When Radiohead began to explore electronic textures on Kid A, it fell to upstart U.K. bands such as Coldplay, Travis, Starsailor and Muse to provide the world with disconsolate, Pink Floyd-worthy guitar rock. So give Muse, from the English town of Teignmouth, some credit for adopting Radiohead's bombastic Bends approach and adding prog-rock-style instrumental virtuosity. "Apocalypse Please," the turbulent opening cut, is stitched with almost Liberace-esque piano pounding and fluttering guitar arpeggios. It's too bad that vocalist Matt Bellamy doesn't bring as much ingenuity to his singing — on brooding, quiet tunes such as "Ruled by Secrecy," it's as if Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley are the only singers he's ever heard.

“He Will Break Your Heart”

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."