I was introduced to this remarakable album quite some time after it was originally released. In fact, Version 2.0 was the first album I ever heard first time around over the phone! When I listened to 'Temptation Waits' that was it.. paying particular attention to the lyrics, I was absolutely knocked out and that was when the sheer scale of creative originality and the depth of passion in Shirley's vocals made me realise this was going to be one hell of an album!
The band 'Garbage' was the brainchild of producers Butch Vig (producer of Nirvana's classic 'Nevermind'), Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker. With former Angelfish and Goodbye Mr McKenzie singer, Shirley Manson, the band were poised to push the technical recording limits available in 1998 to new heights. Unifying distorted guitars and cool, sensual, female vocals with high-tec production techniques, the band began to emerge as a vibrant and radical production team that was the envy of producers who yearned to be a part of the same league. Those late-nineties production techniques of using samplers and computers that were really in their infancy are now common place, even within the most basic of home recording studios, and that's a good indication of the band's creative innovation and success. However, the immense impact that Garbage's first two albums in particular have had on both artists and producers is quite immeasurable. One thing is pretty much certain, Garbage Version 2.0 was one of the most amazing albums ever to have come out of the nineties and it continues to be one of the best selling albums of all time.
Temptation Waits is high-tec pop-rock with captivating and dominating lyrics delivered with a very cool and sensuous vocal. The song is quite literally, a virtual audio diamond years ahead of it's time, and excellent choice as an opener for the production mood of the album. I Think I'm Paranoid is a rock song of colourful and energetic introspection with lyrics expressing emotions that we've all felt as some point or another. When I Grow Up is amazing power-pop in it's truest form, employing a mosaic of creative energy and style that is evident in all Garbage tracks but that is particularly abundant here.
Medication is a guitar driven assembly with a slow pace and superb vocal style. It's one of the most beautiful songs of the nineties that pointed the way forward for tech-pop production for many years after. Special is more pop-rock/alternative and quite a beautiful track in it's delivery and composition. The sweet harmonies and melodies that make this track so utterly astonishing are pushed to the technical limits discussed earlier but it's Shirley's vocal, again, that holds the song superbly together with slight hints of Chrissy Hynde of 'Pretenders' fame.
Hammering In My Head is a harder techno offering with production techniques that became an anthem in computer driven studios all over the world. It's a highly innovative song for it's time and I can see the record company execs rubbing their hands with glee when they were first presented with the demo version. Push It is the electronica-based rock number, with slivers of superb guitar and engaging percussive treatments. Harmonies are excellent in their support of an astonishing lead vocal. It's a must-have-track to treasure! The Trick Is To Keep Breathing is a title inspired by the book of the same name by Janice Galloway, is a little more ambient/pop-rock but it's really Shirley's singing that makes the track so colourful and undeniably brilliant.
Dumb is fast paced techno rock on a grand scale with inserts and loops that bind the song tightly into a series of interleaved introspection that's reinforced by the very clever lyrics and vocal treatments. Sleep Together is electronica/pop-rock with an interesting heartbeat/music box intro that leads into something a little more powerful, explicit and provocative. There are reflections of what Madonna got up to with her vocal sexuality around the same period in her nineties releases but the song is a definite first in so many other ways.
Wicked Ways is another hard rock tune with plenty of bite and introversion. the production here is outstanding but then it's never anything less throughout this incredible album. Shirley's commanding and dominating vocals are astonishing and, combined with the superb arrangement, packs one hell of a punch. You Look So Fine is one of the best ambient love ballads ever to have graced the studio mixing desk. Kylie Minogue made a fortune utilizing this vocal style in her releases right up to 2004 which is an industry testimony to the fact that Garbage were so far ahead of their time creatively, technically, musically, and commercially (sorry Kylie but you know it's a fact ;o).
Garbage version 2.0 is quite definitely ground-breaking; it was a future music shaper of things to come, and even today, it's influence is as widely inescapable as are the broad horizons it created since it was first released back in 1998. Listening to the album again, for this review, has been a real thrill and it's especially gratifying to see that Shirley and co have gone on to produce some fascinating and innovative work in subsequent albums.
