Placebo

Almost 26 years after the release of their eponymous debut album, and more than eight years since their last full length record - Loud Like Love, Placebo are back with - Never Let Me Go. Re-energised, re-focused and sounding fresher than ever, Placebo return with an album that was born out of a frustration with the commerciality of a "world-wide greatest-hits tour", but one that ironically could be seen as one of their more immediate and accessible in many years. Lead singer and band talisman Brian Molko said - "The whole enterprise was commercial, rather than [an] artistic one, and I guess we reacted against that. I'm like, ‘F**k this, the next record is gonna be about the pain of the world!’ The silent scream that is everywhere – that’s what interests me. Not this masturbatory, self-congratulatory two-year thing of, aren't we amazing?"

Placebo's latest album is certainly not just a paint-by-numbers exercise from the seasoned London band. The gap between albums has given Molko and Stef Olsdal time to think, time to create and time to develop again. Co-founding member Olsdal concurred with his band mate when he talked about the period between Never Let Me Go and Loud Like Love saying - "It was actually like this gruelling five-year tour which went from the last album being released into the greatest hits. It kind of went on and on, and it was sucking the life out of me. I didn’t have a lot of enthusiasm left for the band, because I think I was just drained. The thought of doing it again filled me with dread."

Continue reading: Placebo - 'Never Let Me Go' Album Review

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Placebo's debut album, the band have been reissuing each of their landmark albums on both limited-run coloured vinyl and permanent standard black vinyl.

'Sleeping With Ghosts' and 'Meds' are the final two in the series of reissues. Now 13 years old, 'Sleeping With Ghosts' shows singer Brian Molko coping with the memories of relationships gone by and exorcising those demons. Perhaps slightly more accessible than previous releases, 'Sleeping With Ghosts' charted at 11 in the UK charts back in 2003. An impassioned, rollicking album, it spawned 4 singles for the band: 'The Bitter End', 'Special Needs', 'English Summer Rain', and 'This Picture'. Less grungy than their earlier, and slightly heavier, albums, 'Sleeping With Ghosts' has Placebo realising their more electronic rock side.

'The Bitter End' is one of the few songs on the album echoing their earlier sounds. Full of driving guitars racing to a loud and frantic close; it's the definitive sound of a painful break up. 'Protect Me From What I Want' is more reserved than the rest of the record, a mournful look back at a past relationship.

Continue reading: Placebo - 'Sleeping With Ghosts' and 'Meds' vinyl reissues Album Review

With their cult following made up of fans that have supported the band throughout their nineteen years, it was no wonder the pre-show vibes around Brixton Academy were electric.  Playing their first of two sold out shows in this legendary venue, Placebo, it seemed, could do nothing to disappoint their fans. 

Opening with a new track it was clear from the beginning that the star of the show would of course be charismatic front man Brian Molko.  With the spotlight well and truly on him, the singer danced and twisted his way through their near two hour set engaging with the crowd very little verbally yet still managing to come across as open and thankful towards his adoring onlookers with his constant wide smiles and unfaltering stage presence.  His distinctive voice, still as prominent as ever, was without a doubt the most impressive thing about the gig.  It's immediately recognisable and sends shivers down your spine.

Despite playing very few of their hit singles, nearly every word was sung out loud by this buoyant audience.  Most notably missing were 'Nancy Boy' and 'Pure Morning', however this can be forgiven as 'Every You Every Me' turned this already lively crowd into a moshpit as they uncontrollably jumped around the floor. 'Running Up That Hill' unsurprisingly caused the same effect as this Kate Bush cover was performed somewhat more forcefully than usual.  This was truly the highlight of the gig. 'Meds' whipped the punters into a frenzy as all three guitarists made their way to the edge of the stage feeling every word and rift whilst lapping up the excitable cheers.  At the back of the stage, drummer Steve Forrest and Fiona Brice were outstanding throughout.  If the crowd needed warming up - which they didn't - 'Too Many Friends' would have certainly done the job.  Full of energy and ending with feedback from Molko's guitar, the strobe lighting and graphics were barely needed as the band provided the energy for this one. 'Special K' also made an appearance; a song so typical of the talent Molko possesses in his song writing - his dark, deep and astonishingly honest lyrics have become so popular and needed by followers - that their desire to let Molko know they were listening was overwhelming.

Continue reading: Placebo - Brixton Academy, 16th December 2013 Live Review

Placebo's seventh studio album, and their first full-length effort to be released by Universal, is a significantly less daunting proposition than much of their back catalogue. On first inspection, 'Loud Like Love' boasts a more positive title than the likes of 'Meds' and 'Battle For The Sun'. Equally, the record's technicolour artwork signals a creative shift for the three-piece on the eve of their twentieth anniversary. While the doom and gloom hasn't been completely washed away and the musical formula remains largely unchanged, there's a feeling the band has grown up. Less teenage angst and more mid life crisis, 'Loud Like Love' is enjoyable but not remarkable.

The re-birth that opener and title track 'Loud Like Love' seems to allude to, with Brian Molko's mantra of "breathe, breathe, believe", is somewhat of a false prophecy as the album progresses. But while the band doesn't stretch itself, there are subtle changes and touches that add to the feeling that this is a band coming to terms with the last two decades. Molko's voice isn't quite reaching the high notes he used to, but his delivery is as impressive as ever. However, when he does try to be more experimental with a spoken word section on 'Hold On To Me', it does feel a little misplaced. Meanwhile, the familiar guitar hooks are still as catchy and urgent as ever, without the album sounding like a band simply going through the motions. But it's Steve Forrest's drums that seem to elevate much of the material here. Various percussive tricks and samples are used to great effect. For example, the handclaps that ground 'Scene Of The Crime' or the ominous and distorted drum machine that opens 'Exit Wounds'.

There's a certain irony when Molko sings "This is my last communiqué down the super highway. All that I have to say in a single tome" on lead single 'Too Many Friends'. He's highlighting the isolating experience of online social networking and its sanitised version of human interaction, yet this is a band which launched the album on YouTube; perhaps Molko feels the sentiment is made stronger by the captive online audience that Placebo has nurtured. But it's also that feeling of disconnection that makes 'Loud Like Love' sound middle aged. Later on, in 'A Million Little Pieces', Molko crystallises the central problem with the album: "Whenever I was feeling wrong, I used to go and write a song from my heart. But now I feel I've lost my spark, no more glowing in the dark for my heart." While much of the material here is good, it lacks the rough edges (both musically and emotionally) that made Placebo so compelling in the late nineties.

Continue reading: Placebo - Loud Like Love Album Review