Beautiful Garbage [Enhanced]

1. Shut Your Mouth. Good. This song is a grower. Some of the lines really stick in your head, and there are some quite clever lyrics. Shirley's singing at the end is very similar to her singing at the end of "Temptation Waits", the opening track on Version 2.0.
2. Androgyny. Hmm ... fans of the first two albums will probably have found this track highly disappointing. Far too poppy. If you fall into this category, then please don't let your (probably immense) dislike of this track stop you from buying the album. God knows why this one made it onto the album, let alone as the choice for the first single.
3. Can't Cry These Tears. A strong track that informs you, after the horror of Androgyny, that the old magic is still there. It has a really Christmassy feel! A real singalong number, really reminds the me of Angelfish in a big way, especially the last song on their album - "The End". Have a listen, and you'll see what I mean. It's a very 60s sounding song, and quite poppy but not in a bad way. Apparently it might be a single, but I think it is too explorative to be one, its more garbage trying out an idea than traditional of their music style.
4. Till The Day I Die. Hmm ... a bit to poppy for my liking, but the verse are kindy cool and catchy, and compared to Androgyny, it's GOLDEN.
5. Cup Of Coffee. A wonderful beautiful perfect song. More please! It sums up obsession with its lyrics, sound, everything. Its just so sweet and sad! The album is worth buying for. This one alone.
6. Silence Is Golden. Good, old-style, first album style garbage with intelligent lyrics and lots of guitar ... but what else would you expect from garbage, hmm?
7. Cherry Lips. Again. Poppier than some of their earlier material, but not disappointingly so. Celebratory, fun, positive. Has been selected for single number 2.
8. Breaking Up The Girl. More traditional garbage, as if we needed reminding why we like them. Not really a stand out track, but then again, I prefer the slow songs on this album to the fast ones. In fact, this song is another one that really grew on me. And its another one that's great to sing along to. It is likely to be single number 3.
9. Drive You Home. This, like "Cup of Coffee", is beautifully sad. listen to the honest lyrics, lie back and let it take you over. Another one that makes the album worth buying.
10. Parade. Makes you want to get up off dance and headbang. Comfortingly rocking and has some anti trendy lyrics "Let's burn the factories, where they make all the wannabes. Let's burst all the bubbles that brainwash the masses".
11. Nobody Loves You. DARK, MORBID, DEPRESSING. Reminiscent of such tracks as "A Stroke of Luck" and "My Lover's Box", though perhaps with a more negative outlook on life.
11. Untouchable. Too poppy. Better than the god forsaken "Androgyny" but not great. I like the beats at the start, but it just never really seems to get going properly - it acts as though its going to build up into a huge chorus, (as with the poppy verse on "When I grow Up" followed by the heavier chorus) but never does.
12. So Like A Rose. Is it really over 6 mins long? Because I don't notice. It pulls you in, and glides along. clever and interesting lyrics which I think will ring true for a lot of people "Baby thinks he's dying Lost inside his bedroom Mommy won't stop crying And daddy's always working"

As many have pointed out the sound tends towards pop on numerous occasions but this certainly is not a bad thing. Version 2.0 had much of the same, Beautiful Garbage is a diverse experience.
Starting off with Shut Your Mouth was not perhaps the best of decisions, to me it is one of the weaker songs. This said it is also like the 'Garbage of old', angry and tough in sound.
Highlights on the album, of which there are plenty come in the form of the excellent Cherry Lips (the best song on the album in my opinion), the haunting chilled sounds of Cup Of Coffee and So Like A Rose, the pop sounding Untouchable and Breaking Up The Girl and the truly beautiful ballad, Drive You Home. Most of the album is good and varied. Till The Day I Die, Parade and Androgyny being pleasant but nothing to make them really stand out in an album of good songs. The few let downs come in the form of the sickly sweet, tacky Can't Cry These Tears, the headache inducing Silence Is Golden and the somewhat dull Nobody Loves You.

Taking Garbage to another level and with loads of possible future singles this album is a must have!