Advantages: 11 Superb Songs- Taking Muse In A New, brilliant direction
Disadvantages: Possibly Not Quite As Good As Absolution

...MUSE: Band Members Matt Bellamy- Vocals, Guitar, Piano Chris Wolstenhome- Bass Dominic Howard- Drums & Percussion Muse: Discography Showbiz (1999) Origin Of Symmetry (2001) Absolution (2003) Black Holes And Revelations (2006) Black Holes And Revelations: Tracklisting Take A Bow (4:35) Starlight (3:59) Supermassive Black Hole (3:29) Map Of The Problamatique (4:18) Soldiers Poem (2:03) Invincible (5:00) Assassin (3:31) Exo Politics (3:53) City Of Delusion (4:48) Hoodoo (3:43) Knights Of Cydonia (6:06) Black Holes And Revelations: Info UK Release Date 3rd July 2006 Album Length: 45:25 First Single: Supermassive Black Hole Second Single: Starlight No. Of Songs: 11 Review In their early days muse were forever compared to british alternative giants "Radiohead" with piano and forsetto moan vocals... Read review

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Advantages: No other band sounds like them in the world. How many others can say that?
Disadvantages: Not as cohesive as their previous work.

...British bands tend to have only two degrees of success. There are some who sweep the nation by storm and rise to the top of the charts as mainstream friendly trend setters, yet fail when the question is asked of them on foreign shores. And it's an important question. The music landscape is no longer based in Central London and bands are nowadays judged on their ability to shift records worldwide. Then you have your Coldplays of the world. The bands who rise to the top of the charts domestically as well as across the pond and on the international scene. Where do Muse fit in to this? Somewhere in between, you might say. They're a stubborn little gem of a band who refuse to be categorized. Here is an incredibly talented British trio who possess the rare trait of being more popular in mainland Europe than they are in their own country... Read review

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Advantages: Cryptic lyrics, good guitars, good singing
Disadvantages: No killer track as such, tracks a bit too similar

...It's hard to imagine, 12 years on, just what kind of state music was in when Muse where formed. Oasis were just breaking through, as were Radiohead; Green Day were beginning to get recognition, Smashing Pumpkins were reaching their creative peak, R.E.M. were one of the worlds biggest bands and the type of music that would later be labelled 'Britpop' was about to take centre stage with Blur, Oasis, The Spice Girls and Suede. It could be argued that it was the wrong time to form a band based on roughly the same principles as many of the alternative bands of the previous five years. Muse were formed under the name Muse in 1994 by singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy, percussionist/drummer Dom Howard and bassist Chris Wolstenholme. Since 1994, Muse have retained the cryptic, alternative rock sound alive through 4 rather stunning albums: Showbiz... Read review

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Advantages: Lots of new Muse songs; live CD.
Disadvantages: Not all B-Sides (nor the best ones) are on the CD.

...First things first - what the dickens is a 'B-Side'? A 'B-side' is a track of music by a band or artist that was recorded, but doesn't make it onto an album, for whatever reason. These may include not as high quality as the other tracks, ability for the band to play the song live, budgets, etc. The name suggests the songs are 'beside' the rest. However, some bands who have recorded many songs in a short period of time will release a B-side album containing some of their neglected tracks. In some cases, b-sides are even better than actual album tracks. That is what Muse have done here. They have picked ten of their favourite B-sides from 1999 to 2001 and put them on the first CD. The second CD contains eleven live tracks from a concert at 'Le Zenith' in Paris in 2001. *-*-*-*-* CD 01 *-*-*-*-* 1. Forced In (4... Read review

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Advantages: An awesome piece of work. No music fan should be without.
Disadvantages: Not long enough! Could be challenging to beat in terms of quality.

...(A personal message Prelude before we get going: Hi everybody! *waves*. This is my first review for like two years. I hope to get a lot more done from now on. :-D) THE INTRO Three long years were spent waiting for Muse’s next offering by a huge number of fans from around the world. These three long years have turned out to be worth every second of want. Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations is their best album to date. From the haunting “Take A Bow” to the western influenced prog-rock soundscape that is “Knights of Cydonia”, this album will blow your head off your body and kick it into orbit around the Sun. Muse are: Matt Bellamy – Vocals, Guitars, Pianos/Synths; Chris Wolstenholme – Bass, backing vocals; Dominic Howard – Drums, backing vocals. THE TRACKS 1 – Take A Bow – Rapidly moving synthesisers mark... Read review

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Advantages: Debut supreme from the Devon neo-prog trio
Disadvantages: A tad patchy in places

...Oh dear. Didn't realise there were so many reviews already. Never mind, i've reviewed the flawless 'Origin of Symmetry', so i'll review this too. Muse first came to my attention on the release of 'Muscle Museum', as MTV2 was my only real means of hearing this kind of new music. The song struck me dumb with it's innovation and well-channelled angst. The song stayed with me, but i put off buying the album until i had heard another single. Unfortunately, the next video that was regularly played was 'Plug in Baby', which, of course, appeared on 'Origin of Symmetry'. So i bought that masterpiece, but put off 'Showbiz', until i had truly got into Muse in a big way. I shouldn't have waited so long. Many college students especially were crazy about Muse on the release of 'Showbiz', and rightly so. Matt Bellamy was just 20 when he wrote it... Read review

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Advantages: Blinding 4th album with an uneasy lyrical twist
Disadvantages: Topping it next time round.

...by Rich Costey ~ ~ The Ramblings ~ Often described as a small sleepy harbour town in South Devon, Teignmouth (pronounced 'Tinmouth') can hardly be held on high as a nest bed for groundbreaking progressive music with a political undertow of tsunami proportions, but somehow, where Muse is concerned, this is the case. Although non of the trio that make up Muse can claim to be born and bred in Teignmouth, its influence, or more precisely, its lack of influence in relation to 'things to get into as a typical teenager' led to the formative years being characterised by, as Bellamy stated in a recent interview, "hanging around, smoking and listening to music as there wasn't anything else to do." It appears that out of the towns' laissez faire approach to its youth, musical creativity through being in a band, as a route to both... Read review

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Advantages: Every track is golden, I can easily recommend this whole album!
Disadvantages: Some tracks just a bit mellow, and the openings of some of the songs do not reflect the quality of the rest of the track.

...‘Origin Of Symmetry’ is the second album from UK rockers Muse, and in my opinion, better than their debut album ‘Showbiz’. Admittedly, I haven’t always been Muse’s biggest fan, and I hadn’t even heard of Muse until a few months ago when I first heard them on my friend’s mp3 player. But recently I ventured to purchase this CD (incidentally, with the ipoints earned from my Ciao Writings), and now it is a firm favourite in my ever-expanding CD collection. Track-by-track Review (11 tracks). 01 New Born – The first Muse track I consciously heard (although I am pretty sure I heard Plug In Baby without knowing it was Muse), and still one of my favourites. The tension is built up superbly in the opening section of this song, and continues until it transforms into a loud guitar piece... Read review

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Advantages: Tasty
Disadvantages: Bits of Museli between teeth

...Optifit Museli Pro-Biotic Yogurt (Low Fat) - 26p from Aldi It's amazing the things you get introduced to when you come home, whether it's for a weekend or an excruciatingly longer period!!! (Note to self: Hope Mum doesn't read this!). Me ma bought this from Aldi on offer @ 19p. They can be purchased in single pots, which hold 200g of yogurt. Now, when I had finished my dinner a couple of evenings ago and then saw the old dear plant down a yogurt, with "Museli" emblazoned upon it, it didn't initially take my fancy, i'll be honest. I am not a fan of Museli anyway and didn't quite see the two blending together too well. However, that said, yogurt is something that is typically added to some breakfast cereals. Although, I more typically add it to a bowl of fruit in the morning. With some mis-trust I opended the yogurt pot... Read review

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Advantages: Muse at their best, lengthy set
Disadvantages: Strange camera work

...Filmed in October 2001, Hullabaloo features Muse's famous performance at Le Zenith in France. The DVD was recorded from footage taken over two nights and merged together to create a concert which without knowing beforehand, feels like one gig on it's own. It's worth noting that there are NO songs from Absolution on this DVD. Absolution was released two years after the filming and the songs are from OOS and Showbiz. Also, look out for the fantastic "Dead Star" and "In Your World" which were released as a double A side. They never found their way on to a studio album, and the live performances on this DVD make you wonder why. They're both incredible songs and some of Muse's finest work to date. When i first watched this concert though, i was a little disappointed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the performance itself. Matt... Read review

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