Garbage - Version 2.0

YOURZ

My exposure to Garbage has been through women in my life.  In fact, I remember getting a phone call from Mine just before she and I started dating, asking if I'd like to go to a Garbage concert as she had a last minute spare ticket after the friend she was going with (g'day Dom) fell off his motor bike.  I had to decline but not long after, returned the gesture.  The rest, as they say in the classics, is history.

We've waxed about Garbage before but this album is probably the quintessential one for many of the fans.  It certainly contains some of their biggest hits in When I Grow Up and I Think I'm Paranoid along with their almost trademarked hybrid sound.  And while Version 2.0 is polished to a sheen, thankfully none of the magic has been rubbed off.  

And damn it, when Shirley sings "Darling, how would it feel if we sleep together?" I want to jump on the next plane to where ever she is and show her.  But I think I'd be last in a very, very long line.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Killer, killer, killer album.  The band at their balls-to-the-wall best.  That hot, hot blending of rock, pop and dance that made this album the best thing they've ever done.

My personal favourite is the song that's kept me going through many a hard time, The Trick Is To Keep Breathing.  Although the album is chock full of hits, it's this song that I return to over and over again.  Because it's me.  It's how I am.  It's the point I got to after a lot of ups and downs in my life, and it's sung to me by one of my favourite voices.  How good does that get?

Ah, but they're recording, and releasing a new album and TOURING to support it next year.  Be still my beating heart.  Will it be possible that I'll be in the same room as Shirley Manson once again?  Oh Father Christmas, if you love me at all, I don't want a big red india-rubber ball like King John did (AA Milne) but please, please will you make sure Garbage come here?  I promise I'll be good(ish)!

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information go to: http://www.garbage.com/

The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore

MINE

Yes, it's not their biggest seller or anything but I like Adore.  I was thinking that  I have to say that, because I bought it, but actually I don't, because I've freely admitted to buying dross before.  I guess I like it because I really wasn't exposed to a whole lot of Pumpkins before this.  I mean, I'd heard a fair bit of Siamese Dream but never owned it, and every single one of my radio-school mates owned Melon Collie so I never bothered buying it, and then when I heard the band had a new album out, I thought, well, it's bound to be good.  And I really think it is.

It's a quiet, reflective album and I particularly like Ava Adore and Once Upon A Time.  I think it's one of those albums that's nice to put on when it's rainy outside and I'm inside reading a book and occasionally something will make me look up and listen to the music.

But maybe that's because I'm focusing on what Adore has, rather than what it's missing. I will say that Billy Corgan's voice can give me the shits after a while.  He's almost as whiny as Thom, but at least the tunes are better.

VERDICT:TURN IT UP

YOURZ

Ah, the finicky, fickle fall of the pointy stick. If only for a few centimetres, it might have hit on a few better albums from The Smashing Pumpkins. But it didn't, it touched down on Adore instead. At least I get to tell you how fucking awesome it was to stand between the crowd and the stage at the Big Day Out in '94 while the Pumpkins ripped the fuckin' place apart. (Yes, for those more observant readers, yes, it was the same occasion I saw Soundgarden - truly memorable).

What followed this tour was recording and releasing Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and the touring accompanying it. This in turn led to drummer Jimmy Chamberlin being sacked from the band due to his implicition in the OD death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. Chamberlin's massive drumming was replaced by machines and session musos for the Adore sessions. It might have, as one reviewer said, sorted the 'true' fans out from those who liked them for their big sellers but the reality is The Smashing Pumpkins without Jimmy just weren't the same band.

This was the beginning of the end, as far as I'm concerned.  Eschewing the huge stadium rock they were well known for and presenting a set of more subtle electronic-laden material frankly made them sound like Garbage wannabes (no offence to Garbage, of course.  Ironically is was Butch Vig of Garbage who produced the first two Smashing Pumpkins albums).  To top it off, Billy's petulant and increasingly meglomaniacal behaviour only drove a wedge between him and the rest of the band, eventually leading to departure of D'Arcy and the inevitable breakup.

There are a few nice moments on Adore, but these are more associated with the its lavish production and soundscapes, almost sounding like a soundtrack for a movie at points, something furthered by Corgan's admission that this is a "concept album without a concept."  Yeah, thanks for trying to be clever, Billy, but its simply not enough to hold my interest.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN before I bitch slap the whine outta ya, Billy-boy!

For more information: http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/

In our collection, we also have Gish, Siamese Dreams, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Pisces Iscariot and Machina

Garbage - Beautiful Garbage

MINE

I'm not playing Garbage enough.  This was made abundantly clear when I started playing this album and bounced around to it non-stop for ages.  Now I want more, more, more and I'll be rectifying that ASAP.

What's not to love?  Breathtaking production from drummer Butch Vig (of impeccable lineage) and those scorching sounds from Shirley Manson, this and the other albums are a great asset to any music-lover's collection.

I've seen them, um, three times?  The first as a support(!) to Alanis Morissette.  I was working with a couple of young dudes in a small office at the time, and they said they were going, so I asked if I could tag along with them.  They bought the tickets, I supplied the cash.  Young dudes, remember?  So when we get to the gig, I'm dismayed to find we are not on the floor part of the venue to jump up and down, no, we are in seats, nosebleed high above the stage, with other people sitting behind us who complained when I wanted to bop about a bit. Sigh.  And then there was Alanis.  Reader, I left only two songs into the whiny Canadian's set, thankful I wouldn't be streaming out of the arena with the rest of the plebs.

I've also seen them at a festival where I didn't get close enough to the front, but then later at a solo show where I was right THERE, close enough to get a great eyeful of Shirley.  That woman can move and sing at the same time like just about nobody else I've seen.  Oh wait, I'm not including Iggy Pop, but then I have suspicions he's an alien.  And in a weird kind of segue, I need to watch the Terminator TV series where she plays a Terminator android.

There are rumours they'll do another album and tour it... Butch, the world is waiting! 

PS I have When I Grow Up as my ringtone....

VERDICT: TURN IT UP


YOURZ

As Mine said, what's not to like about Garbage.  Mine didn't introduce me to this band but she certainly increased my appreciation of them.  Their songs are superbly crafted pop heavily disguised as big, brash rock songs and the production is so damned polished, you'd swear you're listening to Britney or Christina or one of those pop divas.  The musicianship, the arrangements and sounds exude confidence and quality.  And then there's Shirley; the bad, bodacious babe who is everything those little try hard divas wanna be.  Her voice moves effortlessly between prissy princess and rock bitch.  Oh, and she looks so good she would make a marshmallow hard. 

This album, like all Garbage albums, has a few power ballads but is mostly comprised of up-tempo tracks perfect for turning up loud and disturbing the neighbours.  I've only seen them live once, at a festival, but clearly remember the massive crowd eating up everything the band threw at them.  I also remember the crowd bouncing up and down like a single organism.  There's not too many bands who can do this to a festival audience. 

Favourite tracks on Beautiful Garbage are probably the obvious ones.  I love the electrobeat start to Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) and the intro to Androgyny is simply awesome.  The soft/loud template has never sounded better or more polished.  And the barking guitar sound and scratches on Untouchable is something else.  I don't know whether it's their best album but if this one's any indication, I'll be listening to the others soon.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.garbage.com/

In our collection, we also have Garbage, Version 2.0 and Bleed Like Me