Track Listing

1. Come Home
2. Teenage Angst
3. Bionic
4. 36 Degrees
5. Hang On To Your IQ
6. Nancy Boy
7. I Know
8. Bruise Pristine
9. Lady Of The Flowers
10. Swallow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2638 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-31
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Brian Molko, everyone's favourite ladyboy, certainly made his mark withPlacebo's most notorious single: "Nancy Boy", a tale of gay sex and eye-holes in paper bags launched a dozen Student Union Bar spoofs("Bacon sandwich up my bum / Watching Newsnight just for fun") and propelled Placebo into the Top 10 and tabloid infamy with a single deft stroke. As David Bowie's protégées--he personally invited them to support him on his European tour and plugged them everywhere he went--it's no surprise to find Placebo metallic and shiny with his double-jointed glam riffery. Married to the heavy metal and Cure records Placebo obviously adore, it makes for an unexpectedly compelling sound: the sheer sleazy energy of the aforementioned "Nancy Boy" made its simple buzzy mantra horribly addictive, while "Bruise Pristine" hardly ruins the party.--Caitlin Moran

CD Description
An interesting combination of a Swede, a Swiss and an American, meeting in Luxembourg and sounding very British, in a post-punk sort of way. The group were signed for a reputed large advance, partly owing to the marketable, androgynous Brian Molko. However, the quality of their songwriting was demonstrated on their excellent debut. "Nancy Boy", a surprisinghit single, is in fact one of the lesser tracks on the album. There is much more depth to be found in "Bionic", "Come Home" and "I Know", the latter complete with didgeridoo. After such a sparkling debut the cynical jury is already out.

Customer Reviews

High-octane debut
The moment you press play, Placebo's debut yanks you into a fast-paced, breathless, adrenaline-fuelled ride that is a bit like passing through Camden Market on a rollercoaster. Not everybody's cup of tea, then. But I couldn't help being caught up in the sheer energy of it all. The opener, "Come Home", sets the tone for most of the album. Powerful drums, stinging guitars, Molko's whiney voice sneering out quick-rhyming lyrics full of references to drink and drugs and sex, oh, and some good old angst just to let you know that this isn't supposed to be sunny day music. The strongest track is "Bionic", really a typical Placebo song that sums up all that makes them great: simple guitar playing, and simple lyrics (about a sex toy in this case, but there's some ambiguity here thankfully). Let's be clear on this: Placebo aren't out to prove that they are the most technically adept musicians in the world, nor that they take their work too seriously. They're just out to do what they're good at, and that is producing fantastic songs.
And they're not all fast-paced. "Hang Onto Your IQ" is the first reasonably slow track, but that doesn't prevent it from being any less sharp or cheeky. The notorious "Nancy Boy" (not the best song on the album, but at least it got Placebo the attention they deserved), while it is an immensely heavy song, is not particularly fast-paced. And the wonderful bonus track "H. K. Farewell" is surprisingly mellow compared to the rest of the album.
Obviously when you hear lyrics such as "alcoholic kind of mood, lose my clothes, lose my lube" you know you're not getting the deepest, most thought-provoking of works. But that doesn't matter. In fact the sheer sleaziness of it all merely sucks you in deeper. Even if you don't agree with the hedonistic ways of Molko and Co., this album won't disappoint. You emerge from it feeling slightly dirtier, but you'll have enjoyed it, and that's the most important thing.

Shoulders toes and knees..
... I'm 36 degrees. Deciphering what this meant took me a while, and finally i grasped it, below normal temperature, cold. Shivering and snivelling Placebo pull off what is a usual, a blinding debut. This debut is not just their best, it is the only, the album they obviously keep searching to re-do. Not one tune in this collection should hav ebeen omited, all set a standard and tell a tale.

Surely the sub-standard producion mires the full effect of the album, on the contrary, the inperfection hightens the albums beauty. Come home's almost tinny sound breaks with Molko's whine, his claims of emaciation and looking at clouds have helped many a sad faux depressed teen come to terms with the world, the following track is a snide jibe at them, yet at the same time it is a knowledgeable admition and conveys comfort,even if nothing ever goes their way.

The repetition of Bionic makes a vibrator of a song become somewhat of a play on words, fantasies and aloofness galore. Thundering in, my favourite track on the album chimes in with a melancholy lyric and the guitar lights up my life. The infuriating chorus finally came to me, someonne tried to do me ache.. madness, but understandable somehow. The end of feelings, the begginings of greatness.

Hang on to your IQ, possibly the best advice i have ever recieved from an album, a song that me and my friends relished singing. After the reflective comes the self penned self abuse that is the sahmless Nancy Boy, a track people still point at me and smile when we dance, a track which in single form is better, in sex mix is best, but on album is raw and acts as a blueprint, a sort of placebo manifesto for 1996-7.

There is a definate placebo sound, the guitar is the signature, but with I Know, you realise that someone, somewhere is playing a dijaredo(sp) and the mind boggles, and this album takes an experimental step, for a song anyway. The pessimism carries on through Bruise Pristine, wearing make up in men leads to abuse, physical or mental, this song carries the scars and flicks the V's at them, sounding vaugely like Nancy Boy, it has to be noted that this was their first single before thier major label signing, so Nancy Boy sounds like this.

The fact that Nancy Boy sounds different on this album from the single version is to be understood as both Come Home and Bruise Pristine have different guises in their original single form. More hollow, more caustic, more bass!

The last two listed songs are purely interpretive, the delicate almost electro strum of Lady Of The Flowers makes you wonder what drugs were taken during the making of this album, the break at the chorus allows for the rock to come out, but still makes you wonder, can these Placebo people really be jacks of all trades. Then Swallow throws you, intrigues you, makes you feel ill, and is an utterly wonderful and uncomfortable end to and album that still has a hidden track to go. I wont mention what the track is about, listen and be shocked, and try not to imagine it.

This album is a sad, sometimes depressing one, it uplifts at the same time, with just the right balance of light and dark, guitar and experimentation. A must have even if you think Mr Molko is a girl, even if it's not metal, even if...

I never tire of this album, I've yet to find one that touches me in so many places.

Pretty damn good!!
I got this cd having bought 'without you i'm nothing' after every you every me & allergic totally blew me away & this cd although perhaps not quite as good is definitely worth having. Although there's only 10 tracks each one is really individual & brings out different emotions and meanings alot of this is down to brians unique voice. now this is a guy who can really bring out feeling in songs for example the pleading in come home. the lyrics are superb & yes twisted (but thats a good thing!) for example nancy boy definitely one of the album's highlights. there are other simpler lyrics that will also stand out in your mind such as bionic's 'HARDER!!! FASTER!!!' if you like this cd i cannot recommend enough the other two!! this is goth rock at its finest & still with a postive feeling. the lyrics will really speak to you. they are also an incredibly sexy band you can hear it through the music & theyre amazing live OK thats enough GO GET IT!!!