Absolute GarbageProduct Description
Four albums and seven Grammy nominations later, Garbage has its first best of collection--Absolute Garbage. Along with the new track Tell Me Where It Hurts, Absolute Garbage features 17 songs of extreme and intense emotion, from Stupid Girl, Queer and #1 Crush to Special, Bleed Like Me and Why Do You Love Me.
With the band recently emerging from a hiatus for a live performance and the recording of Tell Me Where It Hurts, Absolute Garbage offers the best of a band that, to quote a lyric from Queer, has been the strangest of the strange, the coolest of the cool.
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Taking inspiration from little known British band Curve, the formula behind Garbage was simple enough: Industrial strength beats, grungy guitars and ice queen vocals. But in Scottish fireball Shirley Manson the three middle-aged studio whizzes from Wisconsin not only found a muse but a front woman whose infinite charisma and wicked sense of humor--as evidenced by the title of this greatest hits set--gave even No Doubt a solid run in the hits race. For a few years, the group ruled the charts with shiny metallic pop gems like "Queer," "Stupid Girl," and "Only Happy When It Rains," hampered only by some remedial lyrics and a penchant for cribbing other bands melodies (see: The Pretenders aping "Special"). Theres a discernible dip in quality midway through this collection, when at the turn of the millennium Garbage seemingly lost its fire, but at least the groups token James Bond theme, "The World Is Not Enough," is more Shirley Bassey than Sheena Easton. Fans who are already up do date with the originals will want to pick up the special edition set that features a bonus disc of remixes by some of the biggest players on the 90s electronic music scene, including Massive Attack, The Crystal Method, and Unkle.
--Aidin VaziriRate Points :4.5
Binding :Audio CD
Label :Almo Sounds
Manufacturer :Almo Sounds
MPN :000933702
ProductGroup :Music
Studio :Almo Sounds
Publisher :Almo Sounds
UPC :602517375130
EAN :0602517375130
Price :$13.98USD
Lowest Price :$7.12USD
Customer ReviewsGarbages poignant pantheon of their greatest works is a must-own Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :2 Garbage is my favorite band. Shirley Manson is the only celebrity I want to meet before I die. I cant express how highly I revere this group.
Absolute Garbage (2007) is a fitting "greatest hits" collection. It does NOT include every single the band ever released, only the most popular ones. And although we can all gripe about its omissions, the fact remains that what were left with is a fine, comprehensive-enough album that presents an exciting retrospective of Garbage at their rise, peak, and fall (in surprisingly chronological fashion).
The first 5 songs are from their eponymous debut (1995) and of them, "Queer" and "Only Happy When It Rains" are the truly great cuts. "Vow" and "Milk" are good while "Stupid Girl" remains average and the weakest pick from their first CD (although it was a huge hit).
Tracks 7 - 11 hail from Version 2.0 (1998) and I would call all of them terrific, except "When I Grow Up", which is good but not great. "Push It", in particular, is almost the best song Garbage ever produced (my personal favorite would have to be "So Like A Rose" from Beautifulgarbage).
"Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)" and "Shut Your Mouth", both from the third album Beautifulgarbage (2001), are two of the best selections from that release, which was filled with dizzying highs and terrifying lows.
Although "Why Do You Love Me" was the first (and best) single from Bleed Like Me (2005), that albums title track was one of the worst songs Garbage has ever made (though admittedly "Bleed Like Me" is a love it/hate it affair). The remix of "Its All Over But The Crying", a middling ballad that almost became a single, is a little more downbeat and snappier but mostly its not much of a deviation from the original.
Fortunately there are three other tracks (all of them great) scattered throughout that deserve special attention:
#1 Crush is so brilliantly twisted that you can either issue a restraining order or take it as a darkly comedic retelling of Romeo Juliet (the soundtrack this came from). Underneath a canopy of pulsating drums, Shirley drones on with creepy pledges like, "I will lie for you/beg and steal for you/I will crawl on hands and knees until you see/youre just like me". "#1 Crush" is the kind of obsessively lovelorn stalker who rummages through your trash and keeps a blow-up doll with the same color hair as yours in their closet.
"When we first got together, we all said that we wanted to make a James Bond Theme, because thats how we come up with our songs." - Garbage, The World Is Not Enough Ultimate Edition DVD
The World Is Not Enough represents Garbage at their swankiest, naturally evolving from the brisk, posh sonance of Version 2.0 to a Bond theme that melds 90s techno fiendishness with 60s orchestral flourish. Its a riveting achievement, showcasing melodramatic radiance ("Theres no point in living if you cant feel alive") and insatiable craving ("If we cant have it all then nobody will"). Shirleys expansive delivery is pitch-perfect and shes arguably never sounded stronger. Too bad it was attached to one of the worst Bond movies.
If Tell Me Where It Hurts is Garbages fond goodbye, then I couldnt think of anything more appropriate. Shirley finally finds the right man ("To hell with everybody else/all I care about is you/and thats the truth/they dont like me yeah I can tell/but you do") and we applaud her wholeheartedly. Steve, Duke and Butch paint the sumptuous music with shades of nostalgia in a sincere salute to their fans. "Tell Me Where It Hurts" catches our gorgeous firecracker reflecting ("Ive been loved but I didnt know how to feel it/and Ive been adored but I dont know if I ever believed it") and its exquisite lyrics culminate with a grateful payoff that was worth the wait ("Ive been loved my whole life but I didnt know how to take it/until you").
This is a magnificent offering that can be enjoyed by hardcore fans and newcomers alike. If youve barely (or never) heard of Garbage or, like me, have bought BOTH versions of Absolute Garbage just to complete your collection, theres no reason not to check out this disc. In a word, its amazing.
(P.S. Check out my reviews of Garbages other four albums for a song-by-song dissection.)
This music rocks! Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :1 I adore this band and Shirley Manson rules. This disc has all the greatest hits and its the one to choose if you are a fan of Garbage.
Absolute MUST! Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0 Loved it! Great music whatever you do, either it is driving a car, hanging out with friends or just relaxing! Very pleased that I have all my favorite hits in one album! Get it, you wont regret it!
Amazing compilation! Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0 Exceptional compilation by the best band to emerge from the post-grunge era. On the terrific new track "Tell Me Where It Hurts," Ms. Shirley never sounded better!
Garbage is my favorite band... Rating Point :4 Helpful Point :1 ... so I had every song on here. I was disappointed, though, by their light coverage of "Bleed Like Me."
Additionally, there were far better remixes they could have chosen to showcase the broad range of alternative visions of their work.
