Well, I just listened to 'Speed Of Sound' for the first time and the keyboards in it just sound too much like 'Clocks'. It's a catchy song, but it's very easy to listen to. It's typical Coldplay. They're good, very good, at what they do, but do achieve the kind of superstardom and greatness Martin claims to be on the way to, you have to be willing to ditch what got you any fame at all and try something new. That trying something new part is where many bands fall by the wayside.
Let's say that U2 didn't achieve the kind of success Coldplay had with Parachutes until War. But after war, U2 put aside the punk-ish, angry sound that got them whatever fame they had, and tried something new. They took a risk. For them, it paid off. It resulted in two records, TUF and JT, that spawned songs like Pride, Bad, Streets, Still Haven't Found, WOWY - these songs are some of the biggest reasons why U2 are legends. But what if, after War, they had kept trying to reproduce what they had in War? What if when someone listened to the record after War for the first time, heard a song, and said, 'wait, this sounds too much like Sunday Bloody Sunday?' In that scenario, U2 wouldn't have taken the risk that resulted in the aforementioned hits, and may well have faded away soon after. It was the risk, the willingness to leave War behind and try something else. Like Clayton once said, 'It was either the end of something or the beginning of something else, and that new beginning was The Unforgettable Fire'. As we all know, U2 would take the same risk again at the outset of the 90s, resulting in all-time hits 'One', 'Mysterious Ways', 'Until The End Of The World', 'Stay', etc etc.
Now, I'll reserve full judgement until I hear the whole album, but judging just from this single, it sounds very much in the same vein as AROBTTH. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't feel like Coldplay is the type of band that would be willing to risk what they have in order to find something new in the music. And realistically, when you look at the handful of bands in the last 50 years who have ever held the title of 'biggest band in the world', they at one point or another took that risk. Whether or not Coldplay is willing to take that risk is yet to be seen.
I should add, though, that in this day and age, it would be an even bigger risk for Coldplay than it was for U2 in 83-84. Bono was exactly right at the HOF when he alluded to the fact that U2 wouldn't have survived in today's music industry. In today's industry, if you have one flop record, it can be your end. If Coldplay doesn't take that risk(and again, we don't know if they have with this record yet, or if they will after it), that could very well be a reason why.
I guess we'll be able to see if they took the risk in a couple months when the record comes out.