|
By Andrew Burden, Wednesday 31st December 1969 11.59pm (3036 views)
|
|
Placebo - Collectors Edition
Released: 24th September 2006
Label: Virgin Records
|
1996 was a crowning year for guitar prog/college rock. The Smashing Pumpkins were riding the tidal wave caused by their monster of an opus; ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,’ and the laddishness of Brit-Pop was being given a run for its beer and fag money.
For lovers of loud guitar melodrama, things couldn’t get any better.
But they did.
Placebo burst onto the scene with their eponymous debut album and instantly broke more ground than a Nescafe production plant.
Placebo were loud, they were brash, they were brazen and they were beautiful. And now, ten years on, the original album has been hauled out, dusted off, remastered and re-released, this time with a DVD as a second disc.
Some might question the wisdom of re-releasing the album, arguing it’s another attempt to squeeze money out of the hardcore Placebo fans. But when you hear what they’ve done to the album you’ll dismiss such ideas.
This edition of the album is an improved memento of the soundtrack to so many lives, so many moments, so many emotions.
The music by the band’s own admission is rough around the edges, but that’s almost what was so attractive about this album.
Brian Molko says if he had the chance to have another crack at the first album he would have done. But not even he could deny the power of a track like ‘Come Home’. It’s perfect in its restrained melodramatics and energy. On the track Molko is the picture of cool detachment, but managing to belt out the song in a voice that remains unique to the industry.
At the time it was difficult to know what to make of them - gaunt, elegant, leather-clad axemen of the apocalypse or the total sum of teen angst.
Part of the band’s charm is that, ten years on, they remain as much an enigma now as they were then. If you take Molko’s Liner notes for the album into account though, they have matured, they have emerged from the haze of Nineties excess, wiser, more eloquent, better skilled musicians and people.
Possibly the most telling change in the band’s psyche is Molko’s 2006 message to the fans - “don’t die. Please don’t die…”
Ten years on Placebo are as vital and important to the musical landscape as any other band you could name.
As for the album Molko says “please enjoy the nostalgia boys and girls, so we don’t have to”.
It’s good to know this groundbreaking three piece still have their eyes very much locked on the horizon.
An absolute must have, whoever you are and wherever you’re from.
For more information you can visit: http://www.placeboworld.co.uk
|
No comments have been posted for this article.
Why not be the first to add a comment?
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
Related Reviews |
|
|
|
