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The cynical among you might think that 10th anniversary collectors edition albums are just another way of the record company getting you to give them your hard earned cash for slapping on a couple of tracks that were originally cut for not being good enough and adding a couple of sketchy TV performances. That aside, ‘Placebo’ is as good an album today as when it was first released in 1996 and went on to sell 750,000 copies worldwide.
Placebo still has one of the most distinctive sounds in rock thanks to singer and guitarist Brian Moloko’s high pitched nasal whine and androgynous style. As well as counting David Bowie as a dedicated fan, the trio are in the enviable position of still being a successful recording and touring band after ten years. An anniversary you have to wonder weather some of today’s big artists will reach, where will emo be in ten years time?
Brian recently said he regretted being so open about his sexuality as it detracted from the music. That may have been the case but it also made them stand out from the crowd and gave him the material to write the band’s most memorable hit ‘Nancy Boy’. Its still a great track and the highlight of this album as well as being a cracking crowd pleaser at live shows. How can you resist the lure of the catchy riffs and the infamous opening lines, “Alcoholic kind of mood/lose my clothes, lose my lube/cruising for a piece of fun”?
As far as the ‘new’ material on the album goes you get previously unavailable demo ‘Paycheck’, and fan club-only demo ‘Flesh Mechanic’. Also included are B-sides ‘Drowning By Numbers’, which was the b-side to Placebo's long since deleted second single ‘Come Home’, and ‘Slackerbitch’, which appeared on Nancy Boy. The second disc is a DVD made up of all the promo videos from the album and previously unavailable live and TV performances, including a Glastonbury 1998 performance of Lady of The Flowers, and a Big Breakfast roadshow performance of Teenage Angst.
If you’re a die hard fan and want all the extra stuff then you will love this re-issue. If you’re new to Placebo and want an introduction to the band, buy their greatest hits ‘Once More with Feeling’ then at least you’ll get ‘Special K’ off ‘Black Market Music’ and probably the four best songs from ‘Placebo’; ‘Teenage Angst’, ‘36 Degrees’, ‘Nancy Boy’ and ‘Bruise Pristine’.
