Sleeping with Ghosts

Placebo

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 1, 2003)
• Original Release Date: April 1, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B00008AWOD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,632 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Sex and drugs and rock & roll have figured prominently in Placebo's glitterered-up, androgynous music. Sleeping with Ghosts is a little more coy than past recordings, dealing more with the torturous psychological aspects of relationships than with the exchange of body fluids. Not that there isn't any room for fetishism. "This Picture," for example, apparently dwells on sado-masochism and comes over as just the sort of trash-glam pop stomp once associated with Suede. "The Bitter End" ("Since we're feeling so anaesthatized") is a big, bruising, fatalistic rocker. At times it's hard to tell whether Brian Molko is repulsed or perversely inspired by his subject matter, although he's definitely bored with the bloody weather (the cheerless "English Summer Rain" is a subdued pop tune driven by rhythmic electronic jolts) and the waltz- time, Doors-influenced "Protect Me from What I Want" finds him praying to be delivered from his own personal temptations. Sleeping with Ghosts, however, is as much an album for slam-dancing nights out at Goth haunts as it is music for the psychiatrist’s couch. --Kevin Maidment

Product Description
This is the fourth album from Placebo & the follow up to 'Black Market Music', which was released in 2000. With help from Jim Abbiss (Massive Attack, Bjork & UNCLE), 'Sleeping With Ghosts' sees the band moving into a more experimental, electronic territor --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an overlooked masterpiece, July 27, 2003

By	Matt O. "Daffyphack" (Boone, NC) - See all my reviews

Before I got this album, I knew nothing about Placebo. I had heard a couple of the songs from the album on msn radio, and the music store I was in had nothing on my wish list other than this and a Chemical Brothers album. Feeling more in the mood for rock than electronica, I went with this, and I know that I made the right choice.

Placebo is a rock band with a definite punk influence, great guitarwork, occasionally repetitive but poetic lyrics, and an incredible lead singer. Brian Molko has what very people in the industry seem to have: an original voice. His voice can best be described as feminine, especially in a world full of Eddie Vedder soundalikes. But because of this soft edge, combined with the bass of Stefan Olsdal and the drums of Robert Schultzberg, some pretty amazing results turn out. The last track on the album has the most beautiful vocals this side of Radiohead. And unlike Thom Yorke, who sounds more pained than angry, Molko has a real intensity in his sound, which pays off in the harder songs.

The album starts out with the instrumental "Bulletproof Cupid," which is nothing phenomenal, but its a dang good intro into the sound that dominates the rest of the album. "English Summer Rain" is the first track to exhibit Molko's vocals, and it was the moment that my love affair with this album began. Its combination of basic rock components with the ethereal trip-hop sound just clicked with me. "This Picture" is a more straightforward rock song, but it showcases some of my favorite lyrics on the album. "Farewell, the ashtray girl, forbidden snowflake." It definitely sounds like a good concert song. The titular "Sleeping With Ghosts" goes back to the surreal ambience that makes the album for me. Like many of the songs on the cd, "Sleeping With Ghosts" is a tragic love song. It would be horribly depressing if it didn't sound so good. "The Bitter End" is the single that was released for this album, and I understand why. Lyrically, musically, vocally...its the most radio-friendly song on the album, and unusually, one of the best. No one can sound begging and bitter like Molko can. One of the best parts of the song is in his incomprehensible rant near the end of the song, and the song ends still angry, before dropping you into the Massive Attackish "Something Rotten". My only argument with this song is that the lyrics are, for some reason, not written down with the lyrics to the other songs. It has a pseudo-sexual, diseased feel to it that I adore. "Plasticine" feels like a major departure from the route the album was taking, but it works nonetheless, especially with the guitar lick accompanying Molko's "Don't forget to be the way you are." The next three tracks are the weakest parts of the album, but only by comparison. "Special Needs", on the first hearing, struck me as very weak lyrically, but on later listenings, the incredible use of the piano made up for the lyrical faults. "I'll Be Yours" is the worst song on the album, but it still has a great feel to it, and the repetitive "Second Sight" has an awesome refrain. "Protect Me From What I Want" is the track that made me want this album, and I still can't get enough of its poetry and its distant-sounding vocals, despite its repetition and even after more listenings than I dare to count.

This only leaves the last track, "Centrefolds". One of the things that for me makes a great album is if it gets you started right, and then lets you off properly. Just as Track 1 is a great intro, Track 12 paves the path for Placebo's exit. Its the most vulnerable track on the album, the least angry, and without a doubt the most beautiful. Hearing that surreal sound you've become used to through the album, with Molko pleading for you to "be mine", its hard for this album to end without you smiling.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING!!, July 29, 2003

By	HUGO SANTINI (MEXICO) - See all my reviews

Wow!...What an album!.
After all that androgin, glitter-punk rock begining, this got to be the most mature, finest album this english trio has ever made, i mean, Black Market was close, but this is , by far my favorite Placebo Album.
Ok, you wanna best album songs, dont you?...forget it! listen the whole cd and check by yourself the deep lyrics and the balanced sound of the band: Brian's guitar rocks as good as in early times did, drums are pretty good mixed with rhytm machines which, by the way, doesnt suck at all as in some electro-industrial rock crossover bands' albums, bass is simple, straight and smooth. And if you enjoy Brian Molko's provocative nasal voice,you are gonna ask for more.
Maybe Black Market was better accepted than Without You Im Nothing because its mature songs, but believe me, this one sounds like coming from better songwriter musicians.
I dont wanna be pretentious but Sleeping With Ghosts could mean for the band what Songs Of Faith And Devotion meant for Depeche Mode: their highest and finest moment.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Already a classic and it's only a day old, April 2, 2003

By	"mrmouthful" (Provo, UT USA) - See all my reviews

I'd like to preface my remarks by saying that I am a huge Placebo fan. I went out and bought this album yesterday and have been listening to it ever since. Of their three previously released albums, I'd say "Without You I'm Nothing" consisted of some really great songs alongside a couple of less great ones, and "Black Market Music" was more consistent, but the best songs there weren't as good as the best ones on WYIN. I'd say "Sleeping With Ghosts" is more like "Without You" in this regard. Of the 12 tracks here, I'd say there are really only two songs that I'm not wild about-"Something Rotten" and "Protect Me From What I Want." The rest are great.

As for the sound of the album itself, I think this record shows Placebo starting to move away from the largely punk-influenced songs they've had a lot of in the past (i.e. Brick S---house, Days Before You Came, etc.) and more towards more ethereal, beautiful ballad-type songs (i.e. Ask For Answers, Peeping Tom) although there are examples of both here. I have noticed a lot more synthesizers and electronic noise on this album than on anything else Placebo has recorded in the past, but, unlike a lot of artists who do this, I think the addition of synthesizers help, rather than hinder, the music.

My favorite tracks: English Summer Rain, This Picture, Sleeping With Ghosts, The Bitter End, Special Needs, Second Sight, and Centrefolds. There is a lot here for Placebo's current fans to like, and a lot more that should hopefully attract some new fans to the fold. This is a brilliant band that seems to only get better with age. I can't wait to see what comes next.