Label: Stunvolume/BMG/PIAS
Review by Tony Cannella
The legendary band Garbage returns with their sixth album and first in 4 years, “Strange Little Birds”. Throughout their 20 plus year history, Garbage has released albums all to infrequently (this after all is only their 6th album), quality wise however they always stayed consistent. Rather than releasing albums every year or two which might be garbage (pardon the bad pun), they have opted instead to record and release album when the inspiration hits them, I suppose. “Strange Little Birds” is a classic Garbage record in every sense, and to be sure, this album has continued the trend of great records from this band. Everything that fans have come to love and admire about Garbage is well represented on “Strange Little Birds”: from Shirley Manson‘s passionate and provocative vocals to the technical wizardry supplied by the musicians and songs that are instantly memorable and recognizable as Garbage. No one sounds like Garbage. The dark opening track, “Sometimes” really gets us off to a subdued start and leads us into the first single “Empty”, a song which would sound right at home on their first album. The band is firing on all cylinders on tracks like “Blackout”, “Night Drive Loneliness” (my favorite song), “Even Though Our Love Is Doomed” and “Magnetized”. Garbage certainly has not lost any of their style and swagger, in fact, they are as self-assured as ever. Garbage, as a band is comfortable in their own skin, they do what they want and have never followed the trends of the day. That to me, is one of the most admirable things about Garbage. They are as good as ever and “Strange Little Birds” is all the proof you’ll need.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Sometimes
- Empty
- Blackout
- If I Lost You
- Night Drive Loneliness
- Even Though Our Love Is Doomed
- Magnetized
- We Never Tell
- So We Can Stay Alive
- Teaching Little Fingers to Play
- Amends
Line Up
- Shirley Manson – Lead Vocals
- Steve Marker – Guitar, Keyboards
- Duke Erickson – Bass, Keyboards, Guitar
- Butch Vig – Drums
Links