There are aspects of life that are dependant on change, from the value of the pound to how late the trains are running on a particular day. Yet there are other areas in the world that remain static, things that lie in a proverbial limbo of grey and Placebo are such an entity.
Since 1996 Placebo have been peddling the same themes of vaguely perverted glam pop and on
Meds not a lot has changed. It is still sex, drugs, booze and hangovers, both mentally and physically and the brutal fact is that Placebo did it a lot better about seven years ago. Over their first two records the band mastered the art of combining Suede sleaze with Sonic Youth guitars, particularly evident on their eternal rewrites of
Silver Rocket.
Black Market Music found Placebo adrift on a sea of banality, the album merely a collection of mid paced mediocrity that went neither here nor there.
Meds however is a regression for Molko and his cohorts, the album finding them throwing away the slight progression found on
Sleeping With Ghosts and churning out material that could fit quite easily on their early albums. The electronic leanings of
Sleeping With Ghosts were an interesting development for the band, the creepy drum n’ bass balladry of
Something Rotten was the best thing Placebo had done in years. Unfortunately there is nothing on
Meds that even comes close, though the industrial longing of
Space Monkey is vaguely memorable.
Elsewhere it is their traditional formula of fast yet un-aggressive rock alongside more wistful material that won’t register on the emotions of anyone that doesn’t have panda eyes.
Meds will please Placebo fans, for example
Drag is the kind of pure Placebo pop gem that gets their fan base excited, but anyone else will not find much here.
Meds is out now, find out more at
www.placeboworld.co.uk.
It seems to be more about Placebo in general and all a bit vague. Not that what you've written is bad...it's not...if it was part of a longer piece. It just would have been nice to talk about the tracks, name them, give comment, album length, highlights, low points etc. I didn't really get anything from it other than...it sounds like a Placebo album.
