You know, I think I’m going to give up trying to write about music in Chinese. It’s… well, they sound funny. Here are some of my thoughts, in a (slightly) more coherent form.
Coldplay – Viva La Vida
If you like Coldplay, you must listen to this record; but if you don’t really like Coldplay, then this record isn’t going to change your mind.
I know, I know, Brian Eno produced it and there are new instruments and rhythms on the album – but this is not their Think Tank or OK Computer. The same type of straightforward arena-friendly rock is still here. You can’t miss their melody and choruses, and Chris’ lyrics are… rather plain. So, sure, there are some interesting new tricks, but there’s nothing really challenging.
I still think their first album was their best.
Once – Music from the Motion Picture
“Once” is a lovely little indie Irish film about indie musicians who fall in love. By using the musicians’ performances, the movie is able to feel like a documentary-musical: a type of thing where the music is essential for understanding the characters’ feelings.
What I found most interesting was the way that the music lifted the film, and how the film lifted the music. In the movie, all of the songs amplified our visual interpretations: when the story’s emotions (ie. loneliness) are sung, that characterizations suddenly became intimate and intense.
And, vice versa, by understanding the film’s context, the music itself sounds better, too. Which is to say why I’m kind of disappointed with the CD. In a CD player and after my visual memory has faded, the music isn’t as good anymore. The lyrics, now removed from context, seems almost trite.
This phenomenon reminds me of the way I used to think about church worship songs. They’re so simple and the lyrics are pretty trite – but once I understand the story, the stuff in between the songs, then those songs take on a life on their own and they sound amazing. It’s a life context…
Weezer (or, the red album)
Well, this is better than Make Believe or Maladriot. It has a few good hard-hitters like “The Angel and the One” and “Pork and Beans”, but it has a lot of duds too. “The Greatest Man that Ever Lived” is really fun for about a week, but then you realize that its lyrics are bad and misogynistic, and the production is just too slick.
*sigh*
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