up with it first.
This remix from the Hungarian We Plants Are Happy Plants team throws a thumping dance beat and looming synth flourishes into the already magnificent mix. Though the busy Wall of Sound attachments make the track a little too disorienting at times, it eventually lands as a solid clubby re-invention. Not better than the original by far, but likable enough.
It didn’t seem possible that Coldplay could sound any more epic than they have in the past. Then they gifted anxious listeners with the amazing “Violet Hill”, which took Coldplay’s familiar piano-rock template and amped it to eleven with thunderous guitar blasts and spectacular ambient textures. Not only were Coldplay coming across as bigger, they also sounded about ten times better, increasing anticipation for what else they and new collaborator Brian Eno had in store for us on the Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends project. Latest leak “Viva La Vida” continues to set us up for an amazing Coldplay era.
Within seconds of hearing it’s main musical hook, a tense, zig-zagging string melody, “Viva La Vida” announces itself as an instant favorite. Chris Martin’s pearly tenor glides with ease over the pleasantly orchestration as he ponders on how sudden the descent can be once you’re feeling on top of the world: “One minute I held the key/ Next the walls were closed on me/ And I discovered my castles stand/ Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand”.
As the song continues, other musical layers are subtly woven into the arrangement (from chiming bells to distant wails), increasing it’s sense of urgency as Martin’s lyrics delve deeper in intriguing Biblical references. But even as “Viva La Vida” is weighted with all kinds of noise and history book noddings, it never once feels too heavy-handed, retaining it’s innate prettiness and crisp sheen through several mini-climaxes. As all the ornamentation slowly seeps away into the darkness from whence it came, listeners are left with nothing but background harmonies in the fade-out, a strikingly quiet finish that will have you rushing to press rewind just to become enveloped in it’s blossoming extravagance all over again.
Upping the ante in ways you wished, but never thought they could successfully pull off, look for Coldplay’s newest work to only strengthen their hold as the biggest band in the world. Chris Martin and Co., we bow to you.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
Doing covers of beloved songs are always risky. Commit a safe, straightforward take and you’ll likely cause murmurs of “What was the point?”; But try to get all ambitious and re-work the song to fit your own unique style and there’s a big chance the people will be coming at you with pitchforks and sharpened fangs, ready to burn you at the stake for “destroying” one of their most cherished tunes.
Mixtape Maestro isn’t ashamed to admit to being a proud sipper of the Solange Kool-Aid. Not only did she pull out one of 
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