Soulmates never die, and neither do excellent albums...

Ah Placebo, how we love thee. Been listening to their new CD "Battle for the Sun" for a while now since its release, and thought I'd give it a quick review for anyone who hasn't picked it up. Or I guess, for anyone who has picked it up and gives a toss what I think about it. In fact, what the hell, this review is for everyone! Huzzah!

This is the first Placebo album with their new drummer, and it really shows throughout the songs. The new member (one Steve Forrest, or so Wiki tells me) adds far more attack to the album than has been seen before, and gives the songs far more energy - and they really are better for it! Generally I've always felt that Placebo albums fell down with the quieter numbers - songs like Centerfolds, Narcoleptic or Bionic were often the weak points to the stronger, more powerful songs. The band seems to have realised this, and 'Battle for the Sun' is noticeably sparse on softer songs, preferring to keep it faster and heavier.

Now, I'm not gonna give an exhaustive blow-by-blow account of the album - leave that to those that get paid for this sort of gig! But I will pick out what I think are the high-points of the album...

Far and away the best song on the album is the single 'For what it's worth' - with Brian Molko's trademark semi-cryptic lyrics ("You're a god-shaped hole tonight") being augmented by a rather nifty brass section, which is a different direction for the band, but one that totally works. Definitely a fantastic little number, and well worth listen. Other good tunes include the strangely life-affirming 'Bright Lights', with a wonderful rising synth line bringing a smile to my face whenever I listen to it. On the other end of the scale, 'Devil in the Details' is the sort of slow, powerful songwriting that Placebo does so well. Starting out quiet and unassuming, it quickly rises to a powerful creshendo that makes for awesome listening. There is also 'The Neverending Why', a fast powerful song that hearkens back to songs like '36 Degrees' or 'The Bitter End'. Probably the next single, this one.

Listening to this album, one thing that occurs to me rather randomly is that this album seems to be far less sex and drug-obsessed than previous offerings - Brian seems more interested in relationship issues and cryptic but beautiful sounding couplets and lyrics. Don't know what that means for the band, but 'tis an observation nonetheless.

Anywho, as a final note, here's some youtubes for a couple of songs from said new album - enjoy!

For What It's Worth

Battle For The Sun

Keep it Ninja,

J

p.s. - If Brian does happen to be reading this - please stop changing your hair all the time! You looked perfectly good with the medium-long hair - keep it like that! Much appreciated.

p.p.s - Random bit of trivia - the song 'Ashtray Heart' is actually named after Brian's first band, formed with the bassist Stefan before they formed Placebo. So there you go!

And tonight we'll start it all again...

Urgh, man, what happened? Last thing I remember there was this old dude, and he was offering me candy, and then it all kinda gets hazy for about... 3 months. Anyways, I am back once again, victorious in the face of essays and fit and ready once again to fight the good fight in the name of good music and bad jokes. So, without any further delay, let's get down to business!

J