The Shock of the Decent Song

Just as I heard the new Coldplay single before the album release, thus assuring me that their new album wasn’t going to be that bad – I’ve just done the same with Oasis.

I buy Oasis albums come what may. There hasn’t been an absolute must-have from them since Be Here Now, though Standing On The Shoulders… came quite close. But hearing ‘The Shock of The Lightning’ just now on some music channel has convinced me that all is not lost with Oasis, and it actually sounds pretty good!

Unrelated Natterings

I’ve finally paid off the last remaining forty quid to Going Places, meaning the holiday to Malta now seems all the more real. I couldn’t get excited about it until it was all paid for, as I had visions of something, somewhere, going wrong!

But as it is, all I need to pay now is the holiday insurance. I also need some sun lotion, and a book on Malta. I feel that if i go there without a guide, i’ll get lost. Now that the holiday is paid, I can put all my efforts into paying off the HDTV i got on credit too. And then after that, maybe I should stop buying things on the never never! lol

I’ve been watching Euro 2008 these past weeks, and all it has done is confirm the belief that we would’ve been utterly humiliated at this tournament. Several former players (notably Jamie Redknapp) seem convinced that Rooney and Gerrard would’ve helped lighten up the tournament, much like the Dutch and the Spanish have done, and Fabio Capello would’ve led us onto glory.

Slight problem with that logic Jamie, because had we got to the Euro’s, we’d have still had Mr McLaren in charge. Plus, why is it always such a belief that this ‘golden generation’ of international players are so good? We’ve been consistently average for a long while, convincing ourselves at every major tournament that we can win this as we’re ‘far better than any of the other teams’. 

That’s something I won’t miss either, stupid soundbites from players who tell us they can win us the trophy. As we’ve known for a long time, while we fill the Premier League full of foreign imports, we’ll never win us a trophy. Simple as.

I’ve also had time to listen to the new Coldplay album. All the old Coldplay habits remain, big string laden choruses, really bad lyrics (example – “You thought you might’ve been a ghost, you didn’t get to heaven but you made it close”) and some pretentious meaning behind the album title/cover. There are some good songs on there, but quite a few rubbish ones too. Still, it’s worth buying. The latest single, Viva La Vida, is probably the best song on there.

Livin’ La Viva La Vida

I’m a Coldplay fan, I’ve got their last three albums and I thoroughly enjoy their music as it reminds me of certain points in my life, but Chris Martin’s odd behaviour/odd dress sense has really left me non-plussed about their new album. Until the other day.

Since he got married and became mega-rich, he has become a bit of an arse. What put me off the new material was a supposed new direction that they were to take after their last album X&Y. I’m a traditionalist, i like my Coldplay a la ‘Shiver’ and ‘What If’! 

But then I heard the new single ‘Violet Hill’, and have seen the iTunes commercial featuring the song ‘Viva La Vida’ and am now eagerly anticipating the new album. I dunno how Mr Martin does it, but I really like Violet Hill and word is that the album isn’t too far removed from their earlier stuff. It just sounds like X&Y minus the rubbish lyrics but plus lots of ‘world music’.

Just a bit concerned about the Ricky Martin style album name. Then again, X&Y featured a ‘code’ as album art that no-one bothered deciphering, so the crazy album name doesn’t come as that much of a surprise.

Roll on the 12th!