Review and Story Time: Coldplay - Speed Of Sound

I make no secret concerning my admiration for Coldplay. It all began on a fateful evening in which I was battling my insomnia. Flipping through station after station landed me on the ever-dreadful MTV. Bored, I began watching, only to find it bland and insipid, as usual. Still, with nothing else on in the early morning hours, I affixed my eyes to the screen. There it was, the best thing MTV had let grace its screen in what I could only figure was 10 years, and it was Yellow. Genius I thought. This was not normal fare for me either. I was decidely into heavy music (punk, hardcore, whatever you want to call it), and did not stray very far from the formula (save the oldies). But, here I was, listening to a band that would late become the kings of Glum-Rock. Napster was huge at the time (but still in its infancy as far as p2p was concerned), so I downloaded a few tracks. I liked them, but Yellow was absolutely fabulous. I had the get the album. I searched high and low for it at Wal-Mart and Media Play, but, alas could not locate a single copy. Only later did I find out it was yet to be released. So, later I bought it. No regrets whatsoever. For very little stretches of time did it leave my CD player. Eventually, as all music does, it faded from rotation (though I never left home without it). Soon, news came about their next album, and I anxiously waited. Bam, In My Place hits. I thought it was 'eh' and was very disappointed. Not as disappointed as I was when I heard the album in its entirety. This was, of course, in bootlegged form, and I was listening to it in the state-of-the-art audio system that occupied my '73 VW Beetle. When the actual album dropped, I obliged, and picked up a copy, only to be blown away. I suddenly 'got' it, and once again, the album took a long time to fade from rotation, perhaps even longer than Parachutes had. What I came to realize later was that the single In My Place was the most Parachutes-esque and thus, the perfect single for fans who liked the first album and a good introduction to new fans (side story: It doesn't fit on the album very well, which was discovered by my good friend Adam and cemented in fact when we saw Coldplay live and they played Politik straight into God Put A Smile Upon Your Face). Now, 2 years of anticipation has led me to Speed of Sound. I refuse to bootleg the album (or any of the shows), so as not to taint my opinions, but coldplay.com was playing the song, so I felt it my duty to listen. It is, as expected, X&Y's In My Place. It sounds like it would be a great song on A Rush Of Blood To The Head, but I have a feeling it won't fit in perfectly with the rest of the album. Don't get me wrong, the song is FANTASTIC (like a faster version of The Scientist, mixed with a little a little Clocks) and will be a wonderful single, I just hope the album brings a bit more progression (if that's the right word) to their sound. Here's hoping.