Without You I'm Nothing
This U.K. three-piece'sself-titled debutoften got compared toSmashing PumpkinsandRush--Smashing Pumpkins for its unashamed mid-'70s prog-rock allusions and Rush because of singer Brian Molko's unusually high-pitched, almost androgynous voice. In reality, Placebo were far more salacious, downright dirty, and culturally confusing than either. (The band is a mix of American, Swedish, and English, with some Lebanese and Luxembourgian thrown in.) For their second album, Placebo have looked to the late '70s for inspiration, to the sound of earlyNew Orderand theBanshees--with a dash of the '90s thrown in: "Brick Shithouse," for example, starts like the most balls-outProdigysong. If their debut was the sound of a no-holds-barred sexual drug frenzy lasting way into the next day, thenWithout You I'm Nothingis the resultant rumpled, libidinous comedown. As such, it's much classier, cerebral and great to listen to when hung-over. "I'm unclean / A libertine / And every time you vent your spleen / I seem to lose my power of speech," Molko breathes on the awesomely overcharged title track. In a year whenMarilyn MansonandBauhauscontinue to revitalize the goth movement across America, Placebo's moment may well have arrived.--Everett True