Coldplay’s latest album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, has a mixed critical response. Some appreciate the change from its traditional melodramatic style and some find fault with the album not going far enough off their road to success.

The positive reviews seem content with a familiar sound with a new twist. Chris Martin’s voice is a little lower and the lyrics are a little more abstract with universal themes that will connect everyone in an arena. The album is as tight as the ensembles costumes on stage. The uniforms of soldiers fighting for freedom (taking more of a French Revolution approach than an American Revolution approach, a choice influenced, without a doubt, by the fact that they are British) finds an amicable place with critics like Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic.

The critical reviews look at Coldplay and wish they took the road of Radiohead. Critics have compared early Coldplay to early Radiohead. Many of these critics would have liked Coldplay to take the same jump as Radiohead did between The Bends and OK Computer. These critics see the slight influence of the sounds of Latino musical traditions as a mere shuffle of the feet instead of a full step forward.

The question is then what do the critics expect from the band. Coldplay is undeniably popular on a world scale. To appease these critics should they should they alienate fans and work for several commercially soft albums to rebuild the audience, sans Radiohead? Or should Coldplay accept their pop stardom uncomfortably and keep making albums that do not veer too far from the tastes of the people and remain relevant as a band that can sellout an arena and move massive numbers of albums?

Thus is the argument of art versus commerce. Only time will tell what the band does. Do they keep playing rope-a-dope with the criticism, even embracing it, or do they try and find some other artistic aspirations and influences? I do not know. I like Radiohead and would not mind another, but I have a feeling that if they went down that road the same critics would call them posers for trying to infringe on Radiohead’s domain.