Maps of Music

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)

Where the lyrics of Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends take you, and where it was really made.

The cover is Eugène Delacroix's 1830 painting Liberty Leading the People, with the album title painted over it.

Key places

The Bakery recording studio (2008)

Recording site The Bakery — After the Twisted Logic Tour, the band moved to The Bakery and built a recording studio there. The album was recorded in this studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Magic Shop in New York (2008)

Recording site Magic Shop — The album's recording locations list includes Magic Shop, a recording studio in New York City. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Nunnery in Barcelona (2008)

Recording site Olympic Stadium (Barcelona) — The album's recording locations list includes The Nunnery in Barcelona, Spain. The point is placed at the city center. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends: fourth studio album by British rock band Coldplay
• Released 12 June 2008 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom
• Title is a Spanish phrase meaning "long live life" or simply "live life"
• Lyrical themes include love, life, death and war
• Cover: Eugène Delacroix's 1830 painting Liberty Leading the People, with the album title over it
• Re-released 25 November 2008 as a deluxe edition with the Prospekt's March EP, which contained "Life in Technicolor II"

Background

• Recording sessions ran from November 2006 to April 2008
• Producers: Jon Hopkins, Rik Simpson, Markus Dravs and Brian Eno
• First Coldplay album without production input from Ken Nelson, who produced their first two albums
• Development delayed the release date several times
• Previous album X&Y (2005) received mixed reviews; Chris Martin was affected by a negative New York Times review
• Eno was asked to suggest a producer and suggested himself; he told the band their songs were too long and too repetitive

Recording

• Work began in November 2006, interrupted by the final leg of the Twisted Logic Tour in early 2007
• After the Twisted Logic Tour the band moved to The Bakery and built a recording studio there
• Eno required every song to sound different; "Yes" features the lowest vocals Chris Martin ever recorded
• Martin wanted to move from his trademark falsetto to a lower register
• Davide Rossi recorded strings throughout the album; his strings appear on six songs
• Coldplay had recorded in churches and in Spanish-speaking countries including Mexico and Barcelona, Spain

Cover

• Designed by Coldplay and Tappin Gofton
• Liberty Leading the People was slightly altered, with "VIVA LA VIDA" drawn in white paint

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in 1997 by Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland and Guy Berryman, who met at University College London.
• Will Champion joined in January 1998; the group first went by Big Fat Noises and Starfish before settling on Coldplay.
• Signed with Parlophone in 1999 after the EP Safety (1998) was financed by lifelong friend Phil Harvey.

Members

• Chris Martin: lead vocals, piano, keyboards, guitars.
• Jonny Buckland: guitars, keyboards, backing vocals.
• Guy Berryman: bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals.
• Will Champion: drums, percussion, piano, backing vocals.
• Phil Harvey: manager, later creative director, often credited as a fifth member.

Career

• Debut Parachutes (2000) won a Brit Award and a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album; A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) and X&Y (2005) followed.
• Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) won a Grammy for Best Rock Album and topped charts in over 30 countries.
• Music of the Spheres (2021) included My Universe with BTS, the first British group song to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Over 170 million records sold worldwide; the Music of the Spheres World Tour became one of the highest-grossing tours of all time.

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: weighted average 72 out of 100 from 32 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews
• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): praised the focused concentration of the tight album, which covers more ground than X&Y
• Entertainment Weekly (Chris Willman): rated the album A−, calling it the band's best album
• The Guardian (Alexis Petridis): wrote a mixed review, finding a failure of imagination but a genuine conviction in its contents
• Rolling Stone (Will Hermes): said the goal of uniting fans was the band's strength but a weakness on a record making strong statements
• Melodic (Kaj Roth): gave 4/5 and felt the typical Coldplay trademark was there
• Spin (Mikael Wood): positive review, praising its sturdy melodies and universal themes
• IGN: gave 9.3/10
• Q: called it an emphatic success
• Robert Christgau: one-star honourable mention
• The Times (Pete Paphides): initially gave three stars, then admitted in December 2008 he was wrong and it had become his favourite album of the year
• NME: reviewed it with an 8/10 grade but nominated it for Worst Album at the 2009 NME Awards

Reappraisal

• Billboard (Shawn Cooke): called it the last massive experimental rock album in its tenth-anniversary review
• Retrospectively described as transitional, both the most Coldplay record and unlike anything the band had done before

Records

• Won Best Rock Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards; also nominated for Album of the Year
• Best-selling album of 2008, with 6.8 million copies sold
• Reached number one in 36 countries
• EMI shipped over 3 million copies in its first week worldwide
• UK: over 302,074 in three days; 500,000 copies within 10 days
• US: over 721,207 copies in a week
• Australia: certified four-times platinum
• Canada: debuted at number one with 90,000 copies
• Japan: debuted at number five with 38,573 copies
• 13 million copies sold worldwide by 2011

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Martin said he had been reading many Charles Dickens novels during recording, which may have contributed to the strong visual imagery of "Violet Hill" and "Cemeteries of London"
• "Violet Hill" has been described as the band's first anti-war protest song, and Martin said its lyrics were a commentary on Fox News
• Coldplay used customised French revolutionary costumes on the Viva la Vida Tour and in the singles' videos
• The Prospekt's March Edition replaced the standard cover's painting with a bigger "Viva la Vida" in gold on solid black
• "Viva la Vida" song was used in an advertisement for Apple's iTunes in May 2008

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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