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| Clever Girl... >> Writing >> Garbage review beautifulgarbage Garbage **** 1/2 Pop music is taking a new direction, or so Rolling Stone keeps telling us. Innovative 'N Sync gain new creative control as Justin Timberlake beat-boxes them to not quite the top of the charts, Mandy breaks away from the pack and goes accoustic, Nelly Furtado somehow finds herself lumped in with teen pop, and Britney tries just that little too hard in her contrived progression from girl next door to empowered feminist goddess a la Madonna. But while these attempts to move beyond the hard, stagnated beats and saccharine lyrics that are so pervasive on modern radio are admirable, it's important to keep in mind where the true pleasure in pop lies. Good pop music rises above the rest within the pop hook. The perfect pop song is the one you sing along to before the second chorus hits you. The perfect rock song is one that stirs you up when you're energetic or excited, or seeps into your veins and seems to flow with the tears running down your face. beautifulgarbage somehow embodies all these qualities - and more - at the same time. It's hooky beyond belief, and |
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| accessible from the first notes to the last. Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) is the song Britney wishes she'd been given. Untouchable is the very best of Destiny's Child without the novelty element. In Cup of Coffee and Drive You Home vocalist Shirley Manson's voice aches with a perfect pain almost reminiscent of Radiohead. Androgeny and Shut Your Mouth straddle the boundary between pop and alternative in a way that can only be likened to the band itself. Despite the contemporary comparisions, beautifulgarbage could best be likened to the earlier greats - The Beatles, Blondie, The Pretenders, and The Cure. An odd yet alluring mix of the sixties, eighties, and naughties, I'm tempted to go so far as to dub it musical perfection. As Brit-pop band Bis said back in 1999, "pop music's not gonna die, it just has no direction". Pop music does have a new direction, but it doesn't lie with any of the likely suspects. Buy it for your Britney-obsessed little sister, or buy it for the forty-something musical connoisseur. beautifulgarbage could well be the album of the year. back |