Review Summary: What are we drinking when we're done?
Glasses of water.
In 2008, Coldplay released their Grammy-winning, praiseworthy (note, those two adjectives aren't related in the slightest) effort, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, only to release an EP a few months later. It consists of songs left over from the Viva La Vida studio sessions and some that couldn’t be completed in time for the album itself, in addition to remixes of two songs present on the album.
Although an EP-release is met with a fair amount of skepticism interspersed with intrigue that new material from a band never fails to bring, Prospekt’s March more than just stakes its claim, providing itself with its own identity.
Akin to Viva La Vida, Prospekt’s March too begins with the familiar tabla-accompanied pleasant melody in ‘Life in Technicolour II’, that provides a heart-warming feelgood factor, a recurring occurrence on this album. With a longer song structure and well-written lyrics, this makes for a perfect album opener. The music video of this song, probably Coldplay’s finest, definitely warrants a watch. The second track, ‘Postcards From Far Away’ is a 48-second long piano piece that creates a quaint atmosphere of melancholy and hopefulness, simply seeming to coexist. This builds up to an absolute gem that probably deserved to be on Viva La Vida, the lyrically brilliant ‘Glass of Water’, where Coldplay venture off into a time signature unfamiliar to most of their material. Guitarist Jonny Buckland is on top of his game throughout the whole album but more so on this track, where he makes the song what it is, right from the dual-guitar intro to the surreal crescendo of sound in the chorus. One can not help but wonder why his melodies aren’t as diverse more often, when the jovial, upbeat tune of next track, ‘Rainy Day’ kicks in, wonderfully complemented by Guy Berryman’s staccato-ed bassline. Rainy Day is a musical oxymoron (if it can be termed that way), in the sense that it summons a completely different, more cheerful ambiance than its title suggests. The only negatives attributed to it are that the transitions aren’t as seamless as they should be and the song’s length bogs it down a tad.
The two remixes in the EP are Lost+ and the Osaka Sun Mix of Lovers in Japan. Lost+ features a Jay-Z rap section overlapping with the guitar solo that doesn’t sound all that shabby but seems embarrassingly out of place. Lovers in Japan, like in the original album, is a purely average track and is serves as more of a filler than much else. The album is concluded with a beautiful acoustic piece, ‘Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground’. The other acoustic number on the album is Prospekt's March, the former delicately laced with horns and displaying middle-eastern influences (featuring yet again, a tabla!) and the latter equally good, with some heart-on-sleeve vocals from frontman Chris Martin.
The lyrics on the EP are consistently at a high standard.
Quoting a few examples,
“Oh, son, don't ask
Neither how full nor empty is your glass
Cling to the mast
Spend your whole life living in the past
Going nowhere fast” (Glass of Water)
“Gravity, release me
And don't ever hold me down
Now my feet won't touch the ground” (Life in Technicolor II)
This bit from the title track takes the cake.
“Don't you wish your life could be as simple
As fish swimming around in a barrel?
When you've got the gun”
All in all, Prospekt’s March is a collection of songs that riding on the wave created by Viva La Vida, effortlessly create some ripples of their own. Despite showcasing a variety of styles in a short span of 27 minutes, Coldplay is as Coldplay does.
[This is my first review! I apologise if the standard of this review wasn't able to meet those set for reviews on this website. Constructive criticism is much-appreciated!]
