GARBAGE BLEED LIKE ME ALBUM GEFFEN, WARNER RELEASE: APRIL 13, 2005 REVIEW: MAY 1, 2005

The story behind the making of this record more than likely could fill several volumes. Since we last heard from this act, four years have managed to slip by. For a group who have been constantly in the limelight since they debuted in 1995, this is risky behavior. Garbage are an outfit who most certainly aim for the charts every time they pen another one of their albums. So it is with "Bleed Like Me". Look out, "Total Request Live".
At first, every song on here appears to literally bleed right into the next one. As you listen to it a bit more, however, distinct personalities emerge. Some of the ones I'm quite liking at the moment would be "Run Baby Run" with it's sugary chorus, the stellar "Bleed Like Me" as it chronicles several unfortunate people, "Metal Heart" which is just plain miserable and the closer "Happy Home", because it is the best finale they have yet written. Of the two current singles "Bad Boyfriend" and "Why Do You Love Me?" I can't decide if they're actually sincere or just plain formulaic.  
Rather unfortunately, I find myself singing songs from their other releases over these new tracks but hey, that's to be expected when three members of the band are big-name producers. Stick with what you know, right? Shirley Manson sounds just as you'd expect her to; naughty innuendoes and all: "Say what, sugar, you wanna get what?" from the lead track "Bad Boyfriend" might as well just spell it out.
For the devotees of Garbage, there is much to be pleased with as "Bleed Like Me" hits all the temporal highs and dour lows this moody band are known for, although, the influence of a recently deceased English band still looms large in the background.  

PETER MARKS