Placebo: RE:CREATED – Album Review

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At the age of 16, Placebo was an album that I hammered. Having already picked up their debut Fierce Panda split-7″ and the Deceptive-released Come Home single, it was exciting to hear the progression in what followed. The singles that propelled their rise not only seemed to harness the sound they were aiming for perfectly, but also packaged it in artwork that encapsulated the songs themselves. There was strength and beauty, but also doubt and escape. Broken mirror shards, nursing infants, a figure hidden, fleeing, all set against hushed pastel backgrounds. It felt altogether real yet abstract, pure but bruised, a reflection of the music found inside.

As Britpop was sleepwalking into its death throes, slowly bloating on its own success, bands like Placebo offered something else. It was darker, more angular, the sonics and aesthetics of the previous years rejected for something more international; the sound of Chicago and New York transported via European capitals. I gorged on it, along with bands like Scarfo. For a few years, they were on constant rotation. However, in the years following Black Market Music, I lost them and, until now, hadn’t listened to them for over 20 years. This re-release, Placebo RE:CREATED, blasted me back in time, reminding me just what an album it was, and still is.

With the anniversary train rolling around, what do we get from the 30-year celebration of their seminal debut album? Many bands, of course, opt for the remaster, which usually means another great and dynamic album lost, a casualty in the loudness wars. Others fill disc after disc with live versions and demos, fleshing out sides of vinyl to justify their cost. Let’s be honest, how often do you really revisit those? But Placebo have decided on an altogether different approach, one that breathes new life into the album (and a bit of the rest for those that really want it).

Going back to the original tapes with 30 years more experience, they have filled out and retouched the songs in a way that retains the energy of the original while adding a more expansive and muscular sound. What painter, writer, or musician would not relish the opportunity to revisit their past works with their knowledge of the day?

Songs that once felt so perfect have been honed in the intervening years through constant live performance. That and three decades of studio experience is brought to bear on their reworking. The drawing board still intact, the album has been perfected to really capture what Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal held in their minds back in the mid-90s. Those fans who fear this may have destroyed the subtle fragility, the keen-eyed defiance, the introspective examination of the original need not worry. The album is still layered with guitars that rocket along, chime from the background, details and flourishes that make the reworking a joy to listen to.

Of course, the first change that hits is the drums. How would they not with Come Home as the opener, its simple attention-grabbing initial beat immediately setting RE:CREATED on course. Where once there was a tinny resonance, here the dynamics have been pushed to create an overall fiercer blast, one that continues through many of the album’s more urgent songs. But it is not so simple as pushing things up in the mix. And that is where the album really triumphs. The devil is in the details. Listen carefully to 36 Degrees (always my personal favourite) and the surging Bionic, and you notice scattered double-kick drum beats that add a further jolt to the songs. So ingrained in my subconscious were the songs that such details immediately leapt out. It is the same with the vocals; pauses, breaths, a slightly changed cadence. All add to the feeling that the songs have been honed live over the years, the bridge in Bruise Pristine a perfect example.

Drowning By Numbers, one of the early songs that best encapsulated their Pixies-Pumpkins-Sonic Youth influences, as well as the lyrics that truly hit deep and personal to them, also benefits enormously, again, that double kick drum lighting a spark from inside and helping propel the fuller bass as it pumps along. A song that should have been given pride of place on the album, it returns emboldened by the reworking. But this is where the Reddit-board fans are already griping. No Slackerbitch, no Miss Moneypenny, no Flesh Mechanic, no Hug Bubble. True, every one of them would have been amplified by the same process, but, as it is, the process feels complete.

Across the album, the vocals have also been brought higher in the mix, adding to the more expansive sound. On Lady Of The Flowers, it also appears that they have been completely recorded. Listen closely enough and the subtle lilts in the lines become clear. As the song’s final chorus kicks in, there is also an underlying organ, sitting behind the crunching guitars, that lifts it into new territory. Where, of course, songs like Nancy Boy, with its full-on distortion, brim with more power, it is the subtler songs, songs like …Flowers and Hang On To Your IQ that have really benefited from this approach. They sound crisper, fuller, the new details flourishing. When they ramp up, such as in the solo of I Know, the power hits more than on the original, the difference in dynamics and added guitar really making the difference. On Swallow, the effect is one of dense claustrophobia.

Retaining the character of the original album, RE:CREATED brings its sound right up to the now, a more feverish blast of alt-rock, full of strength and the same cracked beauty of 30 years ago. Back then, the album was a shot in the arm, an antidote to the more inward-looking scene at the time. Now, it cements the band’s early reputation while showing the vision to go back with experience and repolish this gem of a debut. RE:CREATED is the definitive version of Placebo’s debut and a welcome re-blast from the a teenage past.

Placebo RE:CREATED is available in various formats: LP, Deluxe 2LP (with extra remixes), CD (with extra live versions and demos), 3LP boxset (with remixes, live versions, and demos), and cassette. Indies Exclusive LPs are also available.

Placebo European Tour dates:
SEPTEMBER
28 – OPERTO Super Bock Arena
29 – LISBON Sagres Campo Pequeno

OCTOBER
01 – MADRID Movistar Arena (The Ring)
03 – BARCELONA St. Jordi Club
05 – TOULOUSE Zenith
07 – NANTES Zenith
09 – ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE Rockhal
12 – LEIPZIG Quarterback Immobilien Arena
15 – VILNIUS Twinsbet Arena
16 – RIGA Xiaomi Arēna
18 – HELSINKI Veikkaus Arena
20 – STOCKHOLM Annexet
22 – OSLO Spektrum
24 – COPENHAGEN KB Hall
26 – HAMBURG Barclays Arena
27 – AMSTERDAM Ziggo Dome
29 – FRANKFURT Festhalle

NOVEMBER
01 – ANTWERP Afas Dome
02 – COLOGNE Lanxess Arena
04 – ZURICH Hallenstadion
06 – MILAN Unipol Forum
09 – MUNICH Olympiahalle
10 – VIENNA Stadthalle
13 – BUDAPEST Arena
15 – PRAGUE Fortuna Sports Hall
16 – BERLIN Uber Arena
18 – LODZ Atlas Arena
21 – STUTTGART Hans-Martin-Schleyer-Halle
23 – LYON LDLC Arena
25 – PARIS Accor Arena
28 – NOTTINGHAM NIC Arena
30 – GLASGOW OVO Hydro

DECEMBER
02 – DUBLIN 3 Arena
04 – MANCHESTER Co-op Live Arena
05 – LONDON OVO Wembley Arena
08 – CARDIFF Utilita Arena

ALL TICKET DETAILS HERE.

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Words by Nathan Whittle. Find his Louder Than War archive here.