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| Tell a Friend Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:41 am Post subject: Garbage- Bleed Like Me Album Review |
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Garbage- Bleed Like Me
Garbage’s fourth album, Bleed Like Me, did not get the credit it was due, perhaps prompting last year’s release of their greatest hits album, Absolute Garbage, the musical equivalent of waving the white flag, throwing in the towel etc.
However, Bleed Like Me was the soundtrack to my life in the month of its release, April 2005. I could relate to most of the tracks and those were the ones I played to death. Even when I play it now, it prompts me to remember exactly what I was thinking and feeling during that month.
The album opens with a bang. “Bad Boyfriend” (track 1) has heavy guitar rifts and obnoxious lyrics that announce this is a Garbage album, if you didn’t already know.
As it turns out, the album as a whole has a slightly different musical feeling to their previous one, playing down the Timbaland-inspired synphocated beats this time round. What can-and should-never change are lead singer Shirley Manson’s addictive vocals. Her deep, menacing singing voice is equally capable of softening wistful, making her one of the most outstanding indie vocalists out there.
What is also the same is the signature long, moving instrumental that is a feature of the last track on all Garbage albums. In this case, that track is “Happy Home”, a song about a level of domesticity which denies former wildness. The rest of the album stays true to the dysfunctional side of life, with the title track, “Bleed Like Me” (track 5) exploring the different forms of self-harm. “The Boys Wanna Fight” (track 9) could well be the soundtrack to the binge-drinking, yobbish society that we’re constantly being told Britain is turning into.
The most successful single from the album, “Why Do You Love Me” (track 4) is about someone with low self-esteem who is more damaged than healed by the apparent unconditional love from another. “Sex is Not The Enemy” (track 7) calls for a second sexual revolution so that promiscuity gets to be celebrated rather than condemned.
If there are a couple of tracks that take a while to get me going, they are “Right Between The Eyes” (track 3) and Metal Heart (track 5), but the rest of the album is a triumph that will continue to remind me of April 2005 for decades to come.
Written by Autumn for UKEvents.net |
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