Imagine a boxer in a title fight, winded after throwing one crippling blow to his opponent after another, and pausing to step back from the fracas, catch his breath and assess the damage.
Such is the feeling one gets after an initial spin of the new Garbage CD, Beautifulgarbage.
With their new release, the Madison, Wis., band, fronted by dark angel Shirley Manson, have stepped back like prizefighters and assessed the rage and turmoil that have infused so much of their music for the past six years, years that have seen the band record two techno-pop hits, “Stupid Girl” and “Only Happy When it Rains.”
Rather than knocking down the electronic walls of mechanized sounds and electronic wizardry that they have built with their previous efforts, the new CD turns out to be a tight mix of soaring melodies and growling guitar riffs, whispered raps and humble homages to Big Star and Phil Spector. And it’s shrouded in enough turntable scratches and hints of opera to establish the band as a force to be reckoned with in a music world that sometimes seems to know no other motive than package and profit.
Singer Shirley Manson has toned down her swaggering delivery a bit on songs like “Silence is Golden,”replacing her former bubbling venom and rage with a quiet ability to reveal the chinks in her inner armor.
The band, which also includes Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker, have painted the tunes with a deeper shade of soul as well, as seen in the opening track, “Shut Your Mouth,” a sonic exercise in funk with Manson whisper-rapping the verses.
There are other pleasant detours along the way, such as when the band flirts with a ‘50s girl-group presentation on “Can’t Cry These Tears Anymore.”
Elsewhere, though, the entire delivery packs such an emotional punch that when Manson sings such lines like these from “Cherry Lips”— You make the whole world wanna dance / You bought yourself a second chance — it’s almost like she’s singing about herself.
With Beautifulgarbage, Manson and company have proven to the world that, when they want to, they can combine thunderous, guitar-driven rock with brilliant pop sensibilities to produce an effort that is, in a word, beautiful indeed.
Grade: A+
