Some Songs Considered

“Life in Technicolor ii” – Coldplay
(Words/music: Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, and Chris Martin, available on Prospekt’s March EP, Capitol 2008) 

Thinking about the video for Air’s “Kelly Watch the Stars” last night started me thinking about other songs I strongly associate with music videos.  Coldplay’s video for the alternate version of “Life in Technicolor” stands out because it defies many of the reasons why I’ve watched fewer videos.  I first saw it on YouTube and watched it because it was one of the first high definition videos (whenever that was a new thing) I saw.  At that time I started to find the band’s Viva la Vida album strangely compelling after generally writing off the band as one that other people loved far more than I ever would.  I hadn’t heard this version of “Life in Technicolor” and, quite honestly, without this video and its charming marionettes, I doubt I’d own the EP.

Musically, “Life in Technicolor” touches on many of the qualities I grew to admire about the band’s last album.  Where the band seemed locked into the piano-anthem formula for a while, the guitars feel comparatively subtle by comparison.  Of course, it’s still a Coldplay song and still has that stadium-reaching melody, but it doesn’t feel as cloying here, partially because Chris Martin doesn’t slip into his nasally register as much.  I think part of it has to do with this video, where Coldplay seems to be mocking their rockstar ambitions.  From the puppet crew member stationed at the desert table to the dozens of Marshall amps rolled out behind the band, each over-the-top detail seems strangely sweet when presented in puppet form.  Coupled with the general bewilderment by the human crowd – particularly the parents at the school – and by the time Coldplay’s helicopter flew through the window at the end, I was ready to click “replay” a couple more times.

More on Coldplay: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“The Killing Moon” – Echo & The Bunnymen
(Words/music: Pete de Freitas, Ian McCulloch, Les Pattinson, Will Sergeant, available on Ocean Rain, Sire 1984)

This August, Echo & the Bunnymen and Coldplay will perform on the same night at New York’s All Points West festival.  It seems appropriate because these two bands have a lot in common with each other. Specifically, both bands craft pop songs in a specific style – Coldplay sounds like a ballad-heavy Radiohead and Echo & The Bunnymen buffed out many of post-punk’s rough edges.  This earns both bands their fair share of detractors, leveling claims that the two are derivative or – even worse – boring.  Sure, neither band will go down in the books as daringly innovative, but I’m not sure that was either band’s goal.  Instead, these bands pour their energy into making their songs bigger and more lavish; to them, innovation means making a grander song.  Of course, this will turn some people off right away, but it’s at the expense of the songs.  Yes, both bands are a little over-the-top at times (and if you catch me in a weaker moment, I’d probably wonder out loud how these two are closing a major music festival), but their best songs deserve the deluxe treatment.  Even if their contemporaries did it better, both bands wrote some of the undeniably best songs of their eras.

The title of “The Killing Moon” suggests a much darker song.  Instead, it strives for a sort of dour beauty rather than gothic gloom.  The tinkling piano lines and guitar phrases echo slightly and sound slightly spooky, but overall they give the song a majestic feeling.  Even Ian McCulloch’s deep voice has a rich tone on this song.  The song (like the album’s cover) sounds cavernous, yet it’s not the kind of cave with the threat of monsters lurking in the darkness.  Instead, it’s sufficiently lit by torches that highlight the cave’s distinctive formations.  It’s a grand song that sounds like a beautiful secret hiding place rather than a source of terror.  Some might label this as false advertising, but hearing “The Killing Moon” should wash away any doubts.  Everything in the arrangement – from the brooding melody to the restrained use of synthesizer in the background – works to create this cavernous wonder.

More on Echo and the Bunnymen: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm