Absolution (Muse album)

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Absolution
Studio album by Muse
Released 29 September 2003 (2003-09-29)
Recorded September 2002 – June 2003 at Grouse Lodge, County Westmeath, Ireland; AIR Studios, London; Cello Studios, Hollywood, California; Livingston Studios, London; Sawmills Studio, Fowey, Cornwall
Genre Alternative rock, new prog, progressive metal,[1] symphonic rock
Length 52:19
Label A&E
Mushroom
Taste
East West
Producer Rich Costey, John Cornfield, Muse, Paul Reeve
Muse chronology
Hullabaloo Soundtrack
(2002)		 Absolution
(2003)		 Black Holes and Revelations
(2006)
Singles from Absolution
  1. "Stockholm Syndrome"
    Released: 14 July 2003
  2. "Time Is Running Out"
    Released: 8 September 2003
  3. "Hysteria"
    Released: 1 December 2003
  4. "Sing for Absolution"
    Released: 17 May 2004
  5. "Apocalypse Please"
    Released: 23 August 2004
  6. "Butterflies and Hurricanes"
    Released: 20 September 2004

Absolution is the third studio album by English alternative rock band Muse. It was released on 21 September 2003 in the United Kingdom on Mushroom Records and A&E Records and on 23 March 2004 in the United States by East West Records and Taste Media. The album followed its predecessor's tendency, increasing its heaviness and intensity alongside its ambitious thematics, this time trended to apocalyptical concepts. In 2009, it was voted by Kerrang! as the second-best album of the 21st century thus far. (Muse's previous album, Origin of Symmetry, and their subsequent release, Black Holes and Revelations, also appeared in the top fifty).[2]

Contents

[edit] Writing and composition

The band spent much of 2002 recording Absolution with producer Rich Costey.[3] The album was recorded in studios in both Los Angeles and London.[3] Bellamy said that the band made a "conscious decision" to "get together in a room and make music", setting aside time to record the album, as previous albums' recording sessions were 'hastily arranged' and rushed.[3]

The album incorporates themes of fear, mistrust, personal achievement and joy.[3] Bellamy said that the beginning of the Iraq War had an effect on their songwriting.[3]

The track "Blackout" featured an 18-piece orchestra.[4]

[edit] Release

Absolution was released on 23 September 2003 on CD and double vinyl.[5] It was their first album released on the A&E Records label.[5] There were six singles, of which the first, "Stockholm Syndrome", was download only.[5] Because of contractual obligations, the band could not allow the song to be downloaded for free, so the fee was set at $0.99 and it was downloaded more than 20,000 times.[3]

The album and each of the singles except "Stockholm Syndrome" were distributed as promotional CDs housed in Anti-Static Bags.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Commercial

Absolution was Muse's first album to chart in the US, and is credited with establishing the band a fan base there.[3] The album reached #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and #107 on the Billboard 200.[6] Absolution was certified gold by the RIAA in March 2007, becoming the group's first album to be certified in the US.[7] The album featured the band's first American hits – "Time Is Running Out" and "Hysteria", the former becoming their first UK Top 10 single and eventually went Gold in the US.[8]

[edit] Critical

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (72/100) [9]
Review scores
Source Rating
Q 4/5 stars [10]
Entertainment.ie 4/5 stars [11]
Drowned in Sound (10/10) [12]
BBC (Favourable) [13]
Allmusic 3/5 stars [14]
NME (9/10) [15]
The Guardian 4/5 stars [16]
Sputnikmusic (4.5/5) [17]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars [18]
Tiny Mix Tapes 4/5 stars [19]

The album was met with positive reviews from critics, holding an average critic score of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic.[20] With Alternative Press giving it a perfect score and stating: "Absolution's chaotic choruses feel like the triumphant culmination of some earth-shattering undertaking."[21] Drowned In Sound simply called it "A truly elemental opus" and gave it a perfect score too.[22] Sputnik Music and NME gave it 4.5 stars to the album with Sputnik Music's Critic Tyler Fisher saying: "This is their most cohesive album, it expands on newer sounds and improves on others. However, some songs are just obvious flaws and fail to keep it from becoming a classic."[23] Both Q and The Guardian gave it four out of five stars with the last stating: "Like Coldplay on A Rush of Blood to the Head, Muse sound like a band who are at the top of their game. Their confidence carries you through the album's excesses."[24] A less enthusiastic review came from Rolling Stone, which gave it three out of five stars saying, "It's too bad that vocalist Matt Bellamy doesn't bring as much ingenuity to his singing."[21] In 2006 the album was voted the 21st best British album ever. The album was placed in at #23 after a public vote for Q in February 2008 for the Best British Albums of All Time.[25]

[edit] Track listing

All lyrics written by Matthew Bellamy, all music composed by Muse.

No. Title Length
1. "Intro"   0:22
2. "Apocalypse Please"   4:12
3. "Time Is Running Out"   3:56
4. "Sing for Absolution"   4:54
5. "Stockholm Syndrome"   4:58
6. "Falling Away with You"   4:40
7. "Interlude"   0:37
8. "Hysteria"   3:47
9. "Blackout"   4:22
10. "Butterflies and Hurricanes"   5:01
11. "The Small Print"   3:28
12. "Endlessly"   3:49
13. "Thoughts of a Dying Atheist"   3:11
14. "Ruled by Secrecy"   4:54

Very early initial copies of the CD featured inlay errors, where the songs "Interlude" and "Hysteria" switched places on the track listing. Cover art by Storm Thorgerson and Dan Abbott.

[edit] Bonus tracks

[edit] Japanese CD and iTunes bonus track

  1. "Fury" – 5:02 (Also featured as the B-side to the "Sing for Absolution" single).

[edit] Limited edition UK bonus DVD

  1. "The Making of Absolution" documentary

[edit] Australian Tour Bonus Disc

  1. "Stockholm Syndrome" – 7:14
  2. "New Born" – 6:11
  3. "Muscle Museum" – 4:18
  4. "Hysteria" – 4:14
  5. "Bliss" – 4:01
  6. "Time Is Running Out" – 4:06

This bonus CD is entirely composed of live versions, recorded at the Big Day Out in Sydney, 23 January 2004 for Australian radio station Triple J and broadcast in the radio show "Live at the Wireless".

[edit] Personnel

Muse
Production personnel
Additional personnel
  • Audrey Riley – string arrangements
  • Spectrasonic's Symphony of Voices – vocal samples on "Stockholm Syndrome" and "Endlessly"
  • Storm Thorgerson – graphic design
  • Dan Abbott – graphic design
  • Rupert Truman – photography
  • Sean Winstanley – photography
  • Perou – band photography
  • Lee Baker – layout design
  • Sam Winston – typography

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Year Chart Position
2003 UK Albums Chart 1
2003 Billboard Top Heatseekers 1
2003 U.S. Billboard 200 107
2003 France Albums Top 150 1
2003 Dutch Albums Top 100 2
2003 Ireland Top 75 3
2003 Swiss Albums Top 100 3
2003 Austria Top 75 3
2003 Italy Top 50 4
2003 Norway Top 40 5
2003 Belgium Top 70 7
2003 Finnish Top 40 12

[edit] Singles

Year Single Chart Position
2003 "Stockholm Syndrome" UK Downloads Chart 31
2003 "Time Is Running Out" UK Singles Chart 8
2003 "Hysteria" UK Singles Chart 17
2004 "Sing For Absolution" UK Singles Chart 16
2004 "Apocalypse Please" UK Downloads Chart 10
2004 "Butterflies and Hurricanes" UK Singles Chart 14
2004 "Time Is Running Out" U.S. Modern Rock Tracks 9
2005 "Hysteria" U.S. Modern Rock Tracks 9
2005 "Stockholm Syndrome" U.S. Modern Rock Tracks 31

[edit] Covers

The song "Endlessly" was covered by the operatic soprano Renée Fleming on her 2010 album Dark Hope.

[edit] References

 This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (July 2011)
  1. ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/muse/7168
  2. ^ "Kerrang Readers 50 Best Albums Of The 21st Century". Ilxor. http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=74402. Retrieved 24 July 2010. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Stout, Gene (6 May 2004). "'Absolution' plows the ground for Muse's U.S. following". Seattle PI. http://www.seattlepi.com/pop/172255_muse07.html. Retrieved 4 September 2008. 
  4. ^ "Innocence and Absolution". http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/innocence-and-absolution/Jun-05/9880. 
  5. ^ a b c "Muse (official fansite)". http://www.muse.mu/index.php. 
  6. ^ "Billboard chart history". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=119054&model.vnuAlbumId=601768. Retrieved 10 June 2008. 
  7. ^ "Gold and Platinum Database Search". http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Absolution&artist=muse&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 16 February 2010. 
  8. ^ "Search Results". Gold and Platinum. RIAA. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=Muse&perPage=99. Retrieved 27 January 2008. 
  9. ^ "Absolution Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/absolution. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  10. ^ "Absolution - Muse". Q (United Kingdom: Bauer Media Group): 109. October 2003. http://www.metacritic.com/music/absolution/critic-reviews. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  11. ^ Lynch, Andrew (17 October 2003). "Muse - Absolution". Entertainment.ie. http://entertainment.ie/album-review/Muse---Absolution/2949.htm. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  12. ^ Future, Andrew (15 September 2003). "Muse: Absolution". Drowned in Sound. http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/7998.html. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  13. ^ Smith, Nikki (10 September 2003). "Muse Absolution Review". BBC Music. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/3cbd. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  14. ^ DiGravina, Tim. "Muse: Absolution > Review at Allmusic. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  15. ^ Martin, Dan (12 September 2005). "Muse : Absolution". NME (United Kingdom: IPC Media). ISSN 0028-6362. http://www.nme.com/reviews/muse/7168. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  16. ^ Petridis, Alexis (19 September 2003). "Muse, Absolution". The Guardian (London). ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/sep/19/popandrock.shopping4. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  17. ^ Fisher, Tyler (15 November 2006). "Muse Absolution". Sputnikmusic. http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/9959/Muse-Absolution/. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  18. ^ Kemp, Rob (1 April 2004). "Muse: Absolution". Rolling Stone (New York: Straight Arrow). ISSN 0035-791X. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/absolution-20040401. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  19. ^ Ranta, Alan. "Muse: Absolution". Tiny Mix Tapes. http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/muse-absolution. Retrieved 23 September 2011. 
  20. ^ "Absolution Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/absolution. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  21. ^ a b "Critic Reviews for Absolution at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/absolution/critic-reviews. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  22. ^ Future, Andrew (2003-09-15). "Muse - Absolution / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound". Drownedinsound.com. http://drownedinsound.com/releases/3456/reviews/7998-. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  23. ^ "Muse - Absolution (staff review)". Sputnikmusic. http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/9959/Muse-Absolution/. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  24. ^ Alexis Petridis (19 September 2003). "CD: Muse, Absolution | Music". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/sep/19/popandrock.shopping4. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  25. ^ "NME 100 Greatest British Albums Ever! – 2006". NME's Best 100 Albums. rocklistmusic.co.uk. April 2008. http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/nmes_100_best_albums.htm#Greatest%20British%20Albums. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Permission to Land by The Darkness		 UK number one album
4–10 October 2003		 Succeeded by
Life for Rent by Dido
Muse
Studio albums
Demos
Live albums
Compilations
Extended plays
Videos
Singles
Other songs
Concert tours
Showbiz Tour • Origin of Symmetry Tour • Absolution Tour • US Campus Invasion Tour 2005 • Black Holes and Revelations Tour • A Seaside Rendezvous • The Resistance Tour
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