Muse: “Starlight”
Muse’s 2006 effort, Black Holes & Revelations, added them to the list of British arena-rock bands that disappointed me this year, right there in between Snow Patrol and Razorlight. First single “Supermassive Black Hole” saw the band trying to cash in on the dance-rock fad that was already well on its way out, and “Knights of Cydonia” - though the video is amazing - is a failed experiment in the epic that ultimately results in a sprawling, wandering mess. Thus, “Starlight” is the closest thing the album has to a saving grace, if you can even call it that.
You see, all “Starlight” really has is that xylophone-sounding ascending keyboard progression, and without it it’s just another droning and lifeless new Muse song, bereft of the tangible passion felt in older material like “New Born” and “Time Is Runnin Out”. That said, the progression is quite catchy and the rest of the track listenable, dare I say enjoyable, the first few times through, but proves to grow stale within a few days’/weeks’ time, as tracks this uninspired are wont to do.
But hey, flip it over and peep the b-side; it’s a new Phones remix! I’d actually be more interested to hear how “Starlight” sounds with a Phones touch-up, but it’s actually “Supermassive” that gets the Phones’ treatment here. It’s certainly not his best work, but any Phones remix is mildly enjoyable at worst, and at the very least it keeps the single release of “Starlight” worth mentioning.
MP3s:
“Starlight” - Muse
“Supermassive Black Hole” (Phones’ Control Voltage Mix) - Muse
And as a bonus, in case you missed it on Monday, here’s DJ Sunderland’s awesome mash up of “Supermassive” and The Spinto Band’s “Oh Mandy”, which manages to work impossibly well despite the unexpected song pairing.
Bonus MP3: “Supermassive Mandy” - The Spinto Band vs Muse