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One of my favorite album restructurings has to be the one I did years ago for Viva La Vida and Prospekt’s March, which I’m going to re-publish as part of this new series I’m doing.  The LP (VLV) and the bonus follow-up collection (PM) are each superb in their own right, but in blending the best of them, you get a truly special – dare I say perfect – pop/rock record.  Chances are if you’re not a huge Coldplay nerd I’ve already lost your attention, so I’ll cut through all the fanfare and just get right down to my playlist and the reasoning as to why I structured it the way I did.

The album begins with “Life in Technicolor II” – I chose this version because it is more fully fleshed out than its instrumental counterpart.  The band stripped away the vocals from the original version “Life in Technicolor” in 2008 because it sounded too much like “an obvious single”, but I much prefer the full bodied track with Chris Martin’s stunningly beautiful melodic arc.  “Viva La Vida” fits in nicely early as a symphonically-charged highlight – on the original LP, the breathtaking title track was hidden too far back in the listing.  When it comes to Coldplay, I’m all about instant gratification, and that song hooks you in immediately.  I had to be careful about maintaining the flow and delicate balance of Viva La Vida while blending these songs together, because there’s nothing wrong with the way that “Viva La Vida” transitions into “Violet Hill”, but I did not want to frontload my re-imagining.  Also, “Violet Hill” has more of a dark, brooding aura that I feel better serves the back half of the playlist.  So instead, I found that the more sprightly but very elaborate/artsy “Lovers in Japan” fit the bill much better, and the transition from “Viva La Vida” into it is still adequate (or at least not noticeably “chopped off”).  I love how the second half of the 7-minute song fizzles into beautiful classical pianos, so I felt that it made a whole lot of sense to use Prospekt’s March‘s 48-second “Postcards from Far Away” as an extension of that outro – and it also works as a bridge between the very rock-rooted “Lovers in Japan” and the electronic beats that begin “Rainy Day” – which includes some huge violin swells that I had to be careful not to place too closely to “Viva La Vida”, lest they be overshadowed.

“Glass of Water” feels like a mid-album awakening, jolting uplifting energy into a spot where albums typically start to die.  I felt it was important to have that uptick in tempo courtesy of Prospekt’s March in the center of things.  It has something of a wistful, sincere curtain call that allowed me to perfectly transition the mood into the more eerie “Violet Hill” – replete with its electric guitar solos and unforgettable choruses – it all just works ideally in this placing.  “Prospekt’s March / Poppyfields” is a haunting acoustic ballad that retains the forlorn atmosphere that Coldplay leaves us off at during the closing “if you love me, won’t you let me know” moments of “Violet Hill”, all before things take a noticeable turn back towards the energetic with the warmth and romance of “Strawberry Swing.”  Normally that song works very well at the end of Viva La Vida (the original LP), but I was far too enamored with the idea of “Yes”/”42″/”Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground”/”Death and All His Friends” as a closing sequence to mess with that dynamic.  “Yes” – a song that begins with eastern/Arabic influences and transitions into an all out rocker – feels like the perfect guitar smashing moment to bring about the trio of closers about death.  There’s “42” (“those who are dead are not dead, they’re just living in my head / you didn’t get to heaven but you made it close”), the short acoustic ditty “Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground” (whose mantra echoes the chorus from “Life in Technicolor II”, bringing things full circle lyrically), and finally the spellbinding, depressing “Death and All His Friends” (with a return to the ambience of the opener, it brings things full circle musically).  “Death and All His Friends” is also hands down the best (and only) way to draw the curtains on this incredible collection of songs – it feels summative in a very satisying way.

If you’re into restructuring albums for your own enjoyment, and have a soft spot for Coldplay at their pinnacle, give this re-imagining a chance.  I’m pretty proud of it compared to most other playlists I’ve made – the transitions, momentum, and overall flow of it is amazing.  All credit of course goes to Coldplay for making two beautiful works in Viva La Vida and Prospekt’s March.  Let me know what you think in the comments – did this enhance your experience of the album? Would you have swapped out any of my inclusions for something else?  As far as I’m concerned, this is the only way to listen to Viva La Vida moving forward.

Viva La VidaViva La Vida - Prospekt's March Edition

Reimagined Viva La Vida Tracklist:

  1. Life in Technicolor II
  2. Viva La Vida
  3. Lovers in Japan
  4. Postcards from Far Away
  5. Rainy Day
  6. Glass of Water
  7. Violet Hill
  8. Prospekt’s March / Poppyfields
  9. Strawberry Swing
  10. Yes
  11. 42
  12. Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground
  13. Death and All His Friends

Suggested Alternate B-Sides EP:

  1. Life in Technicolor
  2. Cemeteries of London
  3. Lost!
  4. Lost+ (with Jay-Z)
  5. Lovers in Japan (Osaka Sun Mix)





Sowing
07.28.21
If this looks familiar it's because I made a blog about this playlist several years ago. I tweaked it and reformatted it for this new series I'm doing. It's still one of the best album reimaginings I have in my library, and it's definitely the one I'm most proud of, so I hope you enjoy!

With a new Coldplay album on the horizon, this felt like the right time to release this version of Viva La Vida to Sputnik.

Rowan5215
07.28.21
album's honestly gold as is imo. I'd sub in Glass of Water for Lost but leave everything else the same

Sowing
07.28.21
It's hard for me to argue with anyone's VLV preferences (even leaving it as-is). I definitely agree with you on the point that at the very least, Lost! is a weak spot, and Glass of Water is also the track I'd sub-in if I had to pick just one. The rest of this is just me attempting to build atmosphere and flow. I think this version has a magic to it that the original doesn't.

onionbubs
07.28.21
glass of water in place of lost [2]. other than that all id add is now my feet wont touch the ground

Sowing
07.28.21
Rainy Day adds something, and Poppyfields is a quietly underrated gem. Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground is a very nice touch towards the end of the album too IMO.

ghostxmosh
07.28.21
By far my favorite Coldplay record - which says a lot since the first half of their discography is perfect to me (after Ghost Stories they really fell off). So glad I got to see the Viva tour!

insomniac15
07.28.21
Strawberry Swing is such a sweet tune, one of their best.

I would have kept Lost!, it's a nice, breezy tune.

Sowing
07.28.21
Agreed on SS, just a sublime summer tune. Lost I really disagree on, I find it repetitive and a chore to get through. Really kills any early momentum on the original tracklist.

Sowing
07.29.21
Also I snuck 42 into this version. I decided it was too good to leave off, and it fits right in with "Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground" and "Death and All His Friends" as a trio of closers all about death.

Lucman
07.29.21
Wow! I was just revisiting this record an hour ago and wondering how your reimagining went again lol

Lucman
07.29.21
This is mine:
1. Life in Technicolor
2. Glass
3. Lost
4. 42
5. Postcards
6. Lovers
7. Viva
8. Violet Hill
9. Yes
10. Strawberry
11. Prospekts
12. Death
13. Life in Technicolor II

Sowing
07.29.21
I tweaked it ever so slightly. It's currently at risk of running a bit too long, but I had to find a way to keep 42. It works so well at the end of the record near "Death and All His Friends", with lines like "those who are dead are not dead, they're just living in my head" and "you didn't get to heaven but you made it close".

I absolutely adore this era of Coldplay.

Sowing
07.29.21
I don't like Lost that much at all, but otherwise I'm totally game to try it the way you sequenced.

The awesome thing about VLV/PM era Coldplay is they had such a unique and powerful atmosphere about their music. It allows the songs to be mixed and matched in a ton of ways that all sound cohesive/natural.

Lucman
07.29.21
Exactly. I'm not much of a fan of Rainy Day and I couldn't find a place where Cemeteries fit appropriately. And I'm a big sucker for reoccurring musical motifs so Technicolor gets a special treatment.

Rowan5215
07.29.21
there are a couple other b-sides from this era that didn't show up on Prospeckt's March, ftr, like The Goldrush, Lhuna and Death Will Never Conquer. plus a couple leaked demos that are just Chris playing piano and one absolutely incredible song that's instrumental unfortunately (Famous Old Painters)

none of this is essential rly but if you're making a comprehensive playlist of VLV era it's worth tracking them down. Goldrush is p cute and catchy

Sowing
07.29.21
Rowan I had no idea and I'm thrilled you told me. You're the king of b-sides. Any particular place I can find these or are they easy to locate?

Rowan5215
07.29.21
haha I will gladly take the mantle. I found them all on soulseek fairly easily back in the day, but if you surfed the Coldplay subreddit you'd probably also find them there. they came out on various singles so you might have a hard time if you want them in physical copies

from memory: The Goldrush is on the b-side of Life in Technicolor II (only song in their discog with Will on vox)

Death Will Never Conquer is the b-side for Viva la Vida (cute little minute-long piano ditty, good closer vibes)

A Spell a Rebel Yell is the vinyl b-side for Violet Hill (forgot to list this one earlier, kinda cool shoegazey thing similar to Chinese Sleep Chant)

Lhuna is just a standalone single feat. Kylie Minogue (frankly, this one is not good tbh)

and if you're really feel completionist there's a piano acoustic version of Lost which is a slight improvement on the original

Sowing
07.29.21
I actually found them all and lined them up for my drive to work. The Goldrush was decent, slightly memorable, and I'm curious about the audible talking in the background and what's going on there. Death Will Never Conquer seemed like it would have fit as a breezy outro (so agreed with you about the closer vibes), Lhuna I figured I made a mistake when I saw the featured artist but listened anyway (the Coldplay sections weren't terrible but this def would not have fit anywhere in VLV), and Famous Old Painters was prob the best of the bunch even if it lacked that "VLV Magic" to spark it (it was sort of just acoustic guitars and piano which I'm fine with). I will have to check A Spell A Rebel Yell and the piano version of Lost, which might just make that song worthwhile.

Grungil
08.01.21
@Sowing: First, you introduce me to Thrice, which become my best 2021 discovery on the spot, and now you reimagine Viva la Vida, the only Coldplay album i know in its entirely?

You better keep this blog alive, but im gonna follow you down.

Good Work.

StormChaser
08.09.21
I love the concept of this, I had a similar need to reimagine Dark Tranquillity's 2020 album, Moment, where the tracklist was so bad it brought down the overall impression of an otherwise excellent record.

So I made a playlist on Spotify your order of songs for these albums and while I have no quarrel with the flow being better, I just realised how bad some of the songs are on these records, much worse than I remember. But at the same time, some I know I never paid much attention to back in the day, but now I realise how cool they are. Thanks for the list anyway, it's cool

Grungil
08.09.21
I´ve spend half of my life listening to music, and another half reimagining a lot of underrated albums. When you love the music, you can get lost in joy while working on it. Springsteen´s 92 albums, Mellon Collie and Stadium Arcadium are double albums i spend days, sometimes weeks, trying to re-create them as a perfect single album.

StormChaser
08.10.21
Just realised that Cemeteries of London is a bonus track. I'd fit that shit in if I were making a list, especially instead of stuff like Rainy Day or Glass of water. I suppose the sequencing doesn't work as well but it's such a better song than either of those

Feather
08.11.21
Here, I have created the concept for your next post:

'Missing Bodies' by AFI

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vdhfvmCoIJDicD2c0Qrmp?si=0c833d30c5004db9

Feather
08.11.21
Here, I have created the concept for your next post:

'Missing Bodies' by AFI

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vdhfvmCoIJDicD2c0Qrmp?si=0c833d30c5004db9

Slugboiiii
08.11.21
I'd fuck Strawberry Swing right off

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