1001 Albums Summary

This was my first time listening to a full Muse album. Over the years I've heard them compared to a weak Radiohead style band, but I could never verify. Listening through this, their "top rated" album - I hear not only Radiohead, but lesser known bands they may have aped while creating this record. Opening track "Take A Bow" sounds exactly like an shitty synthesized/alternative radio version of the tiny indie rock band Pilot Drift's album Iter Facere's opening track "Caught In My Trap" (released 2 years earlier in 2004), like markedly close in tone and build up. Elsewhere Muse takes typical hints from Radiohead (both vocally and electronically) all over this album. I also hear a lot of California band PaloAlto (who were also inspired by Radiohead - hence the name) all over this album. It all just feels artificial. Like they're really trying to sound like they belong on the radio. They are the worst parts of Radiohead and glam rock's shittiest band: Queen. No thank you. 1/10

I may be closed-minded, but there is no way I can get myself to sit through an entire Bob Dylan record. I have a few artists/bands on my list that I cannot stand (Dylan, REM, Smashing Pumpkins, Queen) that I will never enjoy - mainly because of their vocal and or harmony style. It is not pleasant to my ears. I played the first track here and remembered what Bob Dylan sounds like and I can tell you right now - this will never get a fair review from me because listening to it is like torture to my ears. I'm sorry. 0/10

This is dark. This is beautiful gloom laced with an ounce hope. I have plenty of favorite moments on this fantastic record. My one and only issue is sequencing on side 1. I've seen the movies and documentaries suggesting it was all experimental production at Factory Records in the late 70's, etc - and for the most part it captures a feeling very well. Disorder - a great opener. You can feel the darkness, but see light in the distance - then you get slapped in the face with: Day Of The Lords - Too gloomy for a track 2 in my opinion. You've hooked the listener with a great opener and pull the rug right out from under them with this slow doom number. And then you have Candidate - talk about darkness. Light is no longer in the room and the chains are getting wrapped around your wrists at this point. All hope is lost. Insight - which I think would have benefitted the album at track 2 (only my opinion) It's a great step into the darkness, while light is still in the room - but you can feel it fading during the course of this song. New Dawn Fades - a perfect side 1 ender. Slow and interesting guitar chords underneath (actually on top of) typical and gloomy vocal delivery. Side 2 She's Lost Control - probably Joy Division's best song. hollow, dark and minimal with a fantastic build up at the end. A perfect S2 opener. Shadowplay - a song where the rhythm section stands out the most. The cymbal-heavy drums and opening bass riff (that continues throughout) make for the heaviest song on the album. I imagine metal bands like to cover this one. Wilderness - dark and kinda playful, both lyrically and (again) with that rhythm section. Repetitive guitar chords weigh this one down a bit, but it sets a great post-punk tone that the band would be forever known for. Plus, the song has a perfect ending. Interzone - the "punkiest" song on the record. Feels like they wrote and recorded this one while they were still called "Warsaw". Finally - I Remember Nothing. - Definitely an experiment in the studio. Ian Curtis is actually "singing" on this one (and not well). It is a great ender, due to the dark, minimal tone. Overall - put INSIGHT before DAY OF THE LORDS and it's a perfect album. the ART - I can't think of an album cover that sets the stage for the music within as perfectly as this world famous photo of Radio Waves (out of an Encyclopaedia of Astronomy) reverse engineered by Peter Saville. A very important album which I believe more people in the world are familiar with the cover art than the actual music... which is a shame. 10/10