Showbiz (album)
MuseWiki, wiki for the band Muse
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| Muse album | |||||
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| Name | Showbiz | ||||
| Tracks |
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| Total length |
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| Recorded | 1999 | ||||
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy | ||||
| Producer | John Leckie, Paul Reeve | ||||
| Art work | Tanya Andrew, Matthew Bellamy | ||||
| Publisher |
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| Format(s) | CD, double 12" vinyl, 12" vinyl, cassette, minidisc, CD-R (promo only) | ||||
| Catalogue number |
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| Release date | |||||
| Chart position | 29 (GB) | ||||
| album chronology | |||||
| < | Showbiz | > | Origin of Symmetry | ||
| Singles: | |||||
      | |||||
Information
Showbiz was Muse's debut album, having been recorded between 1998
and 1999. The songs themselves included some of the older songs in
Muse's repertoir, dating as far back as 1996. All songs on the album
had been witten by 1997. These were among the "fifty or so" that Muse
had written before entering the studio.[3] The band picked those which they deemed least progressive to make up Showbiz.
John Leckie,
who produced the album, started attending Muse's concerts in the latter
half of 1998. Leckie was based at Sawmills recording studio, where
owner Dennis Smith had given the band free recording time the previous
year, from which the Muse EP
resulted. He built up a relationship with the band during this time,
coming to say that he'd want to work with the band if ever they could
afford him. Leckie had not worked with any bands quite some time prior
to doing so with Muse. The recording had finished by the 15th of May
1999.[1]
Release
The booklet which comes with the album does not have lyrics on it,
but instead, a line from each song is cited in bold letters. A limited
"Festival Edition" was released in the Benelux region featuring a bonus
disc with the same content as the Japanese Random 1-8 EP, although without the three hidden "Sunburn" remixes after "Do We Need This (live)".
The UK and US promo CDs are held between two pieces of perspex,
one engraved with the Muse logo, bolted down the middle. The
aforementioned CD originally came with a special perspex spanner. Two
other promo CDs, one with alternative artwork, another with a gold
promo stamp, were made in the US. A variety of promotional CD-Rs were
used to promote the album in the UK, US and Japan. The exclusive
advanced promo CD was an European promo used for promoting Showbiz, and
contains six faded song samples from the album.
The album has gone to sell over 300,000 in the UK making it
Platinum, and has sold over 700,000 copies worldwide. Whilst the first
release was on the Mushroom and Taste Media labels in the UK, the album was reissued on CD in 2006 in the UK on East West Records. Showbiz was reissued on double 12" vinyl under Warner in Europe and North America on the 18th of August, 2009 to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the debut album.
Pre-release
A large number of different promo CDs were distributed across the world to promote Showbiz.
The UK promo came screwed between two embossed perspex plates. Some
copies came with a perspex spanner to undo the bolt on the screw. Muse
had a box of spare spanners on their tour bus so that anyone with a
promo but no spanner could retrieve one for from the band after gigs.
10th Anniversary Contest
On the 4th of October, 2009 the muse.mu website announced that 3 lucky fans could win signed copies of Showbiz if they could guess what "rocker" tried to sign Muse sometime after Maverick did.
The winners were later revealed to be Luke McCarthy-Reed, Helen Fordyce and Dom Green. The answer was Serj Tankian.
Track list
CD, promos, cassettes
- Sunburn
- Muscle Museum
- Fillip
- Falling Down
- Cave
- Showbiz
- Unintended
- Uno
- Sober
- Escape
- Overdue
- Hate This & I'll Love You
- Spiral Static
Origin of Symmetry (album)
MuseWiki, wiki for the band Muse
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| Muse album | |||||
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| Name | Origin of Symmetry | ||||
| Tracks |
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| Total length | 51:42 | ||||
| Recorded | 2001 | ||||
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy | ||||
| Producer | David Bottrill, John Leckie | ||||
| Art work | William Eagar | ||||
| Publisher |
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| Format(s) |
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| Catalogue number |
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| Release date |
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| Chart position | 3 (GB) | ||||
| album chronology | |||||
| Showbiz | < | Origin of Symmetry | > | Absolution | |
| Singles: | |||||
    | |||||
Information
Origin of Symmetry came first about through the changes Muse underwent during their intensive touring in promotion of Showbiz, with a lot of material written whilst touring.[2] However, this album is more riff orientated and slightly darker than Showbiz, containing several songs which use piano or organ. Origin of Symmetry was intended as a more progressive rock-styled album,[2] with different vocal styles than that of Showbiz.
The ambition behind the album was to show the harder rock and eccentric
elements of the band, that they felt had not been seen so far.[2] This included bringing back a lot of music "filtered out" from Showbiz.[2]
The bass in the album is also more prominent and distorted. Some of the
songs of the album draw influence from the band members' relationships
suffering from the effects of them being on tour.[2]
The album art displays a slightly irregular version of the Muse logo.
Title
The name of the album was inspired by the book Hyperspace by
theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. It discusses how a future book about
the discovery of supersymmetry should be entitled "The Origin Of
Symmetry", due to its implications in physics, in reference to the
explanatory impact Charles Darwin's "On The Origin Of Species" had on
biology.[2]
According to Bellamy, "everyone’s been writing about the origin of life
so now they’ll start looking at the origin of symmetry; there’s a
certain amount of stability in the universe and to find out where it
originates from would be to find out if God exists.”[3]
Recording
"New Born", "Plug In Baby", "Bliss" and "Darkshines" were recorded with David Bottrill in the middle of touring in late 2000, in Ridge Farm Studios, Surrey.[2] The songs were recorded as if in a live situation, within a few days.[2] The band later had to re-master the songs with John Cornfield
after the tour was over, in order to make them suitable for release, as
they were not satisfied with the mixing of these tracks.[2]
Matt attributes this to the effects of the hallucinogenics, which were
"great for exploring new territory", but "certainly not good for
finishing things off".[2]
The stripping down of these songs helped set the tone for the recording
of the rest of the album. "New Born", "Plug In Baby" and "Bliss" were
seen as the "backbone of the album" and provided a basis from which the
band could be more experimental with the other songs.[2]
John Leckie pushed the band to explore some of the more
experimental ideas. Some of this took the form of using new percussion
for particular songs, such as using a balafon, as well as animal bones
and llama toenails on "Screenager".[2] Matt felt this was necessary in order to for him to write the lyrics for the album.[2] Classical music also began to have a great impact on the writing of songs for Origin Of Symmetry, particularly on the way Matt perceived music itself.[2] The song "Space Dementia" was inspired by Sergei Rachmaninov, whose music Matt began to listen to whilst writing the album.[2]
"Feeling Good" was included on the album because it was a piano
based song, and was a favourite of a girlfriend Matt had at the time.[2]
The standard release of the album was also originally intended to
include many songs that would later become B-sides, including "Shrinking Universe", "Tesseract" ("Futurism") and "Natural Disaster" ("Nature_1"), as well as unidentified songs entitled "Origin of Symmetry" and "Love Bleach".[4][5]
Pre-release
The promo CD sits in a flat plastic box with a Muse logo on it,
which is held together by screws in two corners of the case. The
aforementioned CD originally came with a perspex screw driver. Two
versions of the promo CD were distributed in the UK. These two versions
only differ in the plastic the box is made from; one tinged yellow and
the other grey. A similar promotional CD was used in France, some
copies of which were distributed in plastic boxes as with the UK
version.
The track list on the UK promo CD has incorrect track lengths
for all tracks, but the audio is identical to the released album.
Unmastered promo CD-Rs were distributed in the UK and Germany. The
Bleeb Unmastered and German CD-R promos are unmastered and have beeping
sounds every few minutes to indicate the CD is a press preview copy.
The unmastered promos feature uncut versions of the songs, for example,
"Bliss" has a 30 second appregiated outro that is not featured in the released album version, and "Citizen Erased" does not merge into "Micro Cuts". Additionally the Exclusive Advanced Promo CD was distributed in Germany, and contains six faded song samples from the album.
Release
Origin of Symmetry was to be released in the US on the 28th August 2001[1] but the release was cancelled after Muse left Maverick. It was finally released in the US in 2005 after Absolution
became successful there. It was the only Muse album not to be released
on Ukrainian Records in Ukraine, and was instead released directly
under Motor. Thus, it did not have a promotional cassette like other Ukrainian Muse releases.
The album was originally released as a CD-ROM with the MuseTV
feature linked to online bonus material. This later ceased to function
once the MuseTV media had been removed from the Internet. The CD was
available in either a digipak or jewel case.
The album has gone Gold in the UK, with sales over 100,000.
Origin of Symmetry was reissued in double 12" vinyl on the 18th of August, 2009 to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the debut album, Showbiz.
Artwork
In a 2001 interview, Matthew Bellamy
stated that the artwork is "a collection of the work of 14 artists
who’ve all been given that same title, so even though each piece is in
a radically different style, you get a sense of there being some form
of continuity through different people’s perceptions of the same theme."[6]
Track list
CD, promo CDs
- New Born
- Bliss
- Space Dementia
- Hyper Music
- Plug In Baby
- Citizen Erased
- Micro Cuts
- Screenager
- Darkshines
- Feeling Good
- Megalomania
- Futurism
Hullabaloo Soundtrack (live)
MuseWiki, wiki for the band Muse
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| Muse live | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Hullabaloo Soundtrack | ||||
| Tracks | 21 | ||||
| Total length | 91:09 | ||||
| Recorded | 1999-2001 | ||||
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy | ||||
| Producer | John Cornfield, John Leckie, Paul Reeve | ||||
| Art work | Barny Bewick, Laurence Stevens / LSD | ||||
| Publisher |
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| Format(s) |
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| Catalogue number |
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| Release date | 1st July 2002 | ||||
| Chart position | 10 (UK) | ||||
| live chronology | |||||
| Hullabaloo | < | Hullabaloo Soundtrack | > | Absolution Tour | |
| Singles: | |||||
 | |||||
Information
The Hullabaloo Soundtrack was released in accompaniment on the Hullabaloo DVD.
Disc 1 includes a selection of B-sides used in the documentary on Disc 2
of the DVD, and disc 2 includes live tracks recorded at the Paris Zénith gigs in 2001.
On
physical copies, if the second (live) disc is rewound from the first
song (some CD players will only allow fast forwarding from the last
song), the Tom Waits intro "What's He Building" can be heard.
Release
The Japanese CD uses copy prevention methods. Hullabaloo is the only Muse album to released on SACD.
When the Muse back catalogue was released for download in 2009, the name of the album was simplified from Hullabaloo Soundtrack too just Hullabaloo, the same as the DVD.
Track list
CDs, cassettes
Disc 1
- Forced In
- Shrinking Universe
- Recess
- Yes Please
- Map of Your Head
- Nature_1
- Shine Acoustic
- Ashamed
- The Gallery
- Hyper Chondriac Music
Disc 2
Intro - What's He Building (rewinding cd)
- Dead Star
- Micro Cuts
- Citizen Erased
- Showbiz
- Megalomania
- Darkshines
- Screenager (piano)
- Space Dementia
- In Your World
- Muscle Museum
- Agitated
Absolution (album)
MuseWiki, wiki for the band Muse
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| Muse album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Absolution | ||||
| Tracks |
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| Total length |
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| Recorded | 2003 | ||||
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard, Christopher Wolstenholme | ||||
| Producer | John Cornfield, Rich Costey, Paul Reeve | ||||
| Art work | Storm Thorgerson | ||||
| Publisher |
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| Format(s) |
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| Catalogue number |
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| Release date | |||||
| Chart position | 1 (GB, FR)[4] | ||||
| album chronology | |||||
| Origin of Symmetry | < | Absolution | > | Black Holes and Revelations | |
| Singles: | |||||
      | |||||
Information
Absolution is Muse's third album and was released worldwide during September 2003, with the first single, "Stockholm Syndrome", being released on the 14th July 2003. The album was recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios in Ireland and AIR Studios on London during 2003.[5] The songs featured on Absolution were written whilst Muse toured in support of Origin of Symmetry and Hullabaloo, with some songs such as " Fury" originating as early as early 2000. Rich Costey began producing Absolution after a the tracks " Blackout" and " Butterflies & Hurricanes" were recorded with Paul Reeve, who co-produced Showbiz and John Cornfield, who engineered Showbiz and Orgin of Symmetry.[5] Like the previous Muse album, Orgin of Symmetry, Absolution is influenced by classical composers such as Sergei Rachmaninov and Samuel Barber, whilst "Endlessly" introduces a more electronic sound with songs such as " The Small Print" and " Thoughts of a Dying Atheist" being guitar-led.
Recording
The songs " Fury"[6] and " Soldier's Poem"[7] were originally intended to appear on Absolution. Whilst Matt wanted to keep "Fury" on the album, it was dropped in favour of " The Small Print" as per Dom and Chris's preference,[6] and it became the Japanese bonus track and B-side to "Sing for Absolution".
Matt suggested in 2008 that this was because the band did not like
"Fury" as much after playing it live before the album's release.[8] "Soldier's Poem" was ultimately reworked for the follow-up to Absolution, Black Holes and Revelations.[7]
Pre-release
The promo CD-R is encrypted so that the tracks cannot be ripped, and
instead contains software through which the tracks can be played.
Release
There was an limited edition of Absolution released that featured an bonus DVD. The DVD had 40 minutes of 'The making of Absolution' footage, as well as pictures to view. Some editions of Absolution,
including the limited editions, had inlay errors when it was released
in September; the positions of "Interlude" and "Hysteria" were switched
on the track list.[9] These could be returned and replaced with corrected inlays, although many were kept for collectors value.
The Australian re-release contained an extra disc, featuring 6 tracks from the Big Day Out 2004 (23rd Jan 2004) in Sydney.
The album has gone double platinum in the UK since its release[10] and had been certified gold in the US.[source?]
Absolution was reissued in double 12" vinyl on the 18th of August, 2009 to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the debut album, Showbiz.
Artwork
The artwork was designed by Storm Thorgerson. Dominic Howard: "The artwork can either been seen as people coming down to Earth or leaving the Earth, it's open to interpretation".[11]
Track list
- Intro
- Apocalypse Please
- Time Is Running Out
- Sing for Absolution
- Stockholm Syndrome
- Falling Away with You
- Interlude
- Hysteria
- Blackout
- Butterflies & Hurricanes
- The Small Print
- Fury
- Endlessly
- Thoughts of a Dying Atheist
- Ruled by Secrecy
Black Holes and Revelations (album)
MuseWiki, wiki for the band Muse
| Muse album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Black Holes and Revelations | ||||
| Tracks |
| ||||
| Total length | 45:28 | ||||
| Recorded | 2005–2006 | ||||
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy | ||||
| Producer | Rich Costey[1] | ||||
| Art work | Storm Thorgerson[1] | ||||
| Publisher |
| ||||
| Format(s) | |||||
| Catalogue number |
| ||||
| Release date | |||||
| Chart position | |||||
| album chronology | |||||
| Absolution | < | Black Holes and Revelations | > | The Resistance | |
| Singles: | |||||
     | |||||
Information
Black Holes and Revelations is Muse's fourth studio album, released three years after previous album Absolution, in July 2006. The album is less classically orientated than Origin of Symmetry and Absolution, while introducing new influences including jazz, soul and R&B. The album contains elements of these genres. The varied influences on the album can be traced to the intial demos and recording made in the Château Miraval studio[7] and the later recordings in New York City,[8] where Matt DJed in a club and the band recorded the remaining songs in the Electric Lady Studios.[7] Inspiration for the album was taken from a wide variety of other artists, from contemporary acts such as Lightning Bolt[7] and Rage Against The Machine,[9] to composer Ennio Morricone[10] and jazz singer Nina Simone.The album is dedicated to the memory of Helen Kirk.[1]
Prior to recording
Bellamy approched Costey in regards to producing their next album during the Absolution tour. Costey followed this up by contacted Bellamy a few months prior to starting the album.[7] The playing of Black Holes and Revelations tracks and its b-sides live in effect started in 2003 with "Take a Bow" being played as a piano interlude after "Citizen Erased". Playing of the tracks proper started mid-2004 with "Glorious". "Crying Shame" made its debut in 19 December 2004, while "Assassin" and "Exo-Politics" in their early forms made their debut during the 2005 MTV Campus Invasion Tour (8 April 2005).[7]Recording
The album was written partly before the Absolution Tour, partly during said tour and finished during their time at Miraval Studio, Avatar and Electric Lady studios.[5] As with Absolution, the time frame was not as large a concern as on the former two albums, hence Muse took their time over recording the album. The freedom also extended into the style of the music they wrote, delving into areas that Muse considered might be risky for other bands.[11] While previously Muse had written songs with their ability to play them live in mind, the band did not concern themselves with this ability whilst recording Black Holes and Revelations.[11]During the band's time at Miraval, the album was hindered by the band's fear of bats and ghosts, as well as the owner who purportedly didn't want Muse there.[5] Only two songs were recorded during Muse's time at Miraval, namely "Take a Bow" and "Invincible", although around 20 songs had been written.[9] Whilst three of these songs became B-sides, the others were left unfinished or as demos as the band were focused on finishing the eleven album tracks, and later became involved in live performances and recording new material.[12][13] One of the left over songs, "Soaked", which was completed during the end of the recording process, later emerged.
Matthew Bellamy claimed that had the entire recording process been carried out at Miraval, it would have turned out akin to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.[5] He described some of the material that they put aside from their time at Miraval as "a little too progressive and symphonic" for the type of album they wanted Black Holes and Revelations to be,[14] and "waffling on the piano, a lot of orchestration".[14] The band had become frustrated during their time at Miraval at the "lack of rock" in their music.[14]
In the Autumn 2005, Muse moved to New York, recording at Avatar and Electric Lady Studios. As well as recording in New York, Muse partook in the lifestyle of the city, which Dominic Howard claims influenced the style and direction of the album, particularly "Supermassive Black Hole".[15] The album's recording finished at Christmas 2005, after which the band moved to London and finished mixing at Sanctuary Townhouse Studios.[5] Whilst recording the band worked on one song at a time, keeping those they liked and scrapping those they disliked.[16] New instrumentation not used on previous recordings include a buchla synthesiser and a trumpet.
The track list of Black Holes and Revelations was finalised by April 2006,[17] and the final track titles were decided by May.[18]
Inspiration and style
Whilst writing and recording the album, Muse listened to music in the style of Joe Meek, Kill Bill and Nancy Sinatra. Bellamy had been living in North Italy for a while and had discovered some old Italian traditional folk songs. They had also been inspired by Belgian bands such as Millionaire and Evil Superstars. Bellamy also listened to the style of his father's band, The Tornadoes.[19] Chris commented that the band listened to Islamic radio stations whilst writing the album and the progressive elements of that music influenced songs such as "Assassin".[20]The general theme of the album centres on dystopian-orientated/kleptocratic politics, along with accompanying war. As well as in the music, this can be seen in the album art and booklet.
Album art
The album art, created by Storm Thorgerson,[5] features the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation.[5] Their four horses of different colours, are on the table. The rider of the white horse represents the Anti-Christ, the red one war, the black famine and the pale one represents death and decay. The horses are small to signify the ills of the riders had outgrown those of their horses.[21]The images inside the album booklet include the HAARP installation, M87, papers from Project MKULTRA, and a blue contrail, in reference to the Aurora aircraft.
HAARP is a scientific research project, the goal of which is to study ionosphere. Muse later entitled the live album H.A.A.R.P. after the project. M87 is an elliptical galaxy in Virgo that emits a jet of matter, probably from a supermassive black hole within it, while the blue contrail is a reference to the Aurora aircraft, which some believe is a top-secret hypersonic aircraft that leaves a blue contrail behind it. Project MKULTRA was a CIA project that sought to use chemicals for mind control and interogation, after which Muse entitled the song "MK ULTRA".
Q Magazine offered the table and chairs featured on the front cover as a prize in a competition, in September 2007.[22]
Release and post-release
To promote the album in the UK, a set of MP3 player headphones loaded with the album was distributed for press use, including a short biography and track list. No promotional CD was produced for use in the UK. The US promo CD-R and the KROQ Weenie Roast CD-R are watermarked and encrypted so that they cannot be played on a computer. Each was printed with name of the intended recipient on the disc. In Germany a CD-R promo featuring an interview with the band was circulated to promote the album.The album was leaked on the 7th of June, 2006, in monaural form,[23] which was speculated to have been from the aforementioned headphones, at least in part due to the presence of sounds that are not present in the final release.[5] The album was leaked in stereo form on the 27th of June, from a Japanese disc.[5] The album saw two weeks at number one in the UK chart.[24]
Black Holes and Revelations was re-released early in 2007 as a Tour Edition with a bonus DVD. A few online stores and listings on eBay have claimed that there exists a different Japanese CD/DVD set with additional DVD features including 'Live performances from Summer Sonic 2006 and Reading/Leeds Festival 2006, and Behind-the-scenes studio footage'. However, this is not the case, the DVD itself is identical to the original, which includes the videos and live performances of the first 3 singles from the album. The release of the album was completed when made available in Ukraine, in August 2007.[2] A version of the album featuring the "Grand Omega Bosses" version of "Assassin" was made available on 7digital.com from during 2007, but this was later amended to the album version of "Assassin" at a later date.
The vinyl edition became available on Amazon UK during early March, 2007,[25] but all orders where subsequently cancelled and the item remained seemingly unreleased. The double LP was finally rescheduled for released on 18th August 2009 along with the US vinyl reissues of Showbiz, Origin of Symmetry and Absolution, over three years after the original release date. The album was the first to have no French singles box-set released.
The Australian release includes a copy prevention rootkit (virus). To ensure your computer does not get infected, disable autorun before inserting the CD into your computer. This only affects Windows systems.
Awards
The album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2007. In addition, Knights of Cydonia was voted the "Hottest Song of 2007" on the Australian radio station Triple J.Track list
- Take a Bow
- Starlight
- Supermassive Black Hole
- Map of the Problematique
- Soldier's Poem
- Invincible
- Assassin
- Exo-Politics
- City of Delusion
- Hoodoo
- Knights of Cydonia
- Glorious
The Resistance (album)
MuseWiki, wiki for the band Muse
Muse.mu Exclusive Limited Edition Deluxe box set
| Muse album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | The Resistance | ||||
| Tracks | 11 | ||||
| Total length | 54:13, 54:39 (5.1 DVD) | ||||
| Recorded | 2008–2009[1] | ||||
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard, Christopher Wolstenholme | ||||
| Producer | Muse[2] | ||||
| Art work | La Boca | ||||
| Publisher | Warner, Helium 3[3] | ||||
| Format(s) |
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| Catalogue number |
| ||||
| Release date | |||||
| Chart position | 1 (AT, AU, BE, CA, CH, DA, DE, FR, GB, IE, IT, KR, MX, NL, NO, NZ)[7][8] | ||||
| album chronology | |||||
| Black Holes and Revelations | < | The Resistance | > | ||
| Singles: | |||||
     | |||||
Contents[hide] |
Information
The fifth Muse studio album, The Resistance, was released on September 14th 2009. Like previous Muse albums it draws from a wide range of genres and influences, including glam rock, R&B, disco and classical. The Resistance sees the return of instrumentation previously used on Origin of Symmetry, including a church organ (Unnatural Selection) and llama toenails (United States of Eurasia).[9] Matt Bellamy summarised the album as having "an emphasis on rhythm and contemporary R&B at the start. Then it gets epic and strange, then it becomes contemporary classical music."[10]The band won the Grammy for Best Rock Album with The Resistance in 2011.
Writing
On the 24th of May 2006 Matt was interviewed by Australian record station Triple J, before the release of Black Holes and Revelations. He stated that he wanted create a more progressive album with a lot of longer, piano based songs, with similarities to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.[11] Also, in the fan webchat, when fans had the opportunity to ask questions of the band, one fan posed the question "Which song off the new album (BH&R) is most similar to the sound of the new album?". The band stated it was too early to tell, but some songs being written were in a similar style to " Map of the Problematique".In an interview with French magazine Rock Mag in July 2007, Matt revealed a few details about the new album's direction, stating that some of the songs are more dance and electronica influenced, while others are a lot more symphonic and classical, and may include an orchestra. In another interview he mentioned one specific song he had written that would work well live with an orchestra, and mentioned he would like to use one for older songs such as " Hoodoo".[12] He also said that they may release a new song, that sounds "like Elton John", as a charity download single. This is presumably the same song that was mentioned months earlier in a Planet Sound article.[13] This article announced that a new song had been recorded. Dom stated "It came too late to put on Holes—we thought we should finish it in a tour break to put it out as a single. It's so long ago now, I can't exactly remember how it sounds."[14] This song was ultimately not released by Muse, but was identified in 2009 as being "Soaked" when the demo was listed in the Warner/Chappell song catalogue. The song was later covered by Adam Lambert.
In Q magazine Matt stated that "I live in Como, northern Italy, in a house that used to belong to the opera composer Vincenzo Bellinii. I'm trying to trace his ghost right now to help me write songs. I do this late at night, 3am. I turn the lights down low and start playing his songs on the piano in the hope of making contact. It hasn't worked so far but I'm confident it will".[15] Opera has influenced Matt in the past, notably the song " Micro Cuts". Later in a February 2008 interview with UK magazine Rock Sound, Matt stated that his lyrics may take a departure from the paranormal and other worldly elements, and that whilst he never used to be comfortable discussing personal issues within his songs, he is becoming more comfortable doing so and wishes to explore that side of songwriting.
Numerous media reports about the fifth album began to appear[16][17][18] after the Daily Star published a story quoting Dom as saying "We’re going to start writing it properly next year but we’ve been getting lots of ideas down. “We think it might have quite an electronic feel". Howard also said the band were "buzzing" and indicated they would be ready to begin work on the album immediately after touring, with no break for reflection.[19] In an interview in October 2007, Matt indicated that their progression to electronic music would probably be limited to added synths, and they would ultimately remain a rock band.[20]
The band discussed a few of the songs they wanted on the album in early 2008. Matt stated he would like "at least one 15-minute space-rock solo" and "dancing, grooving, rhythm section-dominated songs".[21] Matt later confirmed that he was indeed working on a 14 minute long "progressive" song that was "like a slimy opera version [of previous Muse songs]", as well as "funk and r'n'b" songs, but as of the March 2008, nothing had been recorded.[22] On 4th June, Dom posted updates to the Musewire twitter page concerning the new album, speaking of 'otherworldly disco', '15 minute orchestral monsters' and 'things in between'.[23][24]
Later in July, Matt detailed a song the band were working on that "sounds a little like ‘New Year’s Day’" by U2. He also stated that there was "a bit of glam rock creeping in there as well". Chris said in the same interview: At the moment, I'm into getting loose in the studio with an engineer and seeing what happens. It might be shit!".[25] This song was later appeared to be " Guiding Light". The album sees new methods of playing and style with the song " Undisclosed Desires" being the first song in which Matt plays neither guitar or piano, also having a programmed Drum Machine.[10] This song is the first time Chris uses the method of slap bass.[26]
Recording
The album was recorded in Moltrasio (Lake Como) and Milan, Italy, between late-2008 and mid-2009. The beginning of the recording process was first indicated to have begun with the announcement of the Rock in Rio Festival, with the band scheduled to be recording in June 2008.[27] However, on the 21st June 2008, Chris announced that although band had five or six new songs for the new album, they had not heard any of Matt's lyrics for the songs, saying that he's sure "he already has them in his head and that they are dark, as always". He contradicted earlier indications that recording would begin in June, instead stating that the band "don't plan to start recording before September or October", and that the album would be released in 2009.[1] Chris later announced in early July, through Musewire, that they were "trying to put together a new album" in Italy, in Lake Como, where Matt's house is.[28] By September, the band were rehearsing for the album in their home county of Devon, UK,[29] and in October, Dom stated the band were working on a "symphonic monster among other things", presumably the aforementioned orchestral song, and would "start a bit of real recording in a couple of weeks".[30] In the Muse Q&A session in November 2008, Matt implied this song was difficult to compose as he was arranging the orchestral elements himself due to the fear of a composer changing the music. The song, if finished, will be in three parts at the end of the album.[31] In addition, Dom said that the song "starts quite mellow and ends up very heavy indeed whilst moving through a few genres to get there".[32] By mid-December 2008, Muse were working on the album in Matt's personal studio at Lake Como, Italy.[33] The Muse Christmas present ultimately lead to a screensaver that featured silent clips of the band recording the album, including Matt playing a keyboard whilst singing and wearing a santa hat.[34] On 31st January Tom Kirk posted a video he uploaded to YouTube of Dom playing a snare drum in a sheep field whilst listening to some sort of device.[35] On 2nd March, a second video was posted onto YouTube by Tom Kirk featuring the band clicking into a microphone in a toilet cubicle, and another on the 28th of March with the band discussing recording after dinner.[36] Dom posted a blog on his MySpace profile on the 14th March 2009 stating that "Matt is doing vocals on some tracks as we speak which normally means they're nearly finished". In addition, after two more tracks are recorded from scratch, he said that "we might be almost looking at a complete album", before adding the finishing touches on the songs until they are finished.[36]Recording was completed by May 2009, at which point mixing had begun.[37] On the 11th June 2009 Dom posted an update on MySpace stating that The Resistance had been mixed and he thought that the band had "actually finished the album", indicating a Sepetember release.[38] On 23rd June 2009, Chris announced via the band's Twitter account that the album was "well and truly finished" and the band were preparing for mastering in New York.[39]
At some point it was expected that there would be some form of collaboration with Does It Offend You, Yeah?. In April, Dan Coop of Does It Offend You, Yeah? stated that they would be "hopefully going to go over to Matt's studio in Italy", but it was unknown where it would be Muse featuring Does It Offend It You, Yeah? or vice versa. [40] No further news of this collaboration emerged, though they have made a remix of the first single Uprising which will be released as the B-Side on the CD single.
Pre-release
On 3rd February Microcuts.net posted a message saying that "Warner decided to release the new yet-to-be-named album in September 2009. An european tour should follow in fall."[45] On the 22nd May 2009, the title was announced to be The Resistance.[46] On 16th June, it was announced on the official website that the release date is 14th September 2009. On the 3rd July the track list was announced one song at a time via Musewire. When " United States of Eurasia" was announced, it was appended by (+Collateral Damage); "Collateral Damage" was eventually revealed as the outro to the song. " I Belong to You" was similarly appended by (+Mon Coeur S'Ouvre A Ta Voix), an interlude which is sung in French.
Release
The band initially entertained the idea of not releasing a full album but instead release a series of stand-alone songs to be released soon after touring concluded.[47] Early in 2008 Matt hinted the band had no real idea about what any future release could be, or if it would even be an album, stating "It may just be albums, but it may be a stream of singles, or it may just be one 50-minute symphony, do you know what I mean? Who knows?".[48]In March 2008, Matt elaborated on his wishes to diverge from the traditional album format, stating "I don't think we're going to approach the next album like we're making an album... we're just gonna make a load of music." He went on to explain that the future approach would be "Almost like making the single a more prominent format and then every few years doing a 'best of' from that period and that would be the album. So in other words, throw out songs every couple of months and see how people like them, and whichever ones people like, stick that on a record of 11 tracks."[49] It later became apparent that band were in fact working on a full album.
Album art
The front cover artwork was unveiled on the 4th of August 2009 via muse.mu. It depicts a human figure standing on an illuminated pathway with the Earth at the center.Formats
The album was released in a total of five different formats: CD, Limited Edition CD+DVD, MP3 download, the Limited Edition box set, the Muse.mu Limited Edition Deluxe box set and a special iTunes LP version on iTunes. The limited edition DVD contains a making of documentary of the album. The CD and CD+DVD version are packaged in a foldout softpak derived from sustainable forestry materials. The Limited Edition box the includes the CD, DVD, the album on double 12" heavyweight vinyl and on a USB flash drive in 320kpbs MP3, lossless WAV and Apple Lossless formats. The Muse.mu Exclusive Deluxe box set, available only from the Official Muse website was limited to 5000 copies world wide (though it has been speculated in the Muse Messageboards that more than 5000 were released) and additionally contains an audio DVD of the album in full bitrate DTS & Dolby 5.1 surround sound. Both box sets include a 12" album art, and Exogenesis art print. The iTunes LP version included the complete album and a special computer part which contained pictures, videos, notes to every song and credits.Those who pre-ordered the album could download exclusive videos of live Muse performances, made available one per week until the release date.
Track list
- Uprising - 5:02
- Resistance - 5:46
- Undisclosed Desires - 3:56
- United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage) - 5:47
- Guiding Light - 4:13
- Unnatural Selection - 6:54
- MK ULTRA - 4:06
- I Belong to You (+Mon Cœur S'ouvre à Ta Voix) - 5:38
- Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture) - 4:18
- Exogenesis: Symphony Part II (Cross Pollination) - 3:56
- Exogenesis: Symphony Part III (Redemption) - 4:37
EXOGENESIS
All About Exogenesis
Komposisi pamungkas Album THE RESISTANCE adalah The Exogenesis Symphony merupakan Symphony khas Muse yang dikemas dalam 3 track terakhir, yakni, Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture), Symphony Part II (Cross Pollination), dan Symphony Part III (Redemption). Boleh dibilang komposisi ini adalah masterpiece album ini dan merupakan karya original dimana song writing & orchestral arrangements dikerjakan sendiri oleh Matthew Bellamy. Ia mengundang musisi perempuan Audrey Riley untuk menjadi conductor untuk orkestranya. Bellamy pernah berkata bahwa Exogenesis Symphony
ini dia inginkan sebagai peninggalan utamanya di masa depan. Well,
bisa dibayangkan misalnya nanti seribu tahun ke depan akan ada sebuah
pegelaran musik bertajuk "The Exogenesis Symphony, composed by Matthew Bellamy (2009)".
Exogenesis yang selama masa pengerjaannya diberi judul 'Symphonic Monster'. Namun kemudian Bellamy mengambil istilah "Exogenesis", sebuah teori di abad ke-5 sM dari seorang filsuf Yunani bernama Anaxagoras yang kemudian lebih dipopulerkan oleh Benoit de Maillet pada tahun 1743. Namun, sepertinya pengambilan istilah Exogenesis ini dengan cara pandang yang berbeda dari teori tsb. Istilah "Exogenesis"
mungkin dimaksudkan pada sebuah penciptaan langit/ bumi yang baru
dimana manusia pada akhirnya hidup dalam kesempurnaan yang disediakan
oleh Sang Pencipta. Judul "Exogenesis" mungkin juga suatu penjabaran ide imajinatif dimana ada suatu saat nanti umat manusia exodus ke planet lain. Ide-ide ini juga tertampak pada cover album ini yang menyimpan banyak arti dalam penafsirannya.
Exogenesis Part 1 (OVERTURE) 4:18 Download
Exogenesis Symphony Part I (Overture) , simfoni bernuasa klasik ini dibuka dengan sayatan string yang menempatkan suara violin and cello in unison khas film score.
Secara penuh Anda akan dibawa kedalam sebuah adegan dramatis yang
ironis-melankolis yang kemudian disusul dengan suara falseto Matthew Bellamy.
Lalu kemudian sound guitar yang menyayat, dalam lyric yang merupakan
jeritan dari anak manusia yang terlahir dan terjebak di dalam dunia
yang sudah rusak.
Exogenesis Part 2 (CROSS POLINATION) 3:56 Download
Exogenesis Symphony Part II (Cross Pollination) . Lagu ini dimulai dengan dentingan piano ala Rachmaninoff, kemudian hentakan drums dari Dominic Howard yang bernuansa rock, menggambarkan sebuah proses penyelamatan, badai dan turbulasi menuju perubahan ke langit-bumi yang baru.
Exogenesis Part 3 (REDEMPTION) 4:37 Download
Exogenesis Part III (Redemption) , disini kembali ditampilkan nuansa piano klasik ala Beethoven (Moonlight Sonata) dengan iringan string section
yang indah, menggambarkan manusia-manusia nantinya akan menempati
langit-bumi yang baru yang didapat dari sebuah pengampunan/ penebusan.
Vocal latar dari Chris Wolstenholme dalam nomor pamungkas ini sangat mendominasi dan memberikan nuansa haru dalam harapan yang baru "let's start over again...... and we'll be good.".
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