Muse - 'Uprising'
Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in a world far, far away from here. A world where pick 'n' mix grows on trees, and the moon is a giant pickle. Imagine, in this world, you hear a noise. A beautiful, but dark noise. You walk towards where the sound is coming from to find Muse, jamming with Deborah Harry of Blondie, while David Tennant repeatedly rewinds and plays the intro to Doctor Who. Then you notice that 'Atlas' by Battles is blaring from the speakers, whilst the faint sound of 'Shoot The Runner' by Kasabian pumps out of a scratched mp3 player. Oh, and Sonic the Hedgehog's there, too. And they're all floating on spaceships. With sunglasses instead of eyes.
*Whispers* and there is no sun.
In the shell of a nut, this is what Muse's new single sounds like (minus the moonpickle).
(Some of the song is streaming on their MySpace page. Create your own video with your mind...JUST LIKE I HAVE)
From trying to recreate 'Bliss' in ringtone form on my one-tone phone when I was 15, to attempting (and failing) to learn 'Plug In Baby' on my first guitar a year later, Muse have always been a big part of my life (almost as big a part as white chocolate mice and strawberry bonbons). So, naturally I'm very, very excited about their new single.
'Uprising' is good. It's got this awesome heavy, sexy bass not dissimilar to that of 'Time is Running Out', reminding us all what a bass is really for. Bellamy's vocals are, as usual, incredible: each word that leaves his lips seems to have potential to do more damage, have more impact, then the last. Then there's the handclaps that bring a human quality to the song's futuristic feel; and while the guitar seems to mimic Blondie's 'Call Me' to the point it's almost distracting, it's jerkiness running at odds to the dark feel the song has - creating a jarring experience that demands attention.
The only niggle here is that they've been away three years - THREE WHOLE YEARS - and they've burst back onto the scene with a song that well, aside from it's Doctor Who-isms and hanclaps, hasn't really seen that much progression in terms of their epic, swirly sound.
Saying that, one of the things that's always been great about Muse is that they're one of the few bands to grace the charts who actually have something to say (ooooh, I went there), and this song is no exception: "Rise up and take the power back, it's time that/the fat cats had a heart attack" has all the pro-active angst of Rage Against The Machine.
'Uprising' may not be a stand out track when compared to their back catalogue, and a lot of people will be expecting a lot more from Muse's new album, but none of this changes the fact it's a brilliant song with real integrity... and to hear a song like that be played next to Cascada on a Thursday afternoon, is always a treat. In fact, I guess you could say it is out of this world...
Lunar gherkin, anyone?
Download: Out now
CD Released: September 7th
www.muse.mu
BBC Music page
(Vicki Lutas)
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~08~RS~)
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I knew I wasn't the only one who thought it sounded like Call Me. I also get an I Kissed A Girl vibe from it. Plagarism aside, good comeback. GUTTED I didn't get tickets for the tour.
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Dont forget to add Kasabian to the list of plagarisms (yes Vicki mentioned it in the review).
I got tickets :D
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it does sound good and powerful.. but yea it has taken from a lot of songs..
am i going crazy or has no one else seen the borrowing of Depeche mode's (covered by marilyn manson)'Personal Jesus' bass line?? its really blatant.. and stuff..
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Good spot, flatknees.
It sounds like a hell of a lot of songs, NME did a blog post which showed about 8 different ones.
Liam, I'm so jealous it's incomprehenisble. I heard Hysteria live today on the radio, it defined immense. Better than Pendulum anyday.
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I too heard it live and had a little grin to myself. Its going to be amazing.
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MozFoz... "I also get an I Kissed A Girl vibe from it."
I am literally so with you on that.
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you are literally so with him? why has it become so popular lately to use the word 'literally' out of context? how it irks me....
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What's the point of words if you can't have fun with them, I say? Well, other than, you know... to communicate etc (details, details).
Anyway, I've been using that for years. In fact, I MADE it. Without me, it'd be nothing.
Literally. ;)
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the obvious problem viki is when i am being savaged by an actual mountain bear and i call my mates and say 'i am literally being savaged by a mountain bear', they will be like 'well no one uses the word literally as it should be anymore, so he has probably met (yet another) aggressive female of some sort'
do you see my relevant problem??
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Is it that all of your friends are pedants?
Should "help!", you fool. Much quicker.
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SHOUT, not SHOULD...
(If I had a pence for every time I got into a ruckus over correct use of language and then I went and used the wrong word, or wrong grammar...I'd have 38 pence)
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no they are not, thats the point, i am probably the one being pedantic and i am often found manipulating and changing the english language for my own benefit.. its just the word literally being used in its totally opposite context..
and obviously i am in the dense woodland of north canada when i meet the bear, its like Alien, no one can hear you scream.. luckily they can if you have roaming.. but as i said before, my friends will be dumbfounded when i use the word literally in its correct context.. yep..
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On the topic of pendantic, capitilise your Is. It literally so annoying :p
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no no no! i do not correct my 'i's after a pedantic comment when they spell the flipping word wrong! oh the irony of it all...
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This comment has been referred to the moderators. Explain.
I'm amazed that there's been all this talk of an imaginary scenario involving someone being savaged by bears, and yet not one mention of Reggie Yates...
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Reggie's a bear? Why wasn't I told?
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Ursa-ch a joker, Fraser.
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As in "you're such". Like a pun.
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Yes, sort of like a pun, that's right.
Puns are supposed to be funny though, aren't they?
I found that one to be *cough* un-bear-able...
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oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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That was brutal. I think this could get grizzly.
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Well, you've got to be honest with friends, haven't you? You can't just panda to their every whim.
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This is true. And it can be especially challenging when you're polar opposites.
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I really enjoy coming to this website. Would love to be able to help contribute.
Atik
Bait Boats
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I love Muse. I love this song. All review normal standards fall by the wayside because of I love the whole thing so much. There are problems with this track. There are inefficiencies and overdoings. But I love it anyway.
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I'm not at all offended -my nickname is misleading- but I'm in fact female ;)
I'm also getting Doctor Who theme tune when I hear this...
I still like it though.
With song titles that mention Eurasia and the album being called the Resistance, is this basically about 1984?
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As I predicted 3 months ago , THE RESISTANCE is NUMBER 1 !!!!
Before anyone says that even the man on the moon could have guessed that , Muse have fought off PIXIE LOTT , DAVID GRAY , JAY - Z and the resurgent PETER ANDRE !!!!!
Oh , and VERA LYNN !!!
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Easiest prediction of the year.
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Yeah .
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For people who really like this sort of thing.
Black holes and revelations debuted at number 1 on sales of 115,000 copies in 2006.
The resistance debuted at 1 on sales of 148,000 copies last week .
It's a sure sign that Muse are generating huge interest at retail !
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So come on Muse fans , what is your verdict on the new album ?
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I think the new Muse album is fantastic. Although, style wise, it doesn't sound that different from their Black Holes and Revelations album?
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Its amazing. Uprising is a throwback to their older material but the rest of the album is a real step.. sideways? I dont want to say forward because Im not sure its a "better" album. Its just a change of pace .. not direction as Im sure their next album will be more Black Holes like. It is a concept album at the end of the day.
Track 6 is my fav. I cant remember its name, not etched the whole thing on my brain yet.
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I'm not an immense Muse fan, but like some of their songs and, with all the hoo-ha over the new album, I decided I would check it out, along with Black Holes and Revelations. I listened to all 30 sec samples of Black Holes on iTunes; and then listened to The Resistance in full (it's been streamed on We7, available on the NME website).
In the end, I plumped for Black Holes, and gave The Resistance a miss, and I think I was right (for me). They both have the same grandeur and huge scale, but I think Black Holes is on the right side of overblown, and The Resistance might not be. The songs on Black Holes seem overall better to me, whereas The Resistance seemed to stray a little too much into Queen territory for my liking. Plus, the "funky first single" was done better the first time (Supermassive Black Hole) than this time (Uprising).
All the same, I'm keen to have another listen to the three-part symphony from The Resistance. I might just buy those tracks.
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Tbh Curtain you're better off just buying both albums. Why not have your cake and eat it?
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Meh. I don't think I'm interested enough to shell out the £8 for the whole album. A couple of quid for those three is fine though.
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Right , a few statistics about Muse , as requested by Liam .
Muse have now sold over 3 million albums in the UK.
Of this total , Black Holes and Revelations made the biggest contribution with over 800,000 copies sold .
The Resistance has sold over 200,000 copies in two weeks.
It certainly looks like a successful time for the Teignmouth trio !
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Wasnt aware I'd requested some statistics, but thanks none the less Spirit :)
Its not as good an album as Black Holes.. but its sure a brilliant one. Hard to quantify them against each other, as this one isnt really intended to be as comercial as Black Holes was.
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STATISTICS CORNER :
When it was released , the album THE RESISTANCE by MUSE , WENT TO NUMBER 1 in 18 different countries !
Not bad !
Maybe someone will come on in a grumpy voice and a say :
"Yeah , but there are still more people in the world that didn't buy the Muse album , than people that did . "
That's all very well , but in my opinion I think it is important, in this world, to be positive and celebrate success that has been well earnt , and give credit for a lot of talent and really hard work !
Well done Muse .
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And they are in Sheffield just before my birthday, a trip out seems highly in order!
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The album is about 1984 indeed, and the New World Order which we have yet to prevent occuring, and all the other issues which are destroying our spiritual world at this present time. Like others here, I cannot criticise Muse rationally as I love the whole vibe they have so much.
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