Love 'em or loathe 'em, MUSE'S curious, but apparently unstoppable ascendency is unlikely to be hampered by "Hullabaloo", the double CD companion set to the DVD live/documentary set of the same title.
Impressively housed in its' expensive, seductive, gatefold box, with its' spherical images recalling nothing so vividly as TANGERINE DREAM'S immoveably glacial "Zeit" album (Younger readers consult your Krautrockin' Dads), "Hullabaloo" is a generous 2CD set featuring both an extensive B-side selection (Disc 1) and the higlights from MUSE'S ecstatically received Paris gigs during October 2001.
Your reviewer's a staunch believer that all the grestest bands record fine B-sides (Think: THE BEATLES, STONES, SMITHS, OASIS, FALL etc, so it's gratifying to discover MUSE delivering such an impressive selection of stuff here, mostly recorded in conjunction with current SILT collaborator PAUL REEVE at the desk.
The strange, crepuscular "Forced In" sets us on course: an eerie netherworld full of weird feedback and loping rhythms with Matt Bellamy's voice tenderized into just a ghostly whine. "Shrinking Universe" is a little more familiar; a fully-fledged flight of fancy that gives way to full-throated JEFF BUCKLEY-isms towards the end.
"Recess," meantime, is an odd, scurrying thing, screeing from bizarre, co-Eastern scales and reggae rhythms to a full-on burlesque feel. Intoxicating. "Yes Please" is back to tried and tested MUSE territory: all broiling metallic riffing, techno-confusion vocals and rising tension, though it palls by comparison with most of the other gear here.
Perhaps CD1's crown jewel, though, is "Map Of Your Head". Unusually for MUSE, its' intimacy works wonders. Recorded in Teignmouth, mostly by Bellamy alone with what sounds like a toy guitar and some tinkly pianos, it's probably seen as little more than a diversion, but when Matt Bellamy sings: "I'm freezing and losing my way, I don't need another map of your head," he sounds far more convincingly human than the rather forced techno-Sid Vicious image he seems to be pushing these days.
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Confirmed fans, meanwhile, will probably want to swan dive straight into CD2; edited highlights from MUSE'S crammed to the rafters gigs at Parisian venue Le Zenith from October 2001. Powerfully recorded, it's very much the full-on MUSE experience captured masterfully.
Having said that, this is more a mixed bag in this reviewer's opinion. There's some screamingly good stuff, admittedly, like the dual automaton stun reactors "Dead Star" and "In Your World" (both dispatched with breakneck fury) and the disorientating, spacy "Muscle Museum", all of which do MUSE'S case no harm whatsoever. Ditto the Dominic Howard/ Chris Wolstenholme rhythm section, who are ceaselessly inventive and seem able to throw rhythmic curves on a whim.
However, MUSE still founder when Matt's petension overload and annoying operatic falsetto aspirations kick in. I've absolutely no problem with him as a musician: He's cool at writing coruscating riffs and brings in amazing fretwork from all directions, but y'know, for all his aspirations, he's never gonna be JEFF BUCKLEY...or HAWKSLEY WORKMAN come to that. In these moments, you wanna grab a giant megaphone and scream "Leave it out, Matt!"
Still, "Hullabaloo" is a generous package all told, and even grumpy, cynical fuckers like this writer can find unexpected gear to latch onto within. Shame their cover of NINA SIMONE'S "Feeling Good" didn't make the cut on the live CD, but that's mopped up by the DVD, so I guess you can't have everything.
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