The Four Muse Albums.

[ROC]

So since I'm bored and I am listening to Muse, I must know how you all rate the four Muse CDs (I'm not counting Hullabaloo, since it's basically a B-side CD).

1. Absolution (It's chilling at many, many points and stuff like "Blackout", "Time Is Running Out", and "Butterflies and Hurricanes" is quite haunting.)

2. Origin of Symmetry (It's a narrow race, but Origin has "Citizen Erased" and "Plug in Baby", thus it wins.)

3. Black Holes and Revelations ("Knights of Cydonia" is just an amazing song in general, though, perhaps it doesn't have so much in solid quantity in comparison to the above CDs.)

4. Showbiz (I didn't dig the soft-paced Muse stuff on the record, and that takes up about half of the record, though, I vouch for "Fillip" and "Sober".)

[B-Rad]

1. Absolution

2. Black Holes and Revelations

3. Showbiz

4. Origin of Symmetry

Granted, I started really listening to them when Absolution came out, and have since become obsessed with that AND BHaR. I have had Showbiz for a while, and really like it, too, but not better than BHaR. I just bought OoS, and while it is ok, I just didn't like it as much as the other 3.

[stokeriño]

I only have Absolution and Origin of Symmetry, but certainly I would follow suit and place the former above the latter.

[Jook]

1. OOS

I can't decide whether I like Absolution or Showbiz better, but the new one is definetaly the worst.

[TheCrippler]

1. Origin Of Symmetry

My favourite Muse album, good from top to bottom

2. Absolution

Another really good album.

3. Showbiz

I really liked this when it was first released, but has since been surpassed by the following two.

4. Black Holes and whatever it's called

Pretty weak I reckon, not a fan of any of the singles. Listend to the whole album a few times and nothing really jumps out to me. Bit of a dissapointment really :thumbsdown:

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

1. Absolution

It holds together as a compelte album - it's a journey like the best albums are. You've got the intro, the interlude, the raging tracks like Hysteria and Stockholm Syndrome (which has utterly utterly beautiful piano in it which makes up for the cheesy guitar riff), Apocalypse Please is one of their best tracks they've ever made and Falling Away With You is completely exquisite. Beautiful. Time Is Running Out is a bit cheesy and I've never been a big fan of Sing For Absolution.

2. Showbiz

Shame on the Showbiz haters. It's rawer, it's uncomfortably creepy listening at times...Hell, it reminds me of late nights writing university essays but it's still great. Muscle Museum is beyond classic, Fillip is an excellent track that is criminally underrated, Showbiz has a great driving baseline.....Sure, it dies off a little at the end but you need that finale after the effort required earlier on. It completes the journey.

3. Black Holes & Revelations

Yeah yeah yeah it takes some getting used to, but Map Of The Problematique is one of their best works - the best song on the album. Invincible is magnificent and Starlight surprisingly good. It's changing styles, electro and funk add-ins are a pleasant departure (wouldn't want it on every album though!) which means even Supermassive Black Hole is enjoyable enough to listen to. Not their best but it definitely holds together very well after repeated listens.

4. Origin Of Symmetry

Feels a bit like a "Best of" or something - some great songs that don't link together. Micro Cuts, Bliss and Citizen Erased would easily make my "Best Of Muse" CD. Personally I feel "Plug In Baby", "Feeling Good", "New Born" and "Megalomania" are overrated....But still good songs.

Out of interest the Double-A "Dead Star / In Your World" are two amazing songs.

[YI]

This is a really, really tough. I've really started to adore "Origin Of Symmetry" recently. The thing with Muse is that I don't want to acknowledge one album as being 'poorer' than others, purely because they're all great. All their albums are above 75/100 in my oppinion (Which for me is a really good album).

Bah,

Absolution > Origin Of Symmetry > Showbiz > Black Holes & Revelations.

A week or so ago I'd have switched Showbiz and Origin around. I love them all though.

Edited September 19, 2006 by Mr. Kurt McKenna

[GA!]

This is a tough one for me being a bit of a diehard fan too... I would probably have to go with Origin Of Symmetry, Absolution, Black Holes and Revelations and Showbiz in that order. OOS (the first Muse album I bought) has eleven great songs on it (Plug In Baby is a bit overrated I admit) and features two of my favourite Muse songs in Citizen Erased and Hyper Music. I also love how, and it made a return in Black Holes and Revelations, how bass driven the album was.

Absolution is a close second, because I love the melodramatic and continually shifting tone. Stockholm Syndrome instantly became my favourite song of 2003, I remember watching it by surprise on MTV 2 and the thing that struck me was the awesomeness of the piano in the chorus, I seem to remember it stuck out more than what it does on the album actually. I'm a fan of the three straight-up rock songs on there: Hysteria, The Smallprint and Thoughts of a Dying Atheist.

Black Holes and Revelations is third, it is a fantastic album and would still rank in the top 10 of my favourite albums. I agree with CSAMH, Map of the Problematique is simply awesome, and I love how something like that was one of their "dance" tracks. That and Take A Bow are tracks that must be played when I see them at Sheffield or else death will occur! Supermassive Black Hole is decent enough, but comparing it to Absolution's first single (Stockholm Syndrome) and its nowhere near as good. I thought Exo-Politics was a bit of a let-down, one of the highlights of the album is the Queen-esque chorus, yet it barely features at all.

Showbiz is last. There are still some (quite odd) claims thinking Muse rip off Radiohead still after OOS, Absolution and BH&R, which is bullshit (Muse are better in every way in my opinion). This album shows some evidence of why people claim that though. The singles are excellent, Fillip and Overdue are great, but this album is straight up soft-rock with high Thom Yorke style vocals. Oh that and Showbiz (the song) is seriously overrated, people love it but I fail to see why.

[R.W.]

I guess the best way for me to judge the albums is by the tracks I have on my Muse compilation CD...

Absolution (6)

Time Is Running Out, Stockholme Syndrome, Hysteria, Butterflies & Hurricanes, The Small Print, Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist

Origin Of Symmtery (5)

New Born, Bliss, Plug In Baby, Citizen Erased, Megalomania

Black Holes & Revelations (4)

Take A Bow, Starlight, City Of Delusion, Knights Of Cydonia

Showbiz (2)

Muscle Museum, Hate This & I'll Love You

Seems about right on reflection. In all honesty, I love most of their work though, so choosing is hard

[Liam]

Shame on all the Showbiz haters by a country mile.

I go with Showbiz first, Absolution second and then Origins of Symmetry.

I can't really place Black Holes And Revelations, having not really listened to it enough to really place it anywhere.

[Nerf]

I agree with RW's order of:

Absolution

Origin Of Symmtery

Black Holes & Revelations

Showbiz

In terms of best to worst album.

Edited September 19, 2006 by Nerf!

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Shame on all the Showbiz haters by a country mile.

I go with Showbiz first, Absolution second and then Origins of Symmetry.

I can't really place Black Holes And Revelations, having not really listened to it enough to really place it anywhere.

Agreed

[IAceI]

I find most of Muse's stuff intensely irritable, so does that mean I'd prefer their new stuff now since everyone else seems to think that's their worst.

Some of their songs have grew on me, a couple from Absolution and some of their newest ones. I used to hate them passionately, but I've warmed to them a bit now since my music tastes began to diverse more, so is it worth I listen to BHaR?

[DFF]

Argh! Toughy! They all have their own merits, but I've gotta go with Absolution. As said previously, it's the best all round album. It makes you feel like you're on a journey; each song fits in well and is of at least a "good" standard.

Next, after prolonged playing, I'd probably put Black Holes & Revelations. At first, I didn't rate it much, due to it being much softer/more electro than usual. However, after much play back-age it's grown on me so much that it's easily the second best of the albums. Knights of Cydonia, Map of the Problematique, Take a Bow, and Hoodoo all stand out for me, as well as one or two others. I'm really digging the subtle electro stuff that permeates the mojority of the album. I also quite like the slant towards stereotypical Western-esque music.

Of the other two, Origin of Symmetry, for me, is next. Plenty of good songs, but a little more disjointed than the two above.

Showbiz last, but not at all bad. Just less "outstanding" songs than the other three albums, imo.

Just to clarify, though, in my opinion, the four albums are very similar in terms of actual quality, so the ordering is more of a minor thing. Each album has it's own feel, and will subsequently appeal to different people. Muse have actually been quite smart. They've got four albums of quite differing songs (there's obvious similarities, but you can generally tell which albums the songs are from, simply from how the songs sounds/feels), and, thus, different people will buy ALL of their albums, hoping for more of favourite album...