The Evolution of Garbage - One Giant Leap Forward.
Written: Oct 26 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: My sadness from the lack of quality music lately by Garbage is over!
Cons: My sadness from all the things about love and the world that suck is back!
The Bottom Line: C'mon baby, can you bleed like me?
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| thepremier's Full Review: Bleed Like Me [Bonus DVD] by Garbage |
- Garbage -
- Bleed Like Me - 2005
I admit that I am a Garbage collector. I absolutely adore Garbage since I first rocked out to Shirley and the boys way back in 1995 as a freshman in high school. Their debut album continues to be one of their best - the band, albeit a producer band, and a band that clearly depends on their music to sell themselves (take a look at the boys in the band) was an energetic mix of alternative rock, a little punky, and electronica. DEBUT gave us the Garbage hits I’ve come to love like Stupid Girl, Only Happy When it Rains, and Queer. The music from the boys, combined with the uncanny and almost universal appeal of the face of the band, Shirley Manson, seemed to me like a band that was destined to become greater and better.
VERSION 2.0 continued on that theme with even more polished and dynamic music and hits and favorites like Paranoid, When I Grow Up, and Push It.
Then along came BEAUTIFUL GARBAGE...
Although I found things to enjoy about that album, I was definitely disappointed a little at the sheer lack of much wow factor of the album.
Internal band drama and circumstances outside of their control (9.11 occurring during their tour...) almost led the band's disunion.
Fortunately, they pulled through, put their noses to the grindstone, got through at it all and gave us one awesome album. No more experimenting. Garbage has given us what they are good at. And what we like :)
Impressions
Holy sh|t! Where did those drummers come from?!?
That was the first thing I noticed about BLEED LIKE ME. The percussion and drum work which was sometimes lacking in previous work has been given more prominence and much more attention. Garbage rocks again like it never has. Period. That much is made evident in the perfectly placed first track - Bad Boyfriend - which features Dave Grohl.
The songs have a distinctive and conscientious realness to the sound. The electronica has been reduced, giving us a more raw, unplugged, real sound - like a garage band - only one with 10 years of additional experience.
Lyrically, songs are rich for the most part, and Shirley makes great commentary. Speaking of Ms. Manson, she straddles the divide between diva and rocker the way she probably straddles ... uhm, never mind... Paradoxically, it's her aversion to divaness that gives her that star quality - combined with that sensuous and sultry voice that could probably make the word 'colonoscopy' sound sexy. The songs and music also showcase her voice much better than previous albums as well. The songs are not extremely diverse in how they sound, but all of them sound great.
The Songs
Bad Boyfriend is sure to be one of the album's great successes - fantastic music, drums, guitars, and lyrics. It rocks hard throughout and is a great opener. A playfully coy and seductive Shirley invites someone to be her bad boyfriend - if only for a little while.
So ripe, so sweet, come suck it and see.
But watch out daddy, I sting like a bee.
All the invitation to treat her like, well, garbage, isn't completely true as she warns, "I've got something special for my bad boyfriend."
This song has my vote of "Most Likely to Be Performed by an Angry, Punky, Super-Vixen Drag Queen." It is an old fashioned rock anthem sung by Shirley if I've ever heard one from her.
Run Baby Run is a pop/rock song, reminding us how love often derails us even when we don't want it to. I don't think it's the stronger of the songs on the album and it tends to become kind of repetitive.
Right Between the Eyes is a call to arms song, rallying everyone who's been wronged, mistreated, abused, or otherwise hurt to "stick it to them like a phoenix rise...about time tack 'em right between the eyes." The song has an infectious head bobbing, toe tapping beat and great guitar sounds.
The single Why Do You Love Me is a song you have to hit repeat after hearing it the first time to take it all in. It's a sonically and emotionally charged song, and it also struck me hard because when I first heard it, my romantic interest and I were having similar questions of each other! The song speaks to anyone who's suffered a sudden drought of self esteem when hit with someone you don't feel quite worthy of.
I'm no barbie doll, I'm not your baby girl.
So I've done ugly things and I have made mistakes.
And then we come to the title track, Bleed Like Me. With such visual inspiring lyrics like...
Avalanche is sullen and too thin.
She starves herself to rid herself of sin.
And the kick is so divine when she sees bones beneath her skin.
and
Therapy is Speedie's brand new drug.
Dancing with the Devil's past has never been too fun.
It's better off than trying to take a bullet from a gun.
It's easy to jump to the conclusion that Shirley is either encouraging self destructive behavior or trying to have a competition (You should see my scars, - no, you should see MY scars!)- when in fact she's trying to very matter of factly try to make us understand something that we cannot understand.
Metal Heart is probably my favorite song to rock out to as well as my favorite song in the album. Sometimes I jump directly to this song, then listen to the CD from the beginning. Instrumentally, this is the most powerful song, I think, from the group since the likes of Push It or Paranoid. You can seriously headbang to this one. "Metal Heart" is a metaphor for having the courage and convictions to do the right thing. After looking at the chorus:
Now that we know for sure their telling lies,
when they say no one gets hurt and therefore no body dies, you know it's hard to believe anything that you here. They say the world is round.
Suggestions have popped up this is in reference to the Bush administration and policies.
Sex is Not the Enemy is a playfull attack on the "institution" that "curses curiosity". Another rallying song that urges an (unlikely) revolution against sexual prudery, it is reminescent of Androgyny in that sense.
It's All Over but the Crying is the album's lone sad ballad. She's talking about that part about breaking up where there's just nothing else to do but cry.
It's all over but the crying.
Fade to black I'm sick of trying.
Took too much and now I'm done.
It's all over but the crying.
The Boys Want to Fight is another song with possible allusions to global events:
They know best how they can mess with us.
Nursing an opinion is getting dangerous
And in a world where good's not good enough
Let's get loaded and kick up a fuss.
Why Don't You Come Over is the most different sounding song of the album. It's charged and quick pased as Shirley scats through the lyrics against angry guitars.
As usual, this Garbage album ends in a slower, usually bittersweet song in the end that showcases Shirley's voice, and it is no different this time with Happy Home.
Conclusions
This is definitely the best music from Garbage since VERSION 2.0 and the band has swayed back to their roots to derive their current sound. Like all music from Garbage, it is unfortunately unlikely to receive decent radio time. If you don't mind that the songs on the album have a similar style and sound to them, you will enjoy Garbage's mash of punk and alternative mixed with a bit of electronica.
The Premier
Epinions - October 2005
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
thepremier
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Member: Constantinos Kolios
Location: Rochester, New York
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 36 members
About Me:
Hello people.
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