Writing the Anti-Download Album: In this day age, music tracks are disposable as bubblegum. The key is writing an all encompassing album that people want to buy. All encompassing means great songs, great artwork and a unifying theme stringing everything together. Coldplay understands this well.

“X&Y was melodic and safe, but too many songs were trying to be anthems says Chris Martin. We still love big choruses but on Viva la Vida, no anthem dominates. The big thing this time was to write a complete and cohesive album. I call it our ‘anti-download’ album, in that there aren’t are two or three songs to dip into. Each song informs the next and they all have their own colour. The guiding principle was: ‘We can’t get any bigger, but we can get better.’

Chris Martin on producer Brian Eno…

We felt Brian was the man to reconnect us. Just listen to the production he has done for Bowie, Talking Heads or U2. I always view our albums in terms of U2 albums. Viva la Vida is our Unforgettable Fire in that it’s less straightforward, more oblique. It’s about sex and death and love and fear and travel and illness. There’s light and there’s dark.

Chris Martin on EMI…

“We delivered the last record late, and there were reports EMI’s share price had fallen because the album wasn’t going to be out in a certain financial quarter. How can I emphasise this? It’s Got Nothing To Do With Me. You can’t put that sort of pressure on a band.

“EMI has been through a lot, but when people are saying ‘the success of the new Coldplay album is vital to EMI’s future’, you just want to curl up and die. (Full article here)