Nine years on but still relevant (Black Market Music - Placebo)

Member Name: tommy7

Product:	Black Market Music - Placebo
Date:	26/04/09 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Better tracks are excellent

Disadvantages: Couple of very poor tracks

Placebo are (at the time of this album's release),

Brian Molko - lead vocals, guitar, keyboards

Stefan Odsal - bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals

Steve Hewitt - drums

Further information on them can be found at

http://www.placeboworld.co.uk/

"Black Market Music" is Placebo's third album. It marked a change to a harder edgier sound than the previous collections, "Without You I am Nothing" and their self-titled debut album. Whilst this album often hits the mark it is let down in places by some weak tracks.

This album has some outstanding tracks on it. I would say that the highlights are the rockier, guitar driven tracks.

The album opener "Taste in Men" was a surprising choice for the lead single. It is fairly middle of the road by Placebo's standards. I felt that there were braver and better choices on the album. Its not that it's a bad track but there isn't much in it that you feel like you haven't heard before. Sadly this is also the case with the second song "Days Before you Came".

That is certainly an accusation which cannot be levelled at "Spite & Malace" which features hip-hop artist Justine Warfield. It is like nothing I have ever heard from Placebo before (or since) and I find the contrast between Warfield's rapping and Placebo's normal sound actually works quite effectively. However, this is one track which came in for a lot of criticism from long standing fans.

The best track is "Slave to the Wage" despite the inference that it is the cause of the rut most of us are stuck in, the track is actually quite upbeat. In some ways it's imploring you to leave the daily grind, "Run away from all your boredom, run away from all your whoredom and wave your worries, and cares goodbye". Further lyrics make reference to the rat race and getting away from it all. A polished track which tends to go down well with people who are unfamiliar with it and indeed with Placebo in general.
The lyrics throughout are probably aimed at the adolescent market, with various sexual references and multiple reference to drugs. I suspect this puts a lot of people off Placebo which you can easily see being the case. Probably one of the worst culprits for this is "Commercial for Levi". Molko explains that this was a song which he used as a wake up call to someone on the road to destruction, but it comes over as quite a lazy track. It's one of the poorer on the album, thankfully it's also the shortest. Another disappointment is "Blue American", it just plods along and doesn't really go anywhere.

"Special K" was a track which courted some controversy due to its reference to the drug Ketamin and lyrics like "swallows half my stash", "dope demand" and "falling down" do little to help on that front. It's a pity it got so much bad publicity (Molko's response was dubiously that it was a metaphor for love), as it's in the top four tracks on this collection in my opinion.

"Passive Aggressive" is probably the most diverse track on the album. It's a slow burner which builds up to a mid paced chorus. It's a track which really delivers and is one that grows through time.

The only real ballad on the album is "Narcoleptic" and it works well. Situated near the album it signifies the album slowing to an end. It provides a contrast to most of the rest of the album and by doing so gives a bit of balance to what is a fairly fast paced record.

The other standout tracks I would have are "Haemoglobin" and "Black-Eyed". Again, two guitar driven tracks which really are outstanding tracks, especially when played live.

The version I have has a bonus track "Black Market Blood" which appears after a considerable gap at the end of "Peeping Tom". I am not sure why they left this off the official tracklisting as it is quite a strong finish to the album and gives a bit more meaning to the album title.

Placebo are a bit of an easy target when it comes to criticism. Molko's vocals can be described as whiney, the lyrics can be questioned and some people think there music is a bit repetitive. However, I think that if you give them a chance then there is plenty on this album to keep you coming back. Granted it won't be for all tastes (what music is?) but I think this is a record which is a worthy purchase.

Summary: A worthy purchase.