Garbage Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
As polished and professional as it was, Garbage's third album, Beautiful Garbage, killed whatever momentum the quartet had as the LP commercially crashed and burned not long after its fall 2001 release. Subsequently, the band faded out of view, taking a long hiatus before regrouping in 2004 to record their fourth album, Bleed Like Me, which was finally released in the spring of 2005. Although it was released halfway through the first decade of the 21st century, it belongs to the midpoint of the last decade of the 20th century, sounding like a virtual Cliff Notes of the sounds, themes, and styles of the post-grunge '90s. As they beefed up the guitars, the band have toned down some of the electronica underpinnings that have been present since their debut -- they've not been excised, merely subdued, so this is still recognizably the work of a group that called their second album Version 2.0 with their tongue firmly planted in cheek. But Garbage don't just hark back to their earlier work on Bleed Like Me, they conjure all kinds of ghosts from the '90s, building "Sex Is Not the Enemy" on a Kim Deal bassline, while pasting together a guitar riff straight off of Stone Temple Pilots' Purple and a chorus from Elastica's classic "Stutter" for the album's first single, "Why Do You Love Me." Other sounds of the '90s flutter throughout the album -- the title track reaches back even further, as its cavalcade of misfits uncannily recalls Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" in its structure, sentiment, and melody -- while lead singer/lyricist Shirley Manson trots out a litany of doomed relationships, kinky sex, wallowing despair, teenage cutters, and hostile confrontations, all topics that were de rigueur for '90s alt-rock. Manson doesn't seem like she's pandering -- several songs appear to cut close to the bone, suggesting that she's been through a particularly painful breakup recently -- and neither do the band. They're all old pros and they construct their music well, so it's hooky and loudly stylish. Problem is, it's a style that's about ten years out of date. Bleed Like Me doesn't sound like a revival, it feels like it's out of time, as if the band doesn't quite know how to do anything else but sound like it's the heyday of post-grunge alt-rock. Since the band's drummer and chief sonic architect, Butch Vig, helped create that sound with the albums he produced for Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, and L7, that's not a surprise, nor is it necessarily a disappointment, because the music is not bad. He and his colleagues remain talented, capable professionals, crafting an appealing, tightly constructed album that plays to the group's strengths. It's an enjoyable record, but it's hard to escape the nagging feeling that Garbage has painted itself into a corner: they haven't found a way to expand their sound, to make it richer or mature -- they can only deliver more of the same. While they may be able to do this well, it is nevertheless more of the same. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Beautiful Garbage'
Release Date 9/25/2001
Tracks 13
Label Interscope
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The great thing about Garbage -- the thing that nobody wants to mention -- is that they are veterans, from frontwoman Shirley Manson to the three studio pros who play the instruments. They slogged through the trenches of alt-rock in the '80s, whether it was in the U.S. or the U.K., and they came together at the precise moment in the '90s when they could fashion modern-sounding music with a keen eye to the present and modern. They consciously picked up elements from shoegazing, trip-hop, and indie rock -- anything sonically interesting in the underground, crafting them together with skill and a keen commercial eye. On their third record, Beautiful Garbage, that's more evident than ever, from how they approximate contemporary R&B with the sultry "Androgyny," or the Minneapolis new wave bubblegum funk of "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)," or the bluesy PJ Harvey strut of "Silence Is Golden." It's all the more evident because this has a shiny, sugary, unabashedly pop coating, an element that Garbage clearly revel in, as well as should the listener. This is every bit as enticingly postmodern as their other albums, and it sounds distinctly Garbage -- there are elements of My Bloody Valentine crashing up against Tricky, post-Madchester dance, jangle pop, goth stance, and classic pop -- but they seem less like magpies, more themselves, which means Beautiful Garbage is a more consistent record. It's unlikely to storm the charts like their first two records, especially since there aren't standout singles like on the earlier albums, but overall the record works better, perhaps their best album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Neither a flat-out retread nor a full-fledged progression, Version 2.0 is almost too accurate a title for Garbage's second album. Everything that made Garbage a success is here -- Shirley Manson's seductive strength, strong pop sensibility, a production that falls halfway between alternative rock and techno -- presented in a slightly newer form. Version 2.0 may be gilded with fresh drum loops and shiny, computerized production, but it lacks the thrilling immediacy of the debut. It isn't that Garbage's sound is no longer appealing -- it's that high-tech production has a tendency to make the songs sound the same. That was a problem with the debut as well, but it's discouraging to find that those flaws are repeated, not solved. Still, when Garbage pull it all together, the results are irresistible, and there are just enough moments on the album -- including "Special," "Push It," "Temptation Waits," and "I Think I'm Paranoid" -- to make it a successful follow-up, even if it isn't a brave step forward. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Garbage's self-titled debut has all the trappings of alternative rock -- off-kilter arrangements, occasional bursts of noise, a female singer with a thin, airy voice -- but it comes off as pop, thanks to the glossy production courtesy of drummer Butch Vig. Not only is the sound of the record slick and professional, but all the songs are well-crafted pop songs. Unfortunately, only a handful of the songs are memorable, but those that are -- "Vow" and "Queer," in particular -- are small, trashy alternative pop gems. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
