Customer Reviews

Placebo

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Placebo's self titled debut album is one not to miss. Although this album does not feature their current, very awesome drummer Steve, it's still a great album that started the amazing European based band. It's a great alternative/punk album with a heavy baseline thanks to Stefan and lyrics that cut through your soul like a razorblade. Brian Molko (singer/guitarist) is able to write clever beautiful lyrics that can hit home to anyone, but are a bit melodramatic. The band's lyrics are one of the many reasons this album rules. The other is Molko's androgynous beautiful voice. Although it sometimes sound like he is sucking in helium, it's still good.

Sex, drugs, nail polish..and a little lipstick...swallow that Placebo.

1. "Come Home" 8/10 Loud crazy rock song. Makes you want to jump around.

2. "Teenage Angst" 9/10 Very good song. The lyrics are very clever and their all in the title.

3. "Bionic" 7/10 Not my favorite, but none the less good. (It gets old after a couple of listens.) This song has a raw sexual energy.

4. "36 Degrees" 10/10 Great Song. Kind of poppy, but very good and catchy. "Shoulders toes and knees I'm 36 degrees"

5. "Hang On To You IQ" 8/10 Slower song, but good. This song is a bit whiney, but in a "hold on to me" kind of way

6. "Nancy Boy" 9/10 SEX! With lyrics like "Does his makeup in his room / Douse himself in cheap perfume / Eyeholes in a paper bag/ Greatest lay I ever had" how can you go wrong? A lot of people love this song, but I've read it's not Brain Molko's favorite.

7. "I Know" 10/10 His voice...ohh his voice. Candy to my ears.

8. "Bruise Pristine" 9/10 Rock roar.

9. "Lady Of The Flowers" 8/10 Notice how the character changes gender throughout the song. Yes, it's about a transvestite.

10. "Swallow" 6/10 Worst song on the album, but it's worth a listen. It's complete talking throughout the whole song. Nothing really special.

HIDDEN TRACK: "Farewell HK" It's entirely instrumental, but it's so pretty.

This is obviously a debut album, but it's good if you are into alternative/punk rock, have an angsty side, is girl with goth tendencies or a boy who loves eyeliner and is just too pretty to understand.

1996 was the year when one of the finest groups around released an album that was to change the music scene and that group was Placebo. Placebo's debut album is fantastic from tart to finish its full of top quality hits from the opening track Come Home to the last track Swallow. Its hard to say that there any stand out tracks as the quality of the album is so good. My favourite tracks are 36 Degrees, Bruise Pristine, and Come Home. Any person who has any of the other two albums (Without You Im Nothing and Black Market) should own this album as they are missing out on so much

Their best record, period. Kind of reminds
me of the Pumpkins' Gish. No filler here.
Molko's strongest album lyrically as well.
One of the best of the nineties: I could
listen to this forever...

- cRAIG

i can only say one thing: PERFECT. the whole CD. great rythm, great chords, great lyrics. the whole cd is a drug. you can't stop listening. the best songs are: Come Home, Teenage Angst, Bionic, 36 Degrees, Hang On To Your IQ, NANCY BOY, I Know, Bruise Pristine, Lady of Flowers, Swallow. buy it immediately - you won't regret it

I often am cautious about an artists first cd, because they seem to not have polished their craft quite enough. that is not the case here. this is probably my second favorite placebo cd of them all. the songs are just as well put together and melodic as placebo ever was. the only real draw back here is that placebo has always opened and album with a really strong song, the opener here is one of the weaker songs of the album, but this should hardly keep anyone away. unlike some of their other releases, this one should appeal to pretty much all placebo fans. those who complained 'sleeping with ghost's was too slow or that 'black market music' was too mainstream should get this cd. those in both camps, or those who like every work by this band will love this cd. a must. a great album from a masterful band.

I really like this CD! I listened to it on the 3 hour journey to work, and it kept me sane. Well almost. One of my favourie songs on the CD was 'I Know' it has really good lyrics, and 'Nancy Boy' just rocks! I recommend andy Placebo fan gets it if they don't already have it and anybody who has never heard of Placebo and is trying them out for the first time, this is a good first time CD, and last but never least, Placebo rock!

I first heard Placebo on "Later with Jools Holland" (BBC America - great show). I was channel surfing and was on my way to the kitchen when "You Don't Care ABout Us" came on and I (literally) stopped dead in my tracks. I stood openmouthed until the end hoping there would be some kind of encore. There wasn't. I was crushed.

Fortunately, Jools had them on again three weeks later in a rerun of the previous years shows. This time "Nancy Boy" was the live performance, as if there was previously any doubt, I was a definite fan.

The lyrics are not what you get from your typical alternative band and every listen yields new interpretations and insights. Top that with the catchy heavy guitar (Pixiesesque?) I love, and your onto a winner with both of Placebo's albums.

I was turned on to Placebos music pretty late since the so called "alternative" climate here in the states is too absorbed with post grunge testosterone rock/rap. I saw the video to Nancy Boy and was curious and then "Pure Morning" came out and I was hooked. I first bought the 2nd album and knew there was something special here. I then bought this CD and knew they were definately one of the most amazing bands of the decade. This CD has traces of vintage Joy Division and Bowie without sounding derivative and blends them with Brians distinctive vocals. this CD is usually on my player at some point in the day. It is more raw than the 2nd CD but both albums complement each other beautifully. I cant reccomend both CD's enough.

Sometimes I get the feeling reveiwers like the ones for Amazon don't really lisen to the cd they reveiw. Placebo's first release is a case to point out. The reveiwer sound sliek he read Allmusic's reveiw and copied it. The Smashing Pumpkins and Rush comparisons make very little sense. Certainly a little, but to say they draw such a close comparisons as they say is strange. The Pumpkins sound is only there a little bit, maybe in the way they sing and the way the guitars and drums sound, but I hear more of a glammed up post-hardcore/post-punk sound. It seems to me they were listening to their Fugazi cds more than either Rush or the Pumpkins.
The best thing I can say about Placebo is that I can draw no comparisons to their actual sound. Certainly a bit here and bit there, but even on this forming cd they have their own sound. A perfect fit of glammy-ness and post-punk.
This cd isn't quite as good as their later ones, but it is pretty good in its own right. Not as a drugged up goodtime as some hold, it has some very fragile emotional content. Only a few tracks are as druggy and party centered as many hold the whole record is. I think people are confusing youth with partys. On this cd they dont' sound as mature as on their next three, but that's undertsandable, this is their first cd, they didn't even have a fulltime drummer yet. Understandably there's a certain amatuerness and youth to the record, but still it's amazing how melancholy it can be without being self-involved and oppressive. It's like the best emo and post-punk/post-hardcore, it is energetic and energizing to listen to and yet sad and alive and happy and makes you feel alive and ready to live and experiance everythign you can. No other band except maybe Joy Division and Interpol can do that to me so uterly completely.
the onyl complant I have is that some of the songs get kind of repetitive, they use the same lyrics too often sometimes, but that's onyl on a couple songs. Otherwise I have no complaints about the songs.
Anywho, I highly suggest this record to anyone who likes Placebo or post-punk or even some post-hardcore. I love it, and I suggest it very much.

I have a habit of buying CDs on a whim, and yes, sometimes that means I get albums I don't like. But this wasn't one of them, and I am so incredibly glad I got it. I heard a song on MTV and loved it, and eventually discovered it was Nancy Boy. A great song, and certainly not the only one on this album. They're all great songs, my favourites being Nancy Boy, I Know, and Bruise Pristine. This is a CD you can listen to anytime: on your stereo late at night in your room, or walking down the street with your discman. Great songs, great album, and here's some great advice: buy this album.