Music Review: Placebo - Meds

Placebo, Brian Molko (lead vocals) Stefan Olsdal (bass guitar) Steven Hewitt (drums), has been a longtime favorite, starting with their self titled Placebo (1996). Then came Without You I’m Nothing (1998), Black Market Music (2000), Sleeping With Ghosts (2003), and Once More With Feeling: Singles 1996-2004 (2004) Now there is Meds (2006) another great CD in their discography.

It’s been a few years since Placebo released a CD and like many others I had waited not so patiently to hear what they had come up with. They released the single “Meds” with Alison Mosshart of The Kills and I fell in love. The music is haunting, the flow of Molko’s and Mosshart’s voices a perfect mix. Without hearing another song on the CD I was hooked.

But the whole CD is great. Each song flows into the next gracefully - there aren’t any huge jumps that leave you feeling like you might have missed a song. When I put this CD on I don’t skip any of the songs; I listen and enjoy each one. Brian Molko has such a unique voice and I never get tired of listening to him.

In “Broken Promise," with Michael Stipe of REM, are some of the most powerful lyrics on the whole CD. The song is about adultery and you can really feel the pain of the broken promise. Michael Stipe’s voice adds so much to this song - it would have been good before but his voice makes the difference: "I’ll wait my turn to tear inside you / Watch you burn / I’ll wait my turn / I’ll wait my turn."

Another song that seems to have everyone talking is “Pierrot The Clown.” I wasn’t sure what to expect when I put the CD on but when the song started I was moved. The lyrics are simple but touching, full of emotion they reach inside. I sat rapt, my attention focused completely on the music.

Leave me dreaming on the bed
See you right back here tomorrow
For the next round
Keep this scene inside your head
As the bruises turn to yellow
The swelling goes down
And if you're ever around
In the city or the suburbs of this town
Be sure to come around
I’ll be wallowing in sorrow
Wearing a frown
Like Pierrot the clown

This CD might not be what you had expected from Placebo this time around. Believe me, it is so much more. Bands grow and move away from what they were, and if they didn’t we would grow tired of them quickly enough. Meds is a step forward into the future for Placebo. I’ve loved the old and now I love the new.

Article Author: Katie Trattner

Ms. Trattner works for a non-profit agency where she is thankful for any internet time she can squeeze into her day. In her free time she reads one of the thousands of books stacked in her tiny apartment.

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