Track Listing

1. Bulletproof Cupid
2. English Summer Rain
3. This Picture
4. Sleeping with Ghosts
5. The Bitter End
6. Something Rotten
7. Plasticine
8. Special Needs
9. I'll Be Yours
10. Second Sight
11. Protect Me from What I Want
12. Centrefolds

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3490 in Music
• Released on: 2003-03-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The basic tenets of the rock & roll manifesto--sex and drugs, dangerously excessive lashings of both--have always figured prominently in Placebo's glitterered-up, androgynous rock oeuvre. Sleeping with Ghosts is a little more coy (but just as sordid), dealing more with the torturous psychoanalysis of love and longstanding relationships than with the instantly-gratifying exchange of bodily fluids.

Not that there isn't any room for fetishism and coital undernourishment. "This Picture", for example, apparently dwells on the doomy side of sado-masochism and comes over as just the sort of trash-glam pop stomp Suede once excelled at--that is until Brett Anderson knocked the funny stuff on the head and started gazing at rainbows. If press reports are to be believed these days--and the jury's out--Placebo are just as likely to turn their noses up at plates of narcotics as to plunge their nostrils in with glee. Not that they've cheered up. "The Bitter End" ("since we're feeling so anaesthetised") is one big bruising rock-out waving the flag of philosophical fatalism; rather like men rushing head-long into a brick wall at high speed, Placebo can't wait to get to their final date with destiny quick enough. At times it's hard to tell whether Brian Molko is repulsed or perversely gratified by his chosen subject matter, although he's definitely bored with the weather (the cheerless "English Summer Rain" is a subdued, sighing pop tune, driven by rhythmic jolts of electronica) and the waltztime, Doors-influenced "Protect Me from What I Want" finds him praying to be delivered from his own personal temptations (or demons).

Sleeping with Ghosts, however, is every bit as much an album for slam-dancing nights out at Goth-favouring haunts as it is for the psychiatrists' couch. --Kevin Maidment

CD Description
This is the fourth album from Placebo and the follow up to 'Black Market Music', which was released in 2000. With help from Jim Abbiss (Massive Attack, Bjork and UNKLE), 'SleepingWith Ghosts' sees the band moving into a more experimental,electronic territory, fusing full-on trashy punk rock with dark trip-hop influences. Includes the single 'The Bitter End'.

Customer Reviews

Placebo - Sleeping with Ghosts
After three years, London-based rock trio Placebo has finally arrived with long-awaited fourth album, Sleeping with Ghosts. With their previous three records all hitting top 10 in the UK, the expectations for the new album are, to say the least, elevated. Then it is with no small amount of pleasure that many fans, after having heard the new tracks, pronounced Sleeping with Ghosts Placebo’s best album to date. I, for one, am inclined to agree.

Taking their cues from the likes of DJ Shadow this time around, Placebo cleverly sidestep the pitfalls that dance/electronica influences often represent, and manage to fuse these influences effortlessly with their unique style. The arrangement chosen to showcase the music has a lot to do with this – in general, odd-numbered tracks on the album lean toward their old, guitar-driven approach with trademark ‘insect buzz’ distortion and simple punky rhythms; whereas even-numbered tracks showcase their new direction, with a couple of quiet, piano-led tracks to close off.

The album opens with a sinister, frenzied instrumental reminiscent of the hidden track 'Evil Dildo' from second album Without You I’m Nothing, but as the record wears on, this quickly proves itself to be a red herring as to an indication of where the album is heading. Track 2, 'English Summer Rain', features vocalist Brian Molko on drums, providing a bouncy vibe and melodies you can’t help but sing along to. 'Special Needs' is another highlight in a similar style, with lines like ‘remember me / when every nose starts to bleed’ exemplifying Placebo’s usual lyrical perversity. How *very* Brian Molko.

'The Bitter End', the first single off the album, is typical Placebo, perhaps with a little more melody than previous material. This newfound love of tunes features throughout the record, with is all the better for it. Placebo’s old, arse-on-fire running-with-guitars style sits heavily on tracks such as 'Plasticine' and 'Second Sight', and 'This Picture' comes across like a close relative of 1998’s 'You Don’t Care About Us'.

The title track is more than a highlight. Upon the first few listens it is already elevated to a status equal to despondent Placebo classics such as 'Without You I’m Nothing' and 'My Sweet Prince'. Stealing a couple of lines from Les Misérables, this a heartbroken anthem backed by sparse electronica and a gorgeous tune. ‘Soulmates never die’, laments Molko in his remarkable helium-laced voice, bringing to the fore blatant emotional intensity and fierce love.

Musically, Sleeping with Ghosts is marvellous. The band has struck gold with the heady mix of electronica, their signature trashy lite-punk and Molko’s constantly above-par vocal performance. Though the words are competent enough, it doesn’t ever get back to the lyrical genius exemplified in early Placebo. But overall, that’s a small price to pay. This is a dazzling album, a must-have for every Placebo fan and many more people besides.

Sleeping with Ghosts
This is a great Placebo album. Close enough to their previous albums to appeal to existing fans and fresh enough to stay current, a perfect mix. This album has some outstanding tracks, as other reviews have noted, and it is one of their few albums that feels coherent the whole way through and with a high quality for all tracks. A great album for existing fans, and the best place to start for new ones.

Better than BMM, not quite WYIN
Before I listened to Sleeping With Ghosts, I felt the same excitement and hope that I felt before Black Market Music: that maybe this album will be even better than Without You I'm Nothing. But I had to be disappointed again. There will never be a better album. Now don’t get me wrong! I liked SWG a lot. I think it’s very fresh and full of energy, even though a higher number of songs have a slower tempo. It’s the melodic power, the very simple and harmonic guitar lines, the haunting voice of Brian Molko that makes it so outstanding. The music touches your soul and sticks in your head and it’s such a welcome and refreshing change after a number of alternative rock albums out on the market, that have all the same sound and say absolutely nothing.
The album is basically a collection of love songs, but touches a few controversial issues like abuse in "Something Rotten" and socio-politics in "Protect Me From What I Want". The latter one is probably one of my favourites. "The Bitter End" is an excellent choice for a first single and definitely the most catchy song on the album.
So even if SWG did not match the geniality of WYIN, it’s going to be one of the best albums of 2003. To describe it in one word: it’s very ... Placebo.