BHAR TEST A

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Cover art
Muse album
Name Black Holes and Revelations
Tracks 11
Total length 45:28
Year 2006
Recorded 2005-2006
Writer/composer Matthew Bellamy
Producer Rich Costey[1]
Art work Storm Thorgerson[1]
Publisher He-3, Warner
Release 3rd July 2006
Chart position 1

<flashmp3>http://www.musewiki.org/images/BHaR.mp3%7Crightbg=0xFFCCFF%7Cleftbg=0xFFCCFF%7Cbg=0xFFFFFF</flashmp3> Template:AlbumChron

Information

The album is dedicated to the memory of Helen Kirk.[1]

The AU release includes a copy prevention rootkit (virus). To ensure your computer does not get infected, disable autorun before inserting the CD into your computer. This only affects Windows systems.

Overview

The album is less classically orientated than Origin of Symmetry and Absolution, while introducing new influences including techno, jazz, soul and R&B. The album is made up of a mix of these genres. Nevertheless, Bellamy described the album as "very classical"[2]

Prior to recording

Bellamy approched Costey in regards to producing their next album during the Absolution tour. Costey followed this up by contacted Bellamy a few months prior to starting the album.[3] The playing of Black Holes and Revelations tracks and its b-sides live in effect started in 2003 with "Take a Bow" being played as a piano interlude after "Citizen Erased". Playing of the tracks proper started mid-2004 with "Glorious". "Crying Shame" made its debut in 19 December 2004, while "Assassin" and "Exo-Politics" in their early forms made their debut during the 2005 MTV Campus Invasion Tour (8 April 2005).[3]

Recording

The album was written partly before the Absolution tour, partly during said tour and finished during their time at Miraval Studio, Avatar and Electric Lady studios.[4] As with Absolution, the time frame was not as large a concern as on the former two albums, hence Muse took their time over recording the album. The freedom also extended into the style of the music they wrote, delving into areas that Muse considered might be risky for other bands.[5] While previously Muse had written songs with their ability to play them live in mind, the band did not concern themselves with this ability whilst recording Black Holes and Revelations.[5]

During the band's time at Miraval, the album was hindered by the band's fear of bats and ghosts, as well as the owner who purportedly didn't want Muse there.[4] Only two songs were recorded during Muse's time at Miraval, namely Take a Bow and Invincible, although 18-20 songs had been written.[6] Matthew Bellamy claimed that had the entire recording process been carried out at Miraval, it would have turned out akin to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.[4] He described some of the material that they put aside from their time at Miraval as "a little too progressive and symphonic" for the type of album they wanted Black Holes and Revelations to be,[7] and "waffling on the piano, a lot of orchestration".[7] The band had become frustrated during their time at Miraval at the "lack of rock" in their music.[7]

In the Autumn 2005, Muse moved to New York, recording at Avatar and Electric Lady Studios. As well as recording in New York, Muse partook in the lifestyle of the city, which Dominic Howard claims influenced the style and direction of the album, particularly Supermassive Black Hole.[8] The album's recording finished at Christmas 2005, after which the band moved to London and finished mixing at Sanctuary Townhouse Studios.[4] Whilst recording the band worked on one song at a time, keeping those they liked and scrapping those they disliked.[9]

New instrumentation not used on previous recordings include a buchla synthesiser and a trumpet.

Inspiration and style

Whilst writing and recording the album, Muse listened to music in the style of Joe Meek, Kill Bill and Nancy Sinatra. Bellamy had been living in North Italy for a while and had discovered some old Italian traditional folk songs. They had also been inspired by Belgian bands such as Millionaire and Evil Superstars. Bellamy also listened to the style of his father's band, The Tornadoes.[10]

The general theme of the album centres on dystopian-orientated/kleptocratic politics, along with accompanying war. As well as in the music, this can be seen in the album art and booklet.

Album art

The album art, created by Storm Thorgerson,[4] features the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation.[4] Their four horses of different colours, are on the table. The rider of the white horse represents the Anti-Christ, the red one war, the black famine and the pale one represents death and decay. The horses are small to signify the ills of the riders had outgrown those of their horses.[11]

The images inside the album booklet include the HAARP installation, M87, papers from Project MKULTRA, and a blue contrail, in reference to the Aurora aircraft.

M87 is an elliptical galaxy in Virgo that emits a jet of matter, probably from a supermassive black hole within it, while the blue contrail is a reference to the Aurora aircraft, which some believe is a top-secret hypersonic aircraft that leaves a blue contrail behind it.

Q Magazine offered the table and chairs featured on the front cover as a prize in a competition, in September 2007.[12]

Release and post-release

To promote the album in the UK, a set of MP3 player headphones loaded with the album was distributed for press use, including a short biography and tracklist. No promotional CD was produced for use in the UK. The US promo CD-R and the KROQ Weenie Roast CD-R are watermarked. In Germany an CD-R promo featuring an interview with the band was circulated to promote the album.

The album was leaked on the 7th of June, 2006, in monaural form,[13] which was speculated to have been from the aforementioned headphones, at least in part due to the presence of sounds that are not present in the final release.[4] The album was leaked in stereo form on the 27th of June, from a Japanese disc.[4] The album saw two weeks at number one in the UK chart.[14]

Black Holes and Revelations was re-released early in 2007 as a Tour Edition with a bonus DVD. A few online stores and listings on eBay have claimed that there exists a different Japanese CD/DVD set with additional DVD features including 'Live performances from Summer Sonic 2006 and Reading/Leeds Festival 2006, and Behind-the-scenes studio footage'. However, this is not the case, the DVD itself is identical to the original, which includes the videos and live performances of the first 3 singles from the album. The release of the album was completed when made available in Ukraine, in August 2007.[15]

The vinyl edition became available on Amazon UK during early March, 2007,[16] but all orders where subsequently cancelled and the item remained seemingly unreleased. The double LP never materialised, making Black Holes and Revelations the first Muse studio album to have no vinyl edition. Similarly, the album was the first to have no French singles box-set released.

Releases

Hover of the release title to display information and gallery.

    Album ↓
  • Album Gallery

    • Cover art

    • Back cover art

    • JP back cover

    • JP obi

    • ID cassette cover art

    • ID cassette back cover

    • US gold-stamped promo front cover

    • US gold-stamped promo back cover

    • US gold-stamped promo interior and disc

    Muse album
    Name Black Holes and Revelations
    Tracks 11 (UK), 12 (JP)
    Total length 45:28
    Publisher He-3
    Warner
    Одіссей (Odyssey) (UA)[15]
    Format(s) CD

    Cassette
    Download

    Catalogue number HEL3002CD (UK)
    HEL3002CDX (UK digipack)
    WPCR-12306 (JP digipack)
    44284-2 (US, US gold-stamped promo)
    256435095 (AU)
    Release date 28th June 2007(JP)[17]

    30 June 2006 (NL, DE)[4]
    3rd July 2006 (UK)[18]
    5th July 2006 (EI)[4]
    7th July 2006 (AU)[4]
    11th July (US)[4]
    30th August 2007 (UA)[15]

    Chart position 1 (UK, IE, CH, AU)[4]
    2 (NL)[4]
    3 (FI)[4]
    6 (FR, NZ)[4]
    9 (US)[4]
    11 (BE)[4]

Tracklist

  1. Take a Bow
  2. Starlight
  3. Supermassive Black Hole
  4. Map of the Problematique
  5. Soldier's Poem
  6. Invincible
  7. Assassin
  8. Exo-Politics
  9. City of Delusion
  10. Hoodoo
  11. Knights of Cydonia

JP tracklist

  1. Take a Bow
  2. Starlight
  3. Supermassive Black Hole
  4. Map of the Problematique
  5. Soldier's Poem
  6. Invincible
  7. Assassin
  8. Exo-Politics
  9. City of Delusion
  10. Hoodoo
  11. Knights of Cydonia
  12. Glorious

Digital alternative version

  1. Take a Bow
  2. Starlight
  3. Supermassive Black Hole
  4. Map of the Problematique
  5. Soldier's Poem
  6. Invincible
  7. Assassin Grand Omega Bosses edit[19]
  8. Exo-Politics
  9. City of Delusion
  10. Hoodoo
  11. Knights of Cydonia



    US Bonus DVD edition ↓
  • Muse album
    Name Black Holes and Revelations with Bonus DVD
    Tracks 11
    Total length 45:28
    Publisher He-3
    Warner
    Format(s) CD+DVD
    Catalogue number WB443502
    Release date 11th July 2006
    Chart position -

Tracklist

CD

  1. Take a Bow
  2. Starlight
  3. Supermassive Black Hole
  4. Map of the Problematique
  5. Soldier's Poem
  6. Invincible
  7. Assassin
  8. Exo-Politics
  9. City of Delusion
  10. Hoodoo
  11. Knights of Cydonia

DVD

  1. Absolution Tour



    Tour Edition ↓
  • Album Gallery

    • AU Tour Edition back cover

    • AU Tour Edition interior

    Muse album
    Name Black Holes and Revelations Tour Edition
    Tracks 17, 18 (JP)
    Total length Unknown
    Publisher He-3
    Warner
    Format(s) CD+DVD
    Catalogue number WPZR-30194-5 (JP)
    Release date 10th February (AU)
    21st February (JP)[20]
    Chart position -

Tracklist

CD

  1. Take a Bow
  2. Starlight
  3. Supermassive Black Hole
  4. Map of the Problematique
  5. Soldier's Poem
  6. Invincible
  7. Assassin
  8. Exo-Politics
  9. City of Delusion
  10. Hoodoo
  11. Knights of Cydonia

DVD

  1. Supermassive Black Hole video
  2. Starlight video
  3. Knights of Cydonia video
  4. Supermassive Black Hole (live at Paris-Bercy, 14th December 2006)
  5. Starlight (live at the Bella Center, 2nd November 2006)
  6. Knights of Cydonia (live at the Wembley Arena, 23rd November 2006)

JP tracklist

CD

  1. Take a Bow
  2. Starlight
  3. Supermassive Black Hole
  4. Map of the Problematique
  5. Soldier's Poem
  6. Invincible
  7. Assassin
  8. Exo-Politics
  9. City of Delusion
  10. Hoodoo
  11. Knights of Cydonia
  12. Glorious

DVD

  1. Supermassive Black Hole video
  2. Starlight video
  3. Knights of Cydonia video
  4. Supermassive Black Hole (live at Paris-Bercy, 14th December 2006)
  5. Starlight (live at the Bella Center, 2nd November 2006)
  6. Knights of Cydonia (live at the Wembley Arena, 23rd November 2006)



US promo CD-R

Album Details and Gallery

Tracklist

  1. Take a Bow
  2. Starlight
  3. Supermassive Black Hole
  4. Map of the Problematique
  5. Soldier's Poem
  6. Invincible
  7. Assassin
  8. Exo-Politics
  9. City of Delusion
  10. Hoodoo
  11. Knights of Cydonia



KROQ Weenie Roast sampler

Album Details and Gallery

Tracklist

  1. Knights of Cydonia
  2. Supermassive Black Hole



Barnes And Noble Sampler

Album Details and Gallery

Tracklist

  1. Starlight
  2. Soldier's Poem
  3. Invincible
  4. Exo-Politics
  5. Hoodoo


References

  1. ↑ a b c Album notes
  2. ↑ Matthew Bellamy
  3. ↑ a b EQ 2007-03
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r
    Reference needed!

  5. ↑ a b Matthew Bellamy
  6. ↑ Rock May 2007-05
  7. ↑ a b c Jay and the Doctor 2007-08-02
  8. ↑ MTV News
  9. ↑ Chris Wolstenholme interview (needed)
  10. ↑ Matthew Bellamy
  11. ↑ Couleur 3 2007-07-24
  12. ↑ Win the table and chairs from the Muse album cov (2007-08-31). Retrieved from muselive.com.
  13. ↑ Muse - Black Holes and Revelations : Music > Rock - Mininova (2006). Retrieved from mininova.org.
  14. ↑ The Official UK Charts Company : ALL THE No.1's (2007-06-29). Retrieved from theofficialcharts.com.
  15. ↑ a b c Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named uaclub
  16. ↑ Amazon.co.uk: Black Holes and Revelations [VINYL]: Music: Muse (2007-03). Retrieved from amazon.co.uk.
  17. ↑ Black Holes And Revelations(ボーナストラック)【CD】-Muse/音楽/HMV (2006). Retrieved from hmv.co.jp.
  18. ↑ Black Holes and Revelations - Out Now! (2006-07-03). Retrieved from muselive.com.
  19. ↑ [Download page]. Retrieved from 7digital.com.
  20. ↑ Black Holes And Revelations(DVD付き, 限定盤)【CD】-Muse/音楽/HMV (2006). Retrieved from hmv.co.jp.

See also


Back to Discography

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