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Released as a free download for a limited time from their website starting May 15. This will also be given out as a free hard copy at all of their summer concerts, festivals excluded, also for a limited time.

Ah Coldplay. A band that people either love or hate or love to hate or hate to love. A guilty pleasure for some and for others the antichrist. They do tend to incite passions whether positive or negative, no one seems able to sit on the fence in their opinion of them. Coldplay are either creative geniuses (but only to those who don’t know any better) or outright thieves stealing their melodies from other peoples work (one day I’m going to do an in depth article on copyright infringement since it seems to be something that a lot of people find confusing. What a lot of people think is infringement, isn’t). Love them or hate them, no matter what your preference, you have to admit that they sell a lot of records.

I have to state up-front that I love Coldplay. Do I think they are creative geniuses? No. Do I think they make great music? No. Do I think Chris Martin is a great lyricist? Heavens no. So why then, you may ask yourself, do I like them? Well, because as millions of others have discovered, they have that somein somein, that intangible quality that makes certain bands rise above others. Individually they aren’t great musicians, Jonny Buckland is a competent guitarist who, at times, can elevate himself with a surprisingly muscular touch when necessary, Will Champion is a competent drummer, Guy Berryman an able bassist and Chris Martin…well, he knows his way around a melody, is deft at the piano and can write a catchy hook but together there is a magic something that few bands have. Face it, there are bands who are far more talented who will never know the kind of success that Coldplay has realized because they just lack that one piece of the puzzle known as chemistry. There is just something about Coldplay that I find immensely likeable.

Don’t get me wrong, they have written some really good tunes, mostly from early in their career though. “Bigger, Stronger” from the Blue Room album is really a treat, in fact, a lot of their B-sides are arguably better than the A-sides. And their second album, Rush Of Blood To The Head contains some of Martin’s strongest writing to date. The fact that they seem to have blown their wad on their sophomore release is a little disturbing but that doesn’t mean that X & Y or Viva la Vida Or Death And All His Friends don’t contain some real gems. But of course, my favourites are seldom what the hordes of fans like. My favourite song on Viva la Vida is “Cemeteries of London” which is a widely panned tune and on X & Y the last song, “Twisted Logic”, is a really solid song built around a psychedelic atmosphere that reminds me of the experimental stuff from the ’70s when bands were playing around with stereo sound.

All this leads to this freebie, Left Right Left Right Left. In an effort to recognize the fact that these are tough times and as a thank-you to the fans who are spending hard-earned dollars to see them, the boys from Britain decided to release a live EP that contains nine songs recorded at various venues during their winter tour. The nine songs lean heavily on the last album, Viva la Vida, as would be expected but it also has a couple of songs from their past releases. Therefore we see “Clocks”, “Fix You” (please, please, please, Chris, I beg you. Nice enough as this song is, it really isn’t as good as you think it is, so put it to bed, k? Thanks.) and “The Hardest Part” make an appearance. “The Hardest Part” is really a nice surprise as it is stripped down to the bare bones with just Martin’s piano supporting a far more restrained vocal. Martin uses his lower register on this, a much underused part of his voice that deserves more airing since he sounds much more comfortable and less strained. On X & Y, this song is a light-weight ode to childbirth but on this stripped down version, it is far darker.

As much as Martin and his pals are good with the light, fluffy tunes, I find them much more interesting when they explore their darker side, something they should do more frequently. “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face” from Rush Of Blood To The Head has one of the strongest and most stunning guitar lines Buckland has ever produced and the lyrical quality is right up there with the best. A very dark song that is truly one of the best they have ever written. X & Y often sounds tired as if they really didn’t put much effort in it but Viva la Vida sees them picking up steam again. And Left Right Left Right Left shows us just how well the songs translate live.

The EP starts off with “Glass Of Water” from, Prospekt’s March. It’s a good song to start the album off with as it has a dynamic, driving sound that propels you along, breathless. I love how the song has a furious pace and I always get a mental image of someone being blown down a sunny lane by a playful wind. “42” follows which may not have been the best choice given it’s dirge-like quality and the emphasis on the lower quality lyric. However, this song does redeem itself when it breaks out into a mid-eastern-flavoured melody. And I have to confess it does have a favourite lyric of mine, “You didn’t get to heaven but you made it close”. Love that line and I do like Buckland’s more muscular guitar intro.

“Strawberry Swing” is my least favourite song off Viva la Vida , I find it just too happy for my liking. “It’s such a perfect day”, is pretty much a rip from Lou Reed’s song, “Perfect Day”. I suppose it would be natural for Coldplay, who freely admit to pilfering ideas, to write a song similar to Lou Reed’s since they did sing it for him at Glastonbury. (note: pilfering ideas is not the same thing as ripping someone’s else song off. If it was then INXS could sue U2 for “Mysterious Ways” since Bono got that idea from their song, “Mystify”) “Viva la Vida” I always figured would be a big audience sing-a-long, it is after all, plagiarism issues aside, a well-crafted manipulative song that is meant to get you up and dancing. Another admission from me – I’ve listened to this song too many times to mention and I’m still not sick of it, it has the same effect on me that “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” from Radiohead has and that it is it leaves me feeling happy and contented. Both songs never fail to lift my spirits which says a lot about me, I guess, considering the subject matter of “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”.

Left Right Left Right Left also features Will Champion taking his turn singing lead vocals on “Death Will Never Conquer”, a happy little ditty about, well, death. Champion’s voice, although not strong, is perfect for the whimsical lyrics and it’s nice to see the flexibility of the band. All four lads are multi-instrumentalists and I have heard rumours that they take turns on each instrument during sound checks. Buckland has also taken his turn at lead vocals, singing a verse or two of “Don’t Panic” during past tours.

Production wise, I’m sure they cleaned up Martin’s vocals somewhat as he can be a bit sloppy and inconsistent. That said, he does sound in fine voice with only a few glitches, mostly during his falsetto. I would have preferred hearing a bit more of the crowd since this is a live album but that’s a minor complaint really and a personal preference. All in all, this is a must have for any Coldplay fan, especially if you have seen them in concert. However, if you are going to any of their live shows this summer, with the exception of the festivals, you might want to forgo downloading this and wait to get the hard copy. Unfortunately, I won’t be seeing them when they come to Toronto as I didn’t have the funds when tickets first went on sale and although there are still some seats available, I’ve had a falling out with Ticketmaster and for the time being am boycotting them. Yes, I am cutting off my nose to spite my face but there is a principle involved here. And I know that Ticketmaster couldn’t care less about one disgruntled client but I’m pissed. But that’s neither here nor there unless there are about 10 million others who are willing to boycott them.

Anyway, you can download the EP from their website. They had problems earlier with heavy traffic causing slowdowns and the links not working but, hopefully, these have been dealt with. You will have to sign up in order to download so if you don’t like that idea, I’m sure you will be able to find it elsewhere. You can also visit Coldplay on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. You can buy Coldplay’s CD’s everywhere, I don’t need to tell you.

Here is a taste:

LRLRL – Death And All His Friends
LRLRL – Glass Of Water
LRLRL – Clocks

Tags: EP