Deep Purple Bass Cover

uwe · August 17, 2020, 08:35:18 AM

Based on this thread, I gave the newish Muse album (the one with the mock cinema poster cover) a spin in my car yesterday. I can just about live with Bellamy's vocals, but the artificial drum sound and synth-drenched arrangements drive(s) me mad. Plus the strange mix of shoegazer introspective lightweight prog vocal melodies and 80ies dance synth pop doesn't really ignite with me. It's neither dumb enough, to feel good about, nor deep enough to be intriguing. In places it sounds like Laura Brannigan meets Porcupine Tree. Now I like both, but not a the same time!

gearHed289 · August 17, 2020, 10:06:04 AM

I never had a problem with Matt's vocals, but I kind of get why some people do, and it's similar to why people have a problem with Glenn - they're both oftentimes over the top with their delivery. That can be said about a LOT of singers, but I guess these guys manage to hit the wrong nerve with a lot of the listening public. I immediately fell in love with Muse with the Absolution album. I love Black Holes and the Resistance, but they started to lose me with the 2nd Law. I bought Drones, but only listened a few times. Seen them live 4-5 times, and they always deliver.

westen44 · August 17, 2020, 10:21:15 AM

Quote from: uwe on August 17, 2020, 08:35:18 AM
Based on this thread, I gave the newish Muse album (the one with the mock cinema poster cover) a spin in my car yesterday. I can just about live with Bellamy's vocals, but the artificial drum sound and synth-drenched arrangements drive(s) me mad. Plus the strange mix of shoegazer introspective lightweight prog vocal melodies and 80ies dance synth pop doesn't really ignite with me. It's neither dumb enough, to feel good about, nor deep enough to be intriguing. In places it sounds like Laura Brannigan meets Porcupine Tree. Now I like both, but not a the same time!

Even I can barely listen to that album, and I'm supposedly a Muse fan. To me I think they had three pretty solid albums. That would be Absolution, Black Holes and Revelations, and The Resistance. That's 2003, 2009 and 2009. By 2009 there was a lot of disillusionment going on with the fan base. Many hated The Resistance. I had problems with it, too, but I thought it did have some good songs. By 2012 with The 2nd Law there were some terrible songs emerging such as "Madness" and "Panic Station." Also, Matt Bellamy even started turning over a few songs on that album to Chris Wolstenholme.

However, i really wouldn't judge Muse by the newest album. If even someone like me has serious problems with it, I wouldn't know what to expect from others.

Despite everything I've said here, there is the original fan base to consider. That was before I knew about Muse. From what I gather, there are still a number of people out there who were big fans of the Origin of Symmetry album (2001) and have barely been able to listen to anything Muse has done since then. Some of these people don't even like the Absolution album.

Correction:

Black Holes and Revelations came out in 2006.

westen44 · August 17, 2020, 10:28:12 AM

Quote from: gearHed289 on August 17, 2020, 10:06:04 AM
I never had a problem with Matt's vocals, but I kind of get why some people do, and it's similar to why people have a problem with Glenn - they're both oftentimes over the top with their delivery. That can be said about a LOT of singers, but I guess these guys manage to hit the wrong nerve with a lot of the listening public. I immediately fell in love with Muse with the Absolution album. I love Black Holes and the Resistance, but they started to lose me with the 2nd Law. I bought Drones, but only listened a few times. Seen them live 4-5 times, and they always deliver.

I can identify with much of what you say. Except after a while I did begin liking the 2nd Law album the more I listened to it. I felt the good songs began to balance out the bad ones and the album was easier to tolerate.

westen44 · August 17, 2020, 04:42:37 PM

As an aside, I just noticed in the notes that Tove Lo provided some backup vocals to one of the songs on the newest album. She is the Swedish singer who sometimes takes off her top during her performances. Maybe if she had done that for one of the Muse videos it could have created some excitement for this album. Actually, I'm at the point that I take her as seriously as an artist as I do Muse. But I still do value some of those great Muse albums from the past. There is no need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

uwe · August 18, 2020, 05:06:37 AM

I'll have to re-listen to some of the earlier stuff.

I remember an interview where the drummer of Muse said that he hated playing with clicks live initially (because of all the sequencing they do), but now feels weird without them. I thought he sounds like one of those Ritalin kids that still take that stuff when they are in college because they can't concentrate without it.

Speaking of: That is one of my few parenting deeds I'm still proud of. When my son was around 2nd to 5th grade, teachers tried to nudge us again and again into doping him down with Ritalin ("It will make things easier for him." ) We would have none of it. Sure enough, he did not turn into a lawyer or an investment banker, but he's now 26 und designing fashion for some hip Californian hatmaker. Every other family member is better than him at reading a clock face, but no one could draw and create like he can.

westen44 · August 18, 2020, 08:20:30 AM

I haven't read much about the drummer Dominic Howard. I did read that he was a huge Hendrix fan. So is Matt Bellamy, though. Howard said in an interview Hendrix was the celebrity he would most like to meet if he could meet anyone who had ever lived. Bellamy said he was attracted to the sci-fi aspects of Jimi Hendrix's music. I can relate to that.

They have all moved to different cities now. But I have three relatives who have displayed some ADD or ADHP characteristics through the years. I never had anything like that myself. But now that I think about it those tend to be the relatives I always got along with the best. All of them are gifted and one operates at near genius level.

I'm not familiar with this. I found this in Google news yesterday. This offers an unusual perspective.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200812164926.htm

uwe · August 18, 2020, 05:06:23 PM

That seems logical to me. If you have a hard time fitting in, you start something of our own.

wellREDman · August 19, 2020, 06:25:29 AM

theres a lot of research going on tying ADHD type traits to changes in the parts of the brain that process time, including its comorbidity with insomnia

uwe · August 21, 2020, 05:33:57 AM

My son had ADHD, but his sleep is like his dad's: Anytime, anywhere, incredibly deep and blissfully ignorant of light and sound. With us Hornungs, it is like you use a kill switch: on/off. I'm the type of guy who thinks something is wrong today if I'm not fast asleep within a minute or two after hitting the bunk.