Garbage 'Bleed Like Me'
When you stop and think about it, Garbage have the most rock’n’roll names in the business. Shirley Manson? She hasn’t had to change it from Brian – scary or what? Butch Vig? How hard is that? That’s the name of a man who, you suspect, could crack open walnuts under his armpit and flick the shells with the bone-shattering power of .357 Magnum.
Duke Erikson, meanwhile, should be riding across the prairies into the sunset whilst with Steve Marker, you’re left feeling that this is a man who wouldn’t even have to try to come up with a great porn star name. Collectively, these fabulously and appropriately named individuals have at last come some considerable way to return to the crunching rock’n’roll form of their eponymous debut.
The extended gestation of ‘Bleed Like Me’ wasn’t without problems. After the artistic and commercial disappointment of 2001’s overly sleek ‘beautifulgarbage’, Garbage found themselves at an impasse and the rocky path to their current return is littered with a trail of heartache and setbacks. Depending on who you believe, the band were either forced to take an extended sabbatical or actually broke up during the recording process due to the customary “creative differences” while elsewhere, Vig was hospitalised for six months with hepatitis and Manson’s marriage came to an end.
What hasn’t killed them, it seems, has made Garbage stronger. Manson, reverting back to her natural red hair, has sacked the sexless bleach that characterised her last outing to mix the glitter with the dirt to produce a gorgeously vampish persona that’s equally attractive to both sexes. The alluring rock of ‘Bad Boyfriend’, featuring a thundering guest appearance from Dave Grohl on drums, finds Manson – as if to reassure herself - trading on her considerable sex appeal as she croons “I’ve got something special for my bad boyfriend” that sounds as much as a threat as it does a promise and, as evidenced on the techno-glam of ‘Metal Heart’ and ‘Run Baby Run’, Manson has packed away her trainers and buffed up the spike heels to devastating effect. Hell hath no fury…
And yet, beneath the sexual veneer and bravado, lies the pain of self-doubt and rejection. The confessional title track finds Manson – herself no stranger to self-laceration - singing, “You should see my scars” while ‘It’s All Over But The Crying’ draws on the bitter sting of a relationship in terminal decline that’s reinforced by the anger of ‘Why Do You Love Me?’
If there is a drawback to ‘Bleed Like Me’, it lies in the production. With the three producers in the band, it comes as no surprise that the smooth gloss of the music lies in sharp contrast to the album’s edgy lyricism and you can’t help but feel that there’s not enough spit and too much polish.
Still, minor gripes aside, ‘Bleed Like Me’ sees Garbage making huge steps to reclaiming former glories. A welcome return then, from a band unafraid to wear a bleeding heart on its sleeve.
Garbage 'Bleed Like Me' (Warners) Released April 11 2005.
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