Seen as rather like an old dog that won't lie down and die in certain critical quarters these days, PLACEBO are often on the receiving end of media kickings while they quietly continue to be successful all over the place: not least all over Europe, where their recent album "Sleeping With Ghosts" has been doing the business and then some.
Previous single "The Bitter End" put forward a convincing argument for Molko's continued existence and again "This Picture" acquits itself well enough, though it must be said that with the insistent basslines, radio mic vocal malarkey and spuzzed-up chordage, it's all neat, tidy and bruised (pristine), yet breaks diddly sqat in terms of new sonic ground. Actually, in a nutshell, it sounds like "Come Home" (no, not the James one) after a vanload of steak'n'kidney pies.
Stll, it's no copybook blotter and its' two B-sides slip by pleasantly enough, too. "Soulmates" features some nice dexterity from ace Scouse drummer Steve Hewitt and it's a decent enough, until-the-end lyrical scenario. The final track is a faithful, but pointless XFM session cover of the Pixies' transcendent "Where Is My Mind?". All very heart-on-sleeve in itself, it's no great shock horror when you discover they do bugger all but carbon copy the original.
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Personally, I'm perfectly happy to still have Placebo around being a thorn in the side, although "This Picture" is fine, but very much a case of water-treading. Pretty much the diagnosis for Placebo in 2003.
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