Garbage

Tempering their dark, brooding sound with shades of 1970s glam and '80s pop, Garbage deliver their most eclectic offering to date. Beautiful Garbage reflects a diverse array of influences, as artists such as Phil Spector ("Can't Cry These Tears") and Blondie ("Breaking Up the Girl") are channeled through its grooves.

Back in 1998, on Garbage 2.0, Shirley Manson vowed, "When I grow up I'll be stable." She
certainly hasn't grown up on Beautiful Garbage, which is the band's most unsettled album
so far. Manson, who spent the band's first two albums fabricating the persona of a 1990's
supervixen -- a sexy, tough gal with a dirty mouth, a paranoid-depressive streak and a loyal
heart until she's betrayed -- knocks that persona to pieces in the course of the a... More >

The new Annie Lennox--bad dreams are made of this ("Silence Is Golden," "Cherry Lips [Go Baby Go]") (Grade - *)