It took me a while to come to grips with the fact that Garbage is a pop band. I mean, I'm a diehard metalhead, and pop is pretty much the antithesis of what metalheads listen to. But Garbage is a captivating band more so than they are pop, and for that they draw me in with every album. Picture my Winamp shuffle from "Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire" by Bleeding Through into "Cherry Lips" by Garbage. It's kind of creepy, actually. But that's just part of the mystique. I mean, Garbage weren't supposed to succeed in the first place. With the exception of vocalist Shirley Manson, every member of Garbage started in the music business as a producer. And that probably explains the radical routes each of their three albums have taken. Every album is Garbage redefined, and that simple facet is probably the most intriguing fact of Garbage.

So when I popped in Bleed Like Me, I had no idea what to expect, especially after an album as oddly masterful as Beautifulgarbage. And Garbage amazed me in the most unexpected way possible. From the first few notes into the opening track "Bad Boyfriend," it is clear that Garbage have been stripped down, spun up into a tight ball, and spit back out through the speakers. This album is electrifyingly straightforward, perhaps a response to the very ambitious third album, perhaps a collision of creative differences which almost led to the band parting ways during the recording and mixing of the album. But the simplicity isn't bad. By simple, I don't mean dumbed down songs with no depth: I mean basic, traditionalist, and focused, which is something that was probably last seen on songs from the first Garbage album. My reaction to this is mixed, because on one hand the songs are enjoyable and well put together, but it's missing that abstraction that makes Garbage such a special machine.

So I'll come up front and center and say that Bleed Like Me is Garbage's worst album, but in many ways it is their best. Bleed Like Me is extremely difficult to grasp, but at the same time it’s very easy to listen to. It's in the good parts of the album that I also back away from. I want to turn away from the album and embrace it at the same time. But isn't that exactly what Garbage have been doing with their music, reinvention after reinvention? Bleed Like Me shines special as the first album since the self-titled album that I can say defines what Garbage is and should sound like. With their fourth album, Garbage has finally found itself, and only through everything they've gone through in the past decade could an album like this unfurl itself. All the ambition, heartache, quirkiness, and beauty of Garbage still hides within each song, it's just harder to find. Tracks like "Run Baby Run" and "Why Do You Love Me?" scream PLAY ME! as the album goes over and over again. Bleed Like Me is an interesting experience for the Garbage fan in me, and it’s bound to be the album that defines Garbage in the future. I'm thrilled to see where they go from here.

Highlights: "Bad Boyfriend," "Run Baby Run," "Metal Heart," "Boys Wanna Fight," and "Happy Home."
www.garbage.com
www.geffen.com

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Taylor Green

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 Past Constructive Criticism

matthew posted the following Constructive Criticism: Huge Gabrgae fan! best review I've read yet. You should hear the b-side 'never be free' that appeared on the Sex Is Not The Enemy single. top 3 Garbage song of all time, this coming from a guy with all the albums and commercial b-sides. I would like your feedback as to what you think the album would have sounded like had they gone the path of this song, which was the rumored cd-r of 2003. It was the first song form the BLM seesions, and we know the path they took. What if they ventured the Never Be Free route? splendid review and glad to see you appreciate the bands reinvention.