Black Market Music [Bonus Tracks] [PA]

Performer: Placebo
Artist: David Bowie; Justin Warfield
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Placebo: Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal, Steve Hewett. Additional personnel includes: David Bowie, Justin Warfield, Rob Ellis, Severe Loren (vocals); Bill Lloyd (bass); Dimitri Tikovi (programming); Janet Cook (background vocals). Producers include: Placebo, Steve Osborne, Dare Mason, Paul Corkett. Engineers include: Kenny Patterson, Paul Corkett, Lorraine Francis. Principally recorded at Olympic, Townhouse and Moody Studios, London, England. Personnel: Severe Loren, David Bowie, Justin Warfield (vocals). Audio Mixers: Dave Bascombe; Paul Corkett; Placebo. Recording information: Bath, Somerset, England; Moody Studios, London, England; Olympic; Real World Studios; TownHouse; Whitfield Street Studios, London, England. Photographer: Kevin Westenberg. Unknown Contributor Roles: Brian Molko; Stefan Olsdal. After almost five years, the vile, nasty, spunk-filled world of Placebo has refused to go away. Marilyn Manson has turned a satirical eye on his own media status and even Suede have since come to swoon over girls "shaped like a cigarette." Yet it's Brian Molko that's steered his band from premature randiness (Placebo) to fearful regrouping (Without You I'm Nothing) without once batting a makeup-smeared eyelash. Black Market Music finds Molko in such moody lust that his strangled, androgynous wailing rivals anything the band has previously flashed to the world. Whether it's the dripping, slithery punk circle of songs like "Black Eyed" or the choir-boy enthusiasm of others like "Special K" (strangely echoing Midnight Oil's "Warakurna"), Placebo seem to have finally found that sweet wet spot between beauty and perversion. Even at its worst (the "Block Rockin' Beats"-sampling "Taste in Men"), past glories sometimes fail to be repeated with at least grand, postcoital contentment. Because it's hard to hate an album with such fascinating softer touches. In one moment, Molko cries respect to his mother; in another he counsels, "You better keep it in check/Or you'll end up a wreck/And you'll never wake up" -- a paternal warning seemingly directed at his fellow hedonists. Of course, there's a thin line between trying to perfect old efforts and stumbling into laughable self-parody. But Placebo now seem more in control than they ever have before. The spectacular "Commercial for Levi," for example, is some perverted, weary take on a childhood lullaby, only one written in a parallel dimension about "spunk and bestiality." True, there's no "Nancy Boy" or "Pure Morning," yet the album's consistency easily outmatches even the highest watermarks of either predecessor. This is a dank, lusty moment in the band's career that is about as good as Placebo "mark 1" can go. They now have the talent, the intelligence, and the distorted arousal to possibly become unstoppable. It's only a matter of time before they finally find love amid the lust. ~ Dean Carlson After almost five years, the vile, nasty, spunk-filled world of Placebo refuses to go away. Marilyn Manson has turned a satirical eye on his own media status, and even Suede have since come to swoon over girls "shaped like a cigarette." Yet it's Brian Molko that's steered his band from premature randiness (Placebo) to fearful regrouping (Without You I'm Nothing) without once batting a make-up smeared eyelash. Black Market Music finds Molko in such moody lust that his strangled, androgynous wailing rivals anything the band has previously flashed to the world. Whether it's the dripping, slithery punk circle of songs like "Black Eyed," or the choir-boy enthusiasm of others like "Special K" (strangely echoing Midnight Oil's "Warakurna"), Placebo seem to have finally found that sweet wet spot between beauty and perversion. Even at its worst (the "Block Rockin' Beats"-sampling "Taste In Men"), past glories sometimes fail to be repeated with at least grand, post-coital contentment. Because it's hard to hate an album with such fascinating softer touches. In one moment, Molko cries respect to his mother, in another he counsels, "You better keep it in check/Or you'll end up a wreck/And you'll never wake up" -- a paternal warning seemingly directed at his fellow hedonists. Of course, there's a thin line between trying to perfect old efforts and stumbling into laughable self-parody. But Placebo now seem more in control than they ever have before. The spectacular "Commercial for Levi," for example, is some perverted, weary take on a childhood lullaby, only one written in a parallel dimension about "spunk and bestiality." True, there's no "Nancy Boy" or "Pure Morning," yet the album's consistency easily outmatches even the highest watermarks of either predecessor. This is a dank, lusty, moment in the band's career that is about as good as Placebo "mark 1" can go. They now have the talent, the intelligence, and the distorted arousal to possibly become unstoppable. It's only a matter of time before they finally find love amidst the lust. [Black Market Music was also issued with two bonus tracks, "Without You I'm Nothing" [Featuring David Bowie] and a Depeche Mode cover, "I Feel You."] ~ Dean Carlson

Magnet (6-7/01, pp.102-3) - "...Art-glam misanthropy....The vocals are still sneered...and there's a dash more genuine emotion resting placidly at the center..." Kerrang (Magazine) (p.53) - "[T[hey sounded revitalised and comfortingly familiar all at the same time."

The three founding members of Placebo hailed from Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland, but their sound was British through and through, a mix of angst-ridden Cure-esque post-punk and glammy art rock a la Bowie. Amid the success of their early albums in the 1990s, they made no secret of their roots, crossing paths with Bowie more than once, covering T. Rex, and appearing in the glam-rock homage VELVET GOLDMINE. However, as album followed album in the '00s, like Bowie, the band expanded beyond its original universe, developing its own brand of darkly majestic, thoroughly neurotic pop.

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