It may surprise anyone who has read my other music reviews that my favourite band in the whole world is Muse. I think they're absolutely fantastic and have seen them live several times, most notably at Glastonbury 2010 where I managed to worm my way almost to the front of the crowd and left bruised, battered and covered in the sweat of several teenage boys, but very happy!

I wasn't always a fan, though. At school, I was very much a pop music sort of girl, insofar as I was into music at all (I always preferred books to be honest!). Once in history class, the students on my table were discussing music and one of the guys said he really liked Muse. "Muse?" I said scornfully. "Who are they?". David Thompson, if you're reading this, I'm sorry, you were right all along!

Muse is made up of Matt Bellamy on lead vocals, guitars and piano (who also wrote all the songs on this album), Chris Wolstenholme on bass, and Dominic Howard on drums. Showbiz was the band's first album, released in 1999. It enjoyed moderate success, reaching no. 29 in the charts. I bought it after buying and liking their second and third albums. It lacks the epic quality of their later work, but I love it nevertheless. This was the album that drew comparisons with Radiohead, but since I've never listened to Radiohead (yes, yes, I know, disgraceful), I can't personally comment on this.

Showbiz is a collection of guitar and piano-laden rock songs with largely distinctive melodies. My favourite song is probably the title track which starts off slowly and builds up to a rousing chorus. I also like Escape and closing track Hate This and I'll Love You with its angry lyrics. Opening track Sunburn has a distinctive piano melody with a guitar-laden chorus. Muscle Museum, Fillip and Cave are rock songs with memorable melodies.

There are some slower tracks on here too. Unintended is the closest the band gets to a love song, while Falling Down has more of a stripped-down sound than some other tracks on the album. Overall though, this is an album to rock out to, with Matt Bellamy's distinctive vocals and heavy guitars and piano.

Track Listing
1. Sunburn
2. Muscle Museum
3. Fillip
4. Falling Down
5. Cave
6. Showbiz
7. Unintended
8. Uno
9. Sober
10. Escape
11. Overdue
12. Hate This and I'll Love You

Sadly, songs from Showbiz (with the exception of Unintended which often provides a quieter interlude) are rarely performed live nowadays. This is a shame as I think the title track Showbiz in particular would be a fantastic concert opener. I honestly couldn't pick a favourite Muse album. I know many of the older fans prefer their earlier work, and several newer fans only like their more recent stuff, but I like it all - it depends on my mood as to which album I prefer at any given moment. This one gets five stars in any case!