Britain’s Placebo, fronted by eyeliner-wearing androgyne Brian Molko, initially had a kind of Pixies-meets-Sonic Youth style, but by the time of 2003’s Sleeping With Ghosts they’d mutated into kind of glam-pop-goes-electronica outfit. Molko can’t decide whether he wants to be a hedonistic Ziggy Stardust or a more intellectually-minded Thom Yorke, and as a result the group’s sound has suffered from stylistic schizophrenia – not a good thing. To be fair, the band seems a tad more compelling live, based on the evidence here, but only a tad. A lot of material has a samey feel to it.
At any rate, here you get a 45 minute show from the band plus a 15-minute mini-set, both in broadcast sound. (I’m guessing FM, but they could also be webcasts captured with a high-speed quality connection.) The main portion, from Germany, oddly enough, has a somewhat flat ambiance to it, as the sound noticeably jumps up a notch for the London portion. A nice 4-page booklet (per Pablo tradition) and two-sided tray panel are included. Overall, a decent bootleg, but given the subject matter one wonders just how many copies Pablo could possibly hope to sell of this – Placebo is hardly a collectible artist – and in turn, ask the question, “Why bother in the first place?” -- OSWALD
