Coldplay: Viva La Vida

Asked by MTV's Gideon Yago a few years ago about the many bands that

had ridden elements of the Radiohead sound, Thom Yorke all but dared his

followers to try for a Kid A, the album that tipped the balance between

Radiohead's pop and experimental sides squarely toward the latter. After the

dull placeholding of the 2005 album X&Y;, now would be a good time

for Coldplay to rise to that challenge. But does the band have a Kid A in it A better question:

Would we really want a Kid A from Coldplay The band does soaring, soundscape-y

pop well, after all.

Whatever the case, Viva La Vida sounds as if it comes as

close to the experimental edge as Coldplay dares. It isn't a bad place for the

group to be. The distorted guitars of the first single, "Violet Hill," prove to

be an anomaly, but the album finds frontman Chris Martin and the rest of the

band, perhaps egged on by new producer Brian Eno, experimenting with new sounds

and zigzag song structures throughout. The result is an instantly familiar

sound that avoids repeating itself. Martin's heart-on-his-sleeve lyrics won't

win over any doubters, but tracks like the title cut and "Lost!" should keep

the hits coming, and the rest of the album will please fans hoping to hear the

band push its sound a little further. But not, you know, too far.