8. Battle for the sun. This album is decent. I don't mind listening to it, but apart from the title track nothing stood out to me; it was like as if they just ran out of fuel and were just jamming. It also contains LOADS of cringey material about Brian begging the listeners for redemption and stuff like that... 7. Loud Like Love. This album is actually pretty good. I think that there is quite a lot of filler though. The title track and begin the end are big stand outs, but then you have some classic post meds placebo cringeyness (too many friends, hold on to me, rob the bank). I quite like the vibe, and Bosco is really really touching. 6. Meds. Meds is a very strong album all round, lower than black market music probably because I don't know it as well. Follow the Cops Back Home leaves me cripplingly sad, the title track is very epic, song to say goodbye is a great closer. Infra red is a little overrated, and has the first signs of the Post-Meds Cringeyness later cultivated on battle for the sun and L.L.L. It's a really depressing and heavy album, so is quite difficult to listen to sometimes depending on my mood. 5. Black Market Music. This album would be second if it wasn't for the production. It's just so heavy! the mix is so gloomy and downlifting; claustrophobic. It's higher than meds (other than the above reason) because it has more amazing tracks. Black eyed was the track which probably stuck with me the most when i discovered placebo, slave to the wage has a very geometrical feel reminiscent to Bionic, taste in men follows the trend of headbanging openers (continued up until battle for the sun, picked up again on Never Let Me Go), and the beautiful duo of narcoleptic and peeping tom bring the album to a very somber resolution sort of completed with the CD (and streaming) only bonus track Black Market Blood. If it got a remaster like The smashing Pumpkins's Machina did, it would be a breathtaking piece of work. 4. Never Let Me Go. I am SO glad they came back with this masterpiece. They master the sound i was never too sure about (synths), embracing the fact that they are not angry teenagers any more, and that Brian isn't treating himself like a poor sick puppy (looking directly at you, LLL and BFTS). The song writing for the first time since Without You I'm Nothing actually suits where they are in their lives, and the whole thing is genuinely so banging! from the start with the cacophony of Forever Chemicals (maybe the best concert opener they have?! (actually no that was Bulletproof Cupid (see sleeping with ghosts))) to the ending trilogy: grandiose This is What You Wanted, feeling like your in an intense 2 hour stranger things episode nearing its peak, Went Missing, with speaking similar to Lady of the Flowers (see Placebo), and the satisfying conclusion of Fix Yourself. It also has a bunch of good album tracks which try something new and don't completely botch it up: Beautiful James, The Prodigal, and Surrounded By Spies. From here on, the albums are all S tier, including this one (apart from number one on this list, which is 50 tiers above that). this album is not in the top three because there are 2 or 3 tracks which are just average. Don't let that stop you from banging your head to this nihilistic work of art though (yeah Brian was a little depressed about things namely the environment (see try better next time) on this album). Top three are in notes and credits section
3. Sleeping with Ghosts. A really cool album, their last good one for a very long time. They really tried a bunch of new stuff here (something rotten, Sleeping with ghosts, the last track (scratch censors its name!)) and most of it worked out. there is only one bad track average track on this album and that is second sight but that is quickly forgotten about when classic track Second Sight (maybe not as a good as a lot of their stuff, but i feel it was a nod to their first two albums), And the sweeping grandiose of Protect me from what i want. The tour was also pretty cool with good representation from the 2nd and 3rd albums (not the first >:-| ), and i could watch Bulletproof Cupid play while the band is behind the curtains (a trick stolen by Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion tour in 1993) and the angry punks pogo dancing and going crazy in the audience. Really cool flowing album. 2. Without You I'm Nothing. Bet that surprised you ha ha. This album is a great, the last to carry the vibe that the first album has, even if they make it a little more processed and gloomy (that's my only problem with it) from Pure Morning to Allergic, I'm completely captivated, although Ask for Answers drags on a little bit, and we're brought down a little by the crawl. It's very close to Sleeping with Ghosts on my list (almost a tie), because my sweet prince and scared of girls are cool tracks, but don't really fit the album; theyre filler. Needless to say, it is second on my list, so there are some really really really amazing tracks on it. You don’t care about us remains in my top 5 placebo songs, brick shoothouse is probably their punkiest song after the first album, and without you I’m nothing is imo the most explosive piece they’ve made. 1. Placebo (s/t). Along with In Rainbows (radiohead), this is my favourite album of all time. It is all killer no filler. Literally. Come home, the opener pounds the listener into the amazing world of the album, angsty raw punk rock at its finest (no, finer than that), the pounding snare coaxing us listeners to tap the table, bang your head whatever, with Brian's sonic youthy riff taking us into the post chorus, where reverb and a whammy bar mixed with the ride cymbol and toms take us away to be swept back into focus with that grating chord and snare. The second track teenage angst is a perfect classic placebo track, Brian singing 'since i was born i started to decay' in the chorus with bass interludes by Stefan accompanied by Robert Schultzberg (the BEST placebo drummer) joining in with his amazing tom work. Bionic literally sounds like it's name, the singular bass note played up high by stefan with brians fantastic guitar work and Robert's confusing drum patterns, especially when brian sings 'none of you can make the grade'. The toms reach a peak on 36 degrees, probably brian's best songwriting on the album, and the tone is brought down with Hang on to your iq, where robert's hihats almost sound like a modern trap song with a rare case of Brian not actually sounding that nasally when singing, and we really feel for the characters in Brians chorus: 'im lonely'. Nancy Boy is, well, Nancy Boy, ultra heavy punk track for thrashing about in big venues, I Know, featuring Robert's Didgeridoo playing and verses which are solely acoustic, but before you get worried the chorus kicks your ass well enough for you not to be surprised. The real underrated gem, which in my honest opinion should be valued over nancy boy, is bruise pristine, which has all the same energy but fits better in with rest of the album. And don't forget Brians ascending guitar power chords as he sings 'bruise. pristine. serene.' quickly swept back into the action of the song, with 'we were born to lose', and of course the signature placebo harmonics which are cultivated extremely on the next track, lady of the flowers. Lady of the flowers is the last track on the album before (mostly) instrumental jam swallow, and it ends the album perfectly. I think it might be the only time where Brian speaks on a Placebo track and it doesn't sound the least bit cringey. The drumming includes hi hats also seen on hang on to your iq, and a distorted final chorus to bring us into swallow, the chill instrumental with Brian's distorted voice speaking (actually its technically not an instrumental then) 'stop stammering', and 'razor blade, i don't know where i put it'. And the album ends there, if you own the vinyl. after around ten minutes of silence the hidden track H.K. farewell (im pretty sure i read somewhere it meant Hong Kong farewell?) with stefan playing the piano, brian playing the same chord crescendoing on his guitar and robert playing the drums with brushes. it ends the album perfectly. But it doesn't stop there. there are plenty of good b sides as well (some are admittedly trash), like Drowning by Numbers and Miss Moneypenny. I hope you enjoyed me rant about placebo. thanks
