| | Muse Showbiz CD Muse Discography of CDs
 (21 Customer Reviews)
Muse: Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar, piano, Wurlitzer piano,
harmonium, Hammond B-3 organ, Mellotron, string synthesizer, samples);
Chris Wolstenholme (acoustic & electric basses, background vocals);
Dominic Howard (drums, percussion).
Recorded at Rak, London, England and Sawmill Studios, Fowey, Cornwall.
Personnel: Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Dominic Howard (drums).
Audio Mixers: John Leckie; Paul Reeve; Muse.
Photographer: Ralf Strathmann.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Chris Wolstenholme; Dominic Howard.
The musical touchstone for the British trio Muse is obviously Radiohead and that fact is crystal clear from the smoldering opening cut, "Sunburn." Their John Leckie-produced debut, Showbiz, is strong on angst-filled vocals, esoteric lyrics, and dramatic shifts in sonic dynamics. Hailing from rural England, singer/guitarist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard average 20 years of age, so there's plenty of potential for them to grow into a sound that is more of their own. In the meantime, Bellamy does an impressive job of aping the quirky, nervous vocal tic of Thom Yorke on songs like the mid-tempo, Mellotron-driven "Muscle Museum," and he cuts loose vocally on the soaring "Cave" and on the lovely, mournful ballad "Unintended." Showbiz hints at the potential in this young band, and it should be of interest to many Radiohead fans. ~ Tom Demalon
SHOWBIZ is the debut offering from the trio Muse. The album is a chilling mix of piano, guitar, drums, bass, and vocals that lends the band a sound like that of an outfit with far more members. Very few singers can match the range of singer Matthew Bellamy, whose haunting voice colors these tracks. Songs like "Sunburn" and "Falling Down" are the most representative songs that SHOWBIZ has to offer. Other outstanding tracks include "Cave," "Unintended," and "Hate This and I'll Love You," the last of which has a cool, trippy electric piano opening that builds into a hard rocker powered by Bellamy's vibrant vocals. Expect the unexpected.Rolling Stone (10/14/99, pp.125-6) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...SHOWBIZ is no maverick masterstroke, but it is passionate and loud and also unexpectedly gentle - a great first shot from three guys barely old enough to drink on their U.S. tour."
Entertainment Weekly (10/1/99, p.75) - "...the trio's dark, complex sound, kick-ass musicality...and hook-laden songs...combine to make SHOWBIZ one of the more compelling rock records of the year." - Rating: B+
Q (1/01, p.92) - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000" - "...The best rock debut in years..."
Mojo (Publisher) (11/99, p.100) - "There's no getting around it, Muse sound...a lot like Radiohead....In the end it comes down to songs, and there's a lot of strong ones here..." Showbiz Music | List Price | $13.98 (You save $2.63) | | Category | Rock Albums, Pop CDs, Alternative, Rock/Pop, British, Enhanced CD | | Label | Maverick | | Orig Year | 1999 | | All Time Sales Rank |  2065  | | CD Universe Part number | 1102261 | | Catalog number | 47382 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | Sep 28, 1999 | | Studio/Live | Studio | | Mono/Stereo | Stereo | | Producer | John Leckie; Paul Reeve; Muse | | Engineer | John Leckie; Paul Reeve | | Personnel | Matthew Bellamy - vocals, guitar, piano, Wurlitzer piano,
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Showbiz Music Review Average Rating: (4.4 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Well, better than AM radio I suppose
Not particularly innovative but certainly good for an occasional listen. As others have noted, they are derivative of Radiohead. Seem to be reaching for a slightly harder Bends-era sound but they just don't have the same level of intelligence or melodic sensibility. But hey, they're just kids at this point, Absolution at least sees them stretching out a bit lyrically.
Submitted by Wendigo (Evansville, IN, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 2 of 2 found this helpful.
wow
This is an incredible album, better than the newer stuff. They are a band that makes every song sound like an anthem and each song is beautiful in its own way. I definitely recommend this!
Submitted by geekusa16 (Minneapolis, MN) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  Good album from a great band
In my opinion, the production on this album doesn't really do justice to the high energy nature of the songs in their live shows. However, this album is good from top to bottom, with highlights such as "Sunburn", "Showbiz", and "Unintended". Definitely a band that deserves more exposure on this side of the ocean.
Submitted by syknis (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
8 out of 12
I can say I absolutely loved 8 out of the 12 songs in this CD. It's dense, intense, shocking, breathtaking.
Submitted by a reviewer (Brazil)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  Great album
Highly recommend.
Submitted by a reviewer (San Marcos, TX, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
List All Reviews | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Showbiz CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Muse Origin Of Symmetry CD (2001) (Import) Australia
Showbiz
 $35.29
Australian edition
If you're going to pillage someone else's ideas, then go for broke. Because even if you find yourself crammed between the barriers of creative space, utterly at a loss for ideas, expression, or thought, you'd still have a self-respect buzzing in your ear like a mad angelic insect, putting down the newspaper and taking out a cigar to remind you that, hell, if want to sound like Radiohead when even Thom Yorke doesn't want to sound like Radiohead, you might as well take it to preposterous, bombastic, over-the-top levels. Add church organs, mental electronics, riffs bouncing off each other like the monolithic screams in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and you'll finally be in position to crack skulls like coconuts and make the world's speakers ooze gooey blood. ~ Dean Carlson
The sophomore release by this English rock trio makes good on the promise of the band's debut, SHOWBIZ. Like that album, ORIGIN ...
| | VH1 Presents The Corrs Live In Dublin CD (2002)
Showbiz
$6.39  
The Corrs: Jim Corr (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Sharon Corr (vocals, violin); Andrea Corr (vocals, tin whistle); Caroline Corr (vocals, drums, bodhran, percussion).
Recorded at Ardmore Studios in Dublin, Ireland in January 2002.
You knew the Corrs had made it when they played the final JFK Awards ceremony of the Clinton administration. Playing it would have been achievement enough, but their status as a happening thing was cemented at the end of the ceremony, during the encores, when everybody was taking their final bows. Bill moseyed up over to Andrea, put his arm around her, and when she was looking away, sized her up -- at precisely the same moment Chuck Berry was checking her out. If that doesn't mean that you've broken America, entering its pop culture, I don't know what does, expect for maybe a VH1-endorsed piece of product like Live in Dublin. Lo and behold, that's exactly what the Corrs received in the spring of 2002, a year and a half after "In Blue" and its accompanying single "Breathless" ...
| | Porcupine Tree In Absentia CD (2002)
Showbiz
$9.05  
Hailed by Billboard as 'cinematic...simple gorgeous', Porcupine Tree are unquestionably one of the UK's most inspired and inventive rock groups. In Absentia is their eagerly anticipated Lava Records debut. Digipak. 2002.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Porcupine Tree: Richard Barbieri, Colin Edwin, Gavin Harrison, Steven Wilson.
Additional personnel: John Wesley (vocals, guitar); Aviv Geffen (background vocals).
Recorded at Avatar Studio, New York, New York between March & April 2002.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and ...
| | Muse Absolution CD (2004)
Showbiz
$9.89
Muse: Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Chris Wolstenholme (bass, background vocals); Dominic Howard (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Paul Reeve (background vocals, samples).
Producers: Rich Costey, Muse, Paul Reeve, John Cornfield.
Recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios, Westmeath, Ireland; Livingstone Studios and Air Studios, London, England; Cello Studios, Hollywood, California; Sawmills Studio, Cornwall, England.
Though some may still consider them Radiohead mimics, obviously Muse ...
| | Muse Black Holes And Revelations CD (2006)
Showbiz
$11.59
| | Foot In Coldwater All Around Us CD (2001) (Import) Import; Canada
Showbiz
$12.87 
| | Fuzzbox Love Is A Slug: Complete BBC Sessions CD (2002) (Import) United Kingdom
Showbiz
$17.95
A repromotion of this brilliant collection featuring the original poptastic punkettes that stormed planet pop. Here together for the first time are the 18 tracks recorded by the BBC for the legendary John Peel and ...
| | Smokie Best Of CD (2003) (Import) Germany
Showbiz
$9.19
| | Rubinoos Crimes Against Music V.1 CD (2003) (Import) United Kingdom
Showbiz
$13.69
A collection of fantastic cover versions, all done in the classic power pop style of The Rubinoos. Bouncy pure pop jangly guitar versions of the likes of "Thorn In My Side" by Eurythmics, "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello and more.
This album by the Rubinoos finds the veteran ensemble offering up power-pop renditions of rock classics such as "Pump It Up," "Evil Hearted You," "Heroes and Villains."
Personnel: Tommy Dunbar (vocals, guitar, trumpet, keyboards); Jon Rubin (vocals, guitar); Nick D'Virgilio (vocals, drums); Harvey Shield, Charlie Davis , Keith Joe Dick, Al Chan, Mighty Echoes, Susan Streitwieser (vocals); Steve Stizzo (accordion); Kyle Vincent (saxophone); Alex Murzyn (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Johnny Bamont (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Marvin McFadden (trumpet); Ren Jenkins (trombone); Ervin Kramer, Kit Potamkin (keyboards).
Liner Note Author: Bob Merlis.
Recording information: Lawnmower And Garden Supply, Pasadena, CA; Mole Man Studio, Sacramento, CA.
Photographer: Claudia Kunin.
The title of this disc is just screaming out for a witty play on words, an easy chance for the critic to make a joke at the band's expense. Because of the stature of the legendary Rubinoos and a strange compulsion to take the high road, all such impulses will be held in check -- maybe. The Rubinoos are indeed legends of power pop; their re-formation in the late '90s was welcomed by all fans of the genre and they put out a nice little record at that time, too. Why they chose to follow it up with a disc of covers is a bit of a mystery -- first because they are great songwriters and second because their choice of songs to cover is a bit problematic. Some of the songs are so familiar that any cover of them seems futile, such as "Bend Me Shape Me" or "Brandy." Some of the songs are so perfect in their original form that they shouldn't be messed around with, like the Flamin' Groovies' "Shake Some Action" (in which they replace the amazing guitar interplay of the original with some cheesy organ), the Beach Boys' "Heroes and Villains" (which they tackle in a cappella fashion and come off as a slightly hip Whiffenpoofs-style group), and Del Shannon's "Hats off to Larry." Some of the tracks are outright embarrassments; the faux-big band ...
| | Taking Back Sunday Where You Wan To Be CD (2004) (Import) Japan
Showbiz
$32.85
WHERE YOU WANT TO BE, the album from Taking Back Sunday, features "This Photograph Is Proof," "Union," and "New American Classic."
This Japanese import contains one bonus cut.
Where You Want to Be builds on the hardcore-power-meets-pop-skills of Taking Back Sunday's debut, Tell All Your Friends, and reveals the group to be, in many ways, a quintessential latter-day emo band. Not because they're redefining the style's sound, but because their music is defined by so many of emo's nearly cliché tendencies. A gerund-led band name? Check. Cryptically bittersweet titles like "Little Devotional"? Present and accounted for. Shouty, anthemic ...
| | Thaw Holy Cat CD (2002) Reissued
Showbiz
$16.45
| | Joe Dolan More & More CD (1998)
Showbiz
$7.19
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