Saturday, March 14, 2009

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (also simply known as Viva la Vida) is the fourth studio album by English alternative rock band Coldplay. It was released on 11 June 2008 in Japan, 12 June 2008 in the United Kingdom, and 17 June 2008 in North America. Coldplay released four singles from the record: "Violet Hill" and "Viva la Vida" in May 2008 and "Lost!" and "Lovers in Japan" in November 2008. "Viva la Vida" is the band's first song to reach number one in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The album has, to date, been the number-one-selling album in 36 countries around the world. In the United States, it sold 316,000 copies in its first day, and 720,000 in its first week. In the UK, the album sold 302,074 in three days, debuting at number one. Viva la Vida has become the most paid-for downloaded album of all time. According to the 2008 Year-End Music Industry Report by Nielsen SoundScan, Viva la Vida was the second-best selling album in the United States in 2008, selling a year-end total of 2,144,000 copies; surpassed only by Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. The album was also announced as the worldwide best-selling album of 2008. The album won Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards.

In August 2008, Coldplay announced they would be releasing an EP, Prospekt's March, consisting of unreleased material from the Viva la Vida recording sessions. The album was re-released on 25 November 2008 in a deluxe edition, titled Viva la Vida - Prospekt's March Edition. It contains tracks off the original album and Prospekt's March.

alternative rock band formed in London

Coldplay are an English  alternative rock band formed in London, England in 1998. The group comprises vocalist/pianist/guitarist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Will Champion. Coldplay have sold 50 million albums, and are also known for their hit singles, such as "Yellow", "The Scientist", "Clocks", "Speed of Sound", "Fix You" and "Viva la Vida".Coldplay achieved worldwide fame with the release of their single "Yellow", followed by their debut album, Parachutes (2000), which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Its follow-up, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), won multiple awards such as NME's Album of the Year. Their next release, X&Y (2005), received a slightly less enthusiastic yet still generally positive reception. The band's fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), was produced by Brian Eno and released again to largely favourable reviews, earning several Grammy nominations.All of Coldplay's albums have enjoyed commercial success.

Coldplay's early material was compared to acts such as Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, U2, and Travis. Since the release of Parachutes, Coldplay have drawn influence from other sources, including Echo and the Bunnymen, Kate Bush and George Harrison on A Rush of Blood to the Head, Johnny Cash and Kraftwerk for X&Y and Blur, Arcade Fire and My Bloody Valentine on Viva la Vida. Coldplay have been an active supporter of various social and political causes, such as Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign and Amnesty International. The group have also performed at various charity projects such as Band Aid 20, Live 8, and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Cold Play Lyrics

Cemetaries of London
At night they would go walking ‘til the breaking of the day,
The morning is for sleeping…
Through the dark streets they go searching to seek God in their own way,
Save the nighttime for your weeping…
Your weeping…
Singing la lalalala la le…
And the night over London rang.
So we rode down to the river where the toiling ghosts strain
for their curses to be broken…
We’d go underneath the arches where the witches are in there saying
There are ghost towns in the ocean…
The ocean…
Singing la lalalala la le…
And the night over London rang.
God is in the houses and God is in my head… and all the cemeteries in London…
I see God come in my garden, but I don’t know what he said,
For my heart, it wasn’t open…
Not open…
Singing la lalalala la le…
and the night over London rang.
Singing la lalalala la le…
There's no light over London today.