supremacy.

I admittedly am not a terribly huge fan of this song - although the chord progression and string arrangement is interesting ... but what I really found ingenious was how they stacked the orchestra for this performance. For a rock show like this that calls for an orchestra where every instrument is individually mic'd (or should be) - why seat the orchestra the same way it has been for the past two hundred-plus years? They could even be seated - but still stacked vertically in more or less the same horizontal configuration (first and second violins on the listener's left, violas in the middle, cellos and basses on the right, etc. etc.).

Anyway ... just mentioning ...

the resistance.

Muse. Key Arena. 4/2/2010.

They played Ruled By Secrecy which was a surprise (they did not back in 2007) and quite spectacular. Love those big fat chords! Sound was very good and the set was amazing. Their stage entrance was amazing. The lights were amazing. Top-notch production. Brilliant. Very Muse.

exogenesis.

Nevermind the lame video. This is quite something else. Incredible, in fact. The description that fits perfectly ~

'Symphonic Rock'

Although personally I like 'Classical Rock' as well but it sounds too much like 'classic rock' which is, um, quite different. This can be taken to a whole new level of course but what Matthew Bellamy has done here is most excellent. This is clearly inspired by a bit of Rachmaninov (or possibly Chopin) and - quite obviously - Gershwin. I think I already have what I need from other composers (Rachmaninov included of course), but thank you much Muse for the inspiration.

And for the time being - this is symphonic rock at its best.

uprising.

From the official MUSE youtube channel the first single.

Evidently the theme song for the remake V miniseries. Wow - I remember that from watching it as a kid. Not sure I'll attempt to watch the remake but the song is good and it is MUSE and I will be downloading the album The Resistance and will be seeing them live again when they come to Seattle.

showbiz.

Typical Muse. Which is why they kick *ss.

muse.

OK, this may seem a bit cheesy (particularly on the MIDI keyboard complete with crappy plastic keys that click – this song so deserves a nine-foot concert grand Bechstein) – but it serves well to illustrate my point of the last post if that one did not.

A line from the movie Shine comes to mind, where – while David Helfgott is exhaustingly rehearsing Rachmaninov's monumental D-minor piano concerto (in this case Hoodoo is in C-minor) – his professor (Cecil Parks) shouts over the piano ~

"Don't you just love those big fat chords, David!"

hoodoo.

This song is one of several of his that exemplify the reason I am drawn to them – and one of my favourites. He writes for the piano as if it is a classical piece, and sounds very, very much like Rachmaninov, undoubtedly one of the greatest composers for the piano in all of history.