Bilingual threesome’s 3rd outing. Boots No.7 optional.
“Those motherfuckers got it wrong,” whines Brian Molko* on half-time bile-fest Blue American. Could the dastardly diatribe be aimed at those who mocked his recent Taste In Men?
Perhaps taking those somewhat blinkered critisisms to heart, the introductory single’s high-camp teutonics – Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys put through a musical mincing machine by the Chemical Brothers, if you will – is only attempted again on the lyrically laconic Slave To The Wage, with its “Sick and tired of Maggie’s Farm/She’s a bitch with broken arms” winking subtly at Bowie‘s Song For Bob Dylan/Queen Bitch Hunky Dory pairing.
Also on the shopping list is Special K, possibly inspired by something more potent than a fortified breakfast cereal, which boasts a gorgeously reflective acoustically-strummed intro, while the distortion-wracked internal aggression of Haemogloblin is just bloody marvellous.
Steve Pafford
First published: Mojo, November 2000
*Molko has turned 50 today, making him three days older than my sister. And her name is not Nancy, boy
Perfect 10: Placebo is here
