Viva la Vida

Coldplay release their fourth album "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends" on Parlophone. The album comprises 10 brand new tracks, recorded in London, Barcelona and New York with producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs. "Viva La Vida" follows the hugely successful album "X&Y", which has sold 10 million copies since its release in 2005.
Customer Review: Why did they paint on the Delacroix?
As with most all uber-hyped pop albums, this one doesn't go deep and raw enough to be fantastic (if it did, it would make too many enemies). However as chart toppers go, this one is straight from the heart, and will remain on my playlist for a long time. Chris Martin singing 'you didn't get to heaven, but you made it close/you didn't get to heaven, but you aaa.... (almost?)' is hard to forget. all songs have a crunchy revolutionary anthem feel that fits Martin like an old leather coat. One that i'll be wearing for a while.
Customer Review: If it wasn't so overhyped, I might be less critical...
Coldplay is good. They're better than most. Most rap, most country, most rock and DEFINITELY most pop. But Viva la Vida is extremely overexposed, and Coldplay have long been riding a tidal wave of mediocrity over the heads of the consumers. Regarding their most recent release, the lyrics are interesting, the melodies pretty, the songs epic in scope, but rather pedestrian when all the synthesizers are stripped away. Chris Martin has a nice voice, but not an inspiring one. But, then again, the same might be said about U2, and look what they've accomplished. At least Coldplay aren't a ripoff (well, yes, they do bear more than a passing nod to U2, but I mean ripoff in the "you've been robbed" kind of way)...at worst you might feel like you spent too much on the CD - you won't be wondering why you bought it in the first place. I probably wouldn't be so critical had I not been expecting considerably more from their new CD. The song "Viva la Vida" was stuck in my head by about the fifth time I saw the stupid iTunes commercial. It's arranged in a way to make it a depaparture from typical pop/rock drivel, and I like its bass pulse: solid without being bombastic. Nice layering of sounds, but it sounds canned overall. There are a couple of tunes that sound like they borrowed a page from Sgt. Pepper (but who HASN'T borrowed a page from Sgt. Pepper?), and a few that suggest to me a hasty trip from concept to final mix. HOWEVER, if you think I'm being overly critical, you should hear my rants about 99.9999999% of the rest of the music that I have been subjected to and tortured with over the years. Overall, I'm pleased by Coldplay's latest. I give it 7 points for every single track being worthy of repeated listens, 1 point for the single "Viva la Vida" having the incredible capacity to get stuck in your head, minus 2 points for the CD as a whole not living up to the hype, but I'm giving those 2 points back as extra credit for still being better than most of what else the recording industry attempts to shove down our throats. 80%. That's a solid B. Good effort.

Many critics and writers opine that Gypsy Broadway's greatest musical masterpiece would not have been what it was without the exceptional acting talents of Ethel Merman. They bring out the fact that as a mother the aggressive and tyrannical yet likably understood character of Rose strongly portrayed by her was absolutely perfect. The success of Gypsy was mainly because of her and also because of its hilarious choreography. Ethel Merman was central to Gypsy in more ways than one. She was gifted with a booming voice and her brash personality was eminently suited for the stage-obsessed character of Rose.

It was then incredible that Ethel Merman lost out to Sound Of Music's Mary Martin when the turn to receive the Tony Awards came. Many critics consider this error by the judges of the Tony awards as the most idiotic one. The above original production of Gypsy debuted on Broadway on May 21, 1959 at the Broadway Theatre. It then moved on to the Imperial Theatre and ran a total of 702 performances in all, excluding the 2 previews. A high point of Gypsy was its direction and choreography both by Jerome Robbins. Although not destined to be a dance show, Robbins added charm to the plot by weaving in the vaudeville and burlesque styles of choreography into it. These were considered the most lingering aspects that gripped the minds of its audiences as they came out of the theatre.

Produced by David Merrick and with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy the musical received a total of 8 Tony Award nominations, yet surprisingly failed to win any. The show closed in March 1961. Gypsy was loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee and focus on her mother Rose. The book was written by Arthur Laurents. Rose is the ultimate mother in show business. The plot revolves around the dream of Rose, and her efforts, to bring up her two daughters so they could become stage artistes. It portrays the trials and tribulations that a career in show business involves.

Gypsy contained a total of 17 songs in two Acts. Of them, Small World, You'll Never Get Away From Me, Let Me Entertain You, and Everything's Coming Up Roses became popular standards. Further revivals of Gypsy on Broadway occurred in 1974 (120 performances), 1989 (476 performances), 2003 (451 performances). Besides these, a current revival of Gypsy Broadway's multiple reincarnated musical show is on the cards. The latest reincarnation began at the St. James Theatre on March 27, 2008 with Patti Lupone in the lead role as Rose. Although, Gypsy Broadway's moneyspinner through its many reincarnations past, present, and future will stay in the minds of people for ever, its spark was really Ethel Merman.

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