Difficult to remember now just how oddly perfect Garbage seemed when they burst from left field on the Britpop scene of 1995. While Britpop was overwhelmingly male and retro, Garbage were brazenly modernist and in Shirley Manson boasted an impassioned and very female icon. Debut �Vow� was a buzz-saw riffed statement of intent, but it was �Queer� � with its loops and fluid rhythm � that proved just how sonically interesting and fully-formed they were.

That Garbage had in fact borrowed much of their sound (dense, swampy electronic production, topped off with sugar and spite vocals) from the extraordinary but commercially unsuccessful duo Curve didn�t greatly matter. Their self-titled debut was a terrific collection of angry/seductive future-rock songs, mostly skewering male arrogance, while in the slinkily addictive �Stupid Girl� it boasted an international hit.

Second album, the wryly titled Version 2.0, lacked the element of surprise but demonstrated tighter songwriting. Both �Push It� and �I Think I�m Paranoid� showcased gleaming riffs and a bustlingly modern pace, as well as Manson at her most forceful and domineering. Fans of the band�s poppier side were catered for by the fierce but melodically lush �Special�. Sadly, Garbage ignored the curse of Bond and � like Duran Duran and Aha before them � their trajectory dipped after contributing the lacklustre, atonal �The World Is Not Enough� to the film of that name.

Third album �beautifulgarbage� saw them attempting to escape a sound that was becoming a straitjacket, but the addictive, ultra-poppy �Cherry Lips� aside, it was unfocused and occasionally lifeless. Wisely, drab second single �Breaking Up The Girl� isn�t included here. And while 2005 comeback single �Why Don�t You Love Me?� had some of the old pace and bile, it was a blatant retread of their earlier sound. Garbage were no longer pioneers.

The band are now rumoured to have split, though the epic, string-soaked new track �Tell Me Where It Hurts� suggests there might still be blood in the stone should Manson�s solo career stiff. If not, Absolute Garbage is a fine legacy, the sound of a briefly brilliant and always interesting band which sounds like no other greatest hits you own.

Jaime Gill, bbc.co.uk

Shirley Manson was for many, the Karen-O of the mid-to-late nineties and beyond, her provocative and unpredictable nature made her captivating and intriguing in equal doses. This nostalgic and well put-together compilation contains material spanning Garbage's colourful career, turning into a celebration of their uncompromising approach. Fitting opener 'Vow', from their self-titled debut album of 1994, is an apt reminder of the playful but destructive streak that has littered Garbage's past. 'I'm Only Happy When It Rains', encapsulates neatly the catchy pop and light Goth crossover that many people fell in love with over the years and, Manson comes across as cocky, stern and flighty. Story of her life, eh? This album turns into a stark reminder of the potency of the band and the lurid anthem of 'Stupid Girl', is a case in point. This reminder is something that is sorely needed by many fans in the UK, as the outfit pulled out of a much anticipated tour last year.
It is a release like this that shows up the variety that Garbage has proffered over the years, contrasting with the one dimensional tag that has oft been slapped on their backs. The slow bass induced and brooding '#I Crush' from 1996, shows up their eerie darkness and Manson's vocals slow down to haunting levels, something must have provided inspiration for the likes of PJ Harvey and Bjork. Garbage was never a one person group, the winding and drawn out accompaniments that are the combined efforts of Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig ties the songs together. Drawing attention to this fact is the compact and slightly atmospheric 'I Think I'm Paranoid'. The Metallica riffs inclusive 'Why Do You Love Me', incorporates a hot and cold vocal drag. Showing the heavier, mosh inducing side of Garbage that used to annoy the hell out of the purists.
For those who fear that a Best Of offering often signals the end of the band as they know them, new song 'Tell Me Where It Hurts', retains that slow-building and captivating climb to a tension releasing and tempo rising chorus. Whereby Manson embraces her pop-friendly side and so do her colleagues. It is a searching snippet, showing that this quartet's mystique has not yet been lost. That alone, if nothing else makes this release worthwhile.

contactmusic.com

In a nutshell�

Grinding, rocky, studio-heavy retrospective.

What's it all about?

This greatest hits collection from one of the defining bands of the post-grunge era looks back over 12 years of brooding electronica and snarling guitar rock.

Beginning with a quintet of songs from their eponymous debut, the album comprises 18 of Garbage;s best tracks; ranging from the wry, darkly melodic Only Happy When It Rains to the anthemic Cherry Lips and the sweeping ode to megalomania that is Bond theme The World Is Not Enough.

Who's it by

Garbage release their first greatest hits collection after four studio albums and a long period of hiatus.

Fronted by the gloriously-named Shirley Manson, Garbage�s brand of aggressive heavily-produced rock with varying amounts of gothic, glam and techno influences won them many fans in the early days, cemented by their reputation as strong live performers, thanks in no small part to the charismatic Manson.

As an example�

"I came to cut you up, I came to knock you down, I came around to tear your little world apart." Promises of vengeance in the opening track Vow.

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

New single Tell Me Where it Hurts is an uplifting summer anthem made for wide open fields and huge concert venues, but otherwise the album will mainly appeal to those who remember the early years of the band.

So is it any good?

With the tracks arranged in chronological order, it's easy to trace the development of the band's musical output; although with the most attention-grabbing songs coming from their second album, the prosaically titled Version 2.0, there's an inevitable feeling that the CD peaks too soon.

The later tracks compress Manson's voice too heavily, robbing the songs of the sultry snarls and whispers of the first two albums, losing dangerous amounts of character in the process. While there are some gaping holes in the collection � where is the knowing glam-pop of Androgyny and the furious As Heaven is Wide? - Absolute Garbage is still anything but the suggestion of its title.

Rebecca Malings, inthenews.co.uk

With dwindling sales and inner fighting now the order of the day, US/ Scottish outfit Garbage revisit their glory days with the release of their new �best of� collection Absolute Garbage on 23rd July.

A special edition containing a bonus disc of remixes will also be released, along with a DVD set crammed with music videos, live performances, interviews and an hour of exclusive backstage and behind the scenes footage.

Here�s hoping frontwoman Shirley Manson (no relation to panto goth Marilyn) is caught between costume changes.

They say:

Mojo: �Great idea, but over four albums Garbage never entirely delivered.�

We say:

With music meticulously composed by Nevermind and Siamese Dream knob twiddler Butch Vig and vocals by the charismatic Manson, it�s not hard to see why Garbage were so popular back in the mid to late �90s.

Their self titled 1995 debut album (represented here by five tracks including the still fresh �Stupid Girl�, the uber kinky �Queer� and the haunting, manipulative �Milk�) was a brilliant exercise in post grunge electronic rock, all driving, industrial lite beats, love is hell lyrics and slyly sinister sensuality from Manson.

Garbage�s aptly titled 1998 follow up Version 2.0 was more of the same (step forward �Push It�, �I Think I�m Paranoid� and �Special�), albeit with greater emphasis on pop friendly hooks.

However, listening to Absolute Garbage, which is arranged in chronological order, it�s also easy to determine why the band�s alt rock currency diminished after their sumptuous James Bond theme �The World is Not Enough�.

To put it bluntly, post �90s tracks such as the Lou Reed aping �Bleed Like Me� and bubblegum pop send up �Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)� aren�t particularly good. In fact they�re Garbage clutching at straws, struggling to expand their sound and mature with grace � although credit must go to them for at least trying.

New cut �Tell Me Where it Hurts�, which sounds like Chrissie Hynde on sedatives, does little to dispel the feeling that the band�s best years are behind them. The end is indeed nigh.

Like this? Try these:

New Order � Singles
No Doubt � The Singles 1992-2003
Nirvana � Nevermind

John Jobling, mansized.co.uk

When they first grabbed our attention in the Indian summer of 1996, Garbage offered a much-needed antidote to the irksome over-earnestness of Britpop. With their processed guitar riffs, gleeful indulgence in studio trickery and proudly manufactured origins � guitarist Steve Marker hired Shirley Manson after seeing an old clip of her on MTV � they never tried to conform to that most overrated of musical concepts: realness. This might have proved a stumbling block for some mid-nineties hipsters � a fact acknowledged in �Shut Your Mouth�s knowing swipe at closed-minded rawk fans: �We know your music but of course we'd never buy it - it's too fake man� - but it never held Garbage back. Twelve million album sales, eleven top 20 hits and an invitation to record a Bond theme isn�t bad for a band whose singer started her career as a member of Scottish indie flopsters Angelfish.

Absolute Garbage, the transatlantic four-piece�s first retrospective, isn�t a complete singles collection � it omits a handful of the band�s less successful chart-botherers � and it�s not a definitive �best of� either: �Hammering In My Head�, the industrial floor-filler that proved the highlight of their sophomore album Version 2.0, is missing in action. But it does succeed in explaining how Garbage managed to last a decade in such an uncertain musical climate. These goth-rockers might have swapped their guitars for kinky synths on 2001�s beautifulgarbage, but they never lost their knack for a killer chorus. 2005�s �Why Do You Love Me� is as addictive and unshakeable as their Clash-sampling breakthrough hit �Stupid Girl�.

Of course, Garbage were nothing if not a product of their times. Early singles �I Think I�m Paranoid�, �Push It� and �Vow� conform to the quiet verse-loud chorus formula of the post-grunge era. When you�ve got Nevermind�s knob-twiddler Butch Vig as your drummer, how can you not? But Garbage were never afraid to push the boundaries of their sound: the swooning pop of �Cherry Lips� sounds like Blondie being produced by Phil Spector, albeit a Phil Spector who had access to the finest studio wizardry that the early noughties had to offer. What�s more, the bludgeoning riffs and hissed vocal of �Shut Your Mouth' seem inspired by the nu-metal phenomenon of the turn of the millennium.

And then there was the ace up Garbage�s sleeve. Manson was never as hip as her Britpop contemporaries � she was neither as sexy as Elastica�s Justine Frischmann nor as coolly serene as Sleeper�s Louis Wener � but she outlasted them thanks to her raging sense of individuality. Nobody else wrote songs showing the flipside to the carefree hedonism of �Walk On The Wild Side� (the quietly shocking �Bleed Like Me�). Nobody else modeled her early-noughties image on Her From Roxette. And nobody else seemed determine to channel Siouxsie Sioux�s demented wail on every single vocal performance.

As present, Garbage can�t seem to decide where they stand. Have they split up, or are they just on �indefinite hiatus�? Or perhaps they�re back together again? Whatever � barnstorming new single �Tell Me Where It Hurts� reaffirms what Absolute Garbage succeeds in demonstrating time after time. By wrapping their nut-grabbing hooks and transcendent melodies in layers of gutsy guitars, Garbage managed to make pop music for people who thought they didn�t like pop music. For that reason, whatever happens next, they deserve to be remembered fondly.

Nick Levine, digitalspy.co.uk

The death of Kurt Cobain signaled a sea change in pop music in the mid-1990s. Butch Vig, the superstar producer behind seminal releases by alt-rock acts like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Sonic Youth, joined forces with fellow producers Duke Erikson and Steve Marker and a relatively unknown Scottish vocalist named Shirley Manson to form a group that married the hard-edged sound of American grunge with classic pop hooks, sampled drum loops, and the overall ethic of the then-blossoming trip-hop movement in Europe. Listening to it now, it all sounds quite dated�but in the best possible, gem-in-a-trash-heap kind of way. One would hardly use the word Important to define Garbage, but the band was a quintessential product of post-grunge pop, and their first hits compilation, Absolute Garbage, serves as an anthropological study of the musical relics of a bygone era.

The singles from their self-titled debut, "Queer," "Only Happy When It Rains," and "Stupid Girl," found the band at their commercial peak, temporarily infusing pop radio with what can best be described as grimy, fetishistic, sex-club music and sing-song lyrics like "You can touch me if you want," "Pour your misery down on me," and "Don't believe in anyone that you can't tame." Inspired by such disparate influences as Kraftwerk and The Manchurian Candidate, Garbage's follow-up, Version 2.0, was the polished and refurbished sports car to Garbage's grungy pick-up. Frankensteinian lead single, "Push It," was spliced together from 100 different drum loops and a Salt-N-Pepa sample; the group's propulsive basslines and aggressive, rollicking rhythms place that track, along with "Special," among their best and most inventive. Their music had become staples at both pop and modern rock radio as well as in dance clubs�a rare feat to say the least.

By 2001's Beautiful Garbage, the sickly-sweet retro-pop and dark, sinister undercurrents of which journalist Peter S. Murphy aptly likens to a David Lynch film in his liner notes for Absolute Garbage, the band's popularity had waned to the point where none of the record's singles even made a dent on the U.S. charts, so the omission of "Androgyny" and "Breaking Up The Girl" here is only lamentable in that they're the stronger of that particular album's four singles. (The two missing singles plus 2005's "Bad Boyfriend" are accounted for on the second disc of the limited edition version of the album in the form of remixes by Felix Da Housecat, Timo Mass, and Garbage themselves, respectively.) "Shut Your Mouth" features the kind of archetypical Garbage sound the group had otherwise started to abandon, while "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)," displayed a deceptively coquettish side of Manson, whom Murphy perfectly describes as a "red-haired, kohl-eyed slink with lethal heels who could've stumbled out of some sci-fi noir novel."

By this point, Manson's vocals had matured in range and timbre since the group's debut, and though their most recent album, Bleed Like Me, steered away from the pop aesthetic of its predecessor, there are reports Garbage's next trip into the studio will find the band focusing on slower, moodier material like standouts "Milk," "You Look So Fine," and "Bleed Like Me." More than ever before, Manson's voice recalls Chrissie Hynde on Absolute Garbage's sole new track, the lush and lilting "Tell Me Where It Hurts." The song is an undeniable sign that, despite their extended hiatuses and internal turmoil, Garbage is very much alive with ideas and ambition.

Sal Cinquemani, slantmagazine.com

Aah, the heady days of Britpop, where anything was possible. Chris Evans made hits out of the most unlikely records almost single-handedly. Every week brought a clutch of new, and at the time, interesting bands and we propelled them into them into the Top 20. Occassionally, these events converged to make a career, as happened with Garbage; �Queer�, possibly their best track, received heavy plugging from Evans, and hey presto! Over ten years later, Garbage are releasing �Absolute Garbage�, their Greatest Hits.

It�s about time for a re-appraisal of Garbage. Everyone quite likes Garbage. Every so often they resurface with a great little single, stretching back to �Stupid Girl�, and all the way forward to �Why Do You Love Me?� You�d imagine their greatest hits to be a great thing. It�s not. What�s clear from the eighteen tracks on �Absolute Garbage� is the jaw dropping lack of variation in their music, that somehow has managed to fool us all every time. �Push It� bleeds into �I Think I�m Paranoid� - or was it new single �Tell Me Where It Hurts�?

Garbage were never really meant for the mainstream. Were it not for that mid-nineties lust for fresh guitar-slinging blood, it�s probable that you wouldn�t be reading this review now. How many other bands with a hard edge get to release a hits compilation? Not many. Their star has long faded, and it�s no more clearer on than on this record; bar a few early flashes of brilliance, Garbage have been recycling the same old rubbish for the best part of a decade.

Daniel Whelan, new-noise.net

Shirley Manson and the boys unleash their �best of� and remind us why everyone sat up and took notice back in 1995.

All the corkers from their four albums are present and correct, Stupid Girl, Only Happy When It Rains and Queer, and probably a fair few you won�t have heard first time around � for good reason.

Let�s face it, by the time Beautiful Garbage was released in 2001, most of their kooky edge had been sanded down.

For this release, Garbage are going the whole hog and throwing in a bonus disc of remixes featuring the likes of Timo Maas, UNKLE and Massive Attack.

On top of that, a DVD is also set for release, featuring backstage footage, interviews, live gigs and 15 of their videos.

So all in all, it�s a trashy treat.

They say: �Garbage's songs have always been referential, quoting stray lyrics and setting off every listener's name-that-tune reflex.� Rollingstone.com

We say: Thanks to Manson�s weighty vocals, Garbage will never wind up in the bargain bins.

Best Tracks: Stupid Girl, Queer, Vow

Sid Billington, megastar.co.uk

Crooned softly by Shirley Manson in the hit Milk, and backed up by the trip-pop sound of the band, these lyrics take on a greater meaning than could possibly be felt by just reading them. Encapsulating the image Manson portrays in music videos, songs, and on tour, these lyrics seem to define her persona. With her beautifully damaged voice revealing tormented pain and intense, hard-fought inner-strength, all of Garbage�s lyrics slowly entrance the listener into a sense of strange calm-before-the storm sensibility, all the while dangerously enticing the ears with a subtle vampiress-like affectation.

After four albums and seven Grammy nominations, Garbage is finally releasing its first �best of� collection. This cd collection of their 18 greatest hits, Absolute Garbage, ties in nicely with the release of the DVD of the same title. The DVD includes 15 Garbage music videos and an hour of backstage, live, and interview footage.

Playing through this 18-song collection is like revisiting old friends. Only these songs really aren�t that old. But with the popularity of the band peaking in the late 90�s with Garbage and Version 2.0 followed by the unfortunate post-9/11 (October 2, 2001) release of Beatifulgarbage and the disappointing sales of Bleed Like Me in 2005, Absolute Garbage almost feels like a reunion with a group that�s been MIA for longer than they actually have.

Special, I Think I�m Paranoid, When I Grow Up, Stupid Girl, and the Bond theme The World is Not Enough this best of cd has condensed a four-album collection into the bare minimum for quality maximization. The dreamy sound loops and punctuated drum rhythms make the entire cd feel like one long, flowing song, with brief breaks in between each act. Like most best-of collections, any fan has heard this all before, except, obviously for the new addition album tantilizer Tell Me Where It Hurts (recorded in January of this year). Having all the hits on one album, though, does have its privileges, and until Garbage releases an entirely new album, Absolute Garbage is the next best thing.

Zach Freeman, bloggernews.net

If the first few waves of the alt-rock era featured idiosyncratic (They Might Be Giants) and blatantly non-commercial (Nirvana) acts stumbling into the spotlight, its final waves saw the style fall out of the hands of angry underground rockers and quirky musicians and into the clutches of professional, career-minded industry types. Of alt-rock's final wave, none was quite as successful as Garbage at playing the game: The band members, who were all seasoned studio hands, was better musicians, better in the studio and better connected than any normal folks could hope to be; with producer/drummer Butch Vig minding the shop, Garbage used its connections for all their worth, becoming the nearly undisputed king shit of the airwaves, soundtrack placement and MTV rotation. Every revolution eats its own, and when the act's self-titled debut struck Platinum in 1996, it was a sure sign that the balance of power shifted from the underground and back into hands of The Man.

It was inevitable it'd happen once "Smells Like Teen Spirit" rattled the national conscious, and, really, it couldn't have happened to a better band than Garbage. Even more than a decade after its best songs were put to tape it's clear the act fused alt-rock conventions (big guitars and a knack for putting pop traditions on their ear) with pop stand-bys (sleek production and an ear to the Zeitgeist to capitalize on trends) better than near every band of its heyday.

With a little distance between Garbage's stranglehold on America, it's a little easier to appreciate the band for what it was: An enterprising and cunning pop act. It's even a little fun to sink back into the familiar strains. Singer Shirley Manson takes a pre-ProTools electro-lurker and caps it with a delivery so sultry it should bear an R-rating in "#1 Crush." "Queer" and "Only Happy When it Rains" are still pure pop flash, with Manson's vocals and the band's sleek output readymade to melt ears at half a listen. Other radio staples ("Push It," "Stupid Girl," "Only Happy When it Rains") just reinforce it. Tracks from the band's later years aren't quite as compelling. "Bleed Like Me" is the only time the aged act found a glimmer of the magic of its charmed first couple releases, and it's a faint glimmer at that. "Tell Me Where it Hurts" and "Why Do You Love Me" seem to made the collection's final cut out of a hope to democratically represent all of Garbage's records equally instead of by merit.

A bonus disc of remixes is tacked on, almost as an afterthought. With Garbage handing the reins to a who's who of underground producers - Felix da Housecat, UNKLE, Timo Mass - it's a chance to see Garbage get the dance-floor makeovers it never needed.

Garbage was tailor-made to turn alt-rock conventions into world-conquering pop, and it succeeded in a big way. It also managed to make some of the most lasting pop tunes of its era - no small feat considering its less-than-noble purpose in life.

Nick Loughery, aversion.com

VOW
1.08 A gothy-poppy blast from the past this week, readers - it's the Garbage Best Of! You remember them surely: the multi-million-selling gang of glammy grouchers that brought a burst of petulant thunder to the sunny mid-'90s charts. Masterminded by Nirvana producer Butch Vig, they were fronted by a terrifying ginger woman from Scotland called Shirley much enamoured with the kind of teenage boy who liked to play computer games and steal their mum's smudgy eyeliner. This is a largely chronological compilation, so we can track the band's progress rather handily. This was their first single - a Kerrang-friendly rout of skronky rawk guitars, with Ms Manson (her real surname, fact fans!) offering a gentle hello: "I came to cut you UP/I came knock you DOWN/I came around to TEAR your little WORLD a-PART!". That's the spirit, my darling!
3.18 Hello, she's gone pervy - "I came to shut you up/I came to SUCK you down". Yes! For Garbage's killer twist was to offer miserable gothy lyrics PLUS pervy dominatrix-style mind-fodder for lonely blokes in black t-shirts. Very canny!

QUEER
1.23 Garbage like you to think they're a bit queer, see - in the old-fashioned sense, a bit unsettling and dangerous - although musically they're a softer prospect: a Buffy The Vampire Slayer house band, or Hole without the ire. That said, they had a way with a song. This slice of dreamy, doomy pop is a prime example, all slinky bassline and fuzzy guitars, like Siouxsie Sioux on tranquillizers.
2.32 "You can touch me if you want/I know you're dying to," Shirley simpers (at which point ilovegoth123 has a quiet moment to himself.)

ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS
0.03 TUNE!
0.31 I bought this in 1996 when I had my mild flirtation with the dark side (I drank snakebite, listened to The Cure in the dark and wore black for a week, before I started missing giggling, Supergrass and alcopops). It's brilliant. "Pour your misery down on me!" Shirley sneers poppily, making it sound like a downpour's the best thing since sliced Hovis.
3.13 And all that dazzing "axe-work!" Enough to keep you air-guitaring 'til the four horsemen arrive!

STUPID GIRL
0.42 Garbage's first purely pop moment here, shimmery and shiny, despite the malfunctioning computer din in the background.
2.32 And an electric piano riff! They're getting famous, this lot.
3.41 "You stupid girl/ I can't believe you fake it". Good old Shirley - sounds like she's admonishing ladies who don't, shall we say, properly enjoy themselves in certain, er, situations. For that was the good thing about Ms Manson in her prime - she was all power and fearlessness, like an Amazon colossus. (Albeit one from the land of the haggis.)

MILK
0.12 The first Garbage ballad! And it's a good one - a synthesised atmosphere and purred vocals - like The Cocteau Twins on crack! (What a terrifying thought.)
1.01 "I'm waiting, I'm waiting for you". Be gone, whip-cracking femme fatale - behold the new Shirley, singing about vulnerability in a voice full of depth, heart and range, like a polished Beth Gibbons, or a softer version of her namesake Ms Bassey.

#1 CRUSH
1.01 But God, this is rotten. Sampled panting noises and an intro that sounds like M-People.

PUSH IT
0.57 That's better - another poppy beast. This one gets Shirley doing backing vocals that go "don't worry baby" - like a girl group covering The Beach Boys with its fingernails sharpened - and whispering "Push It" like Salt and Pepa through chiseled teeth. Garbage are much better, gentle readers, when they're poppy AND they're clever - when they plunder the past properly, when they go for character instead of caricature.

I THINK I'M PARANOID
0.03 That'll be the pot-smoking, Garbage fans!
0.49 This is AWFUL - cranky, clichéd and contrived - until this mad power ballad riff kicks in, so fabulous, roomy and huge Kirsty Allsopp would buy it.

SPECIAL
2.05 A pop belter again, kicking off like The Primitives' Crash, warping some jangly pop harmonies, and turning Shirley into a proper pop star - bright, shiny fabulous, strong, worthy and weighty.

WHEN I GROW UP
1.02 "When I grow up, I'll be stable." I'll ignore the whiff of Chumbawumba to the tune here - we're still in Garbage's marvellous, mature phase, and the pace is still kicking. YOU LOOK SO FINE
1.57 This sounds exactly like Milk (but this time, it's semi-skimmed). Nice, but something a bit grander would be good at this stage.

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
0.13 Like this! The Garbage Bond theme!
1.,21 What a BELTER! if you'd said Garbage were naturals for a 007 movie when they started they'd have probably speared your genitals with their sharpened stilettoes. But now they're at their peak - and the whiff of menace and filthiness that has always surrounded them gives Bond extra je ne sais quoi.
1.31"If we're strong enough/Together we can take the world apart, my love". A goth sentiment gone gonzo, backed by warped guitars, noises that sound like that fabulous instrument off The Ipcress File theme - that'll be the cymbalom - and remorseless brass! Truly goth-pop has taken over the WORLD!

CHERRY LIPS
0.27 But Christ what's this? The theme to Chucky Egg sung over by Madonna ripped to the tits on helium?

SHUT YOUR MOUTH
0.43 What the hell has HAPPENED? We're onto the difficult third album - 2001's beautifulgarbage now - and something's gone horribly wrong. Shirley sounds like bloody Dannii Minogue. Did Garbage get a new singer?
0.58 Frantic Googling - computer says no.
1.01 Even this No Sleep Til Brooklyn-style guitar riff can't help things here. Garbage were all about the balls. Now they are ball-less, like Accrington Stanley when rain stops play.

WHY DO YOU LOVE ME?
0.59 I have no idea.

BLEED LIKE ME
1.42 I'd rather not.
2.21 There is a man in a karaoke bar singing I Will Survive now. Bring back the pervy lady, ANYTHING.

TELL ME WHERE IT HURTS
0.59 I hurts here, there and EVERYWHERE. This is so anodyne I've turned on Capital Gold for a bit of punky respite.

IT'S ALL OVER BUT THE CRYING
3.43 You're telling me, love. I am wiping away heaving, salty tears. Because, my dear Garbage, you once had the world in your hands. You escaped the gloomy gothy juvenilia and started making records full of perfect pop theatre. But after Bond, you've turned into The Corrs without spunk. What did 007 do? Take you in his arms like so many Bond girls and squeeze all the fire out of you?

IN CONCLUSION
Imagine a grouchy, surly-lipped teenager who becomes someone devilishly, deliciously dramatic. Then age does wither them, and the years don't half bloody condemn them.

Jude Rogers, music.guardian.co.uk

Garbage have been plying their trade around arenas and festivals since 1995 when debut album Garbage went multi-platinum, winning them support slots with the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins and U2. Ten years on, with greatest hits compilation Absolute Garbage to promote, they have released yet another slice of dark yet sumptuously melodic indie-rock.

Their first release since announcing an indefinite hiatus in the middle of a world tour in 2005, 'Tell Me Where It Hurts' is a return to the moody, bittersweet love songs that first brought them to the public's attention. Underpinned by Shirley Manson's husky vocals and Butch Vig's unique drum work, the track soars with Arcade Fire-style violins before a creepy electronic breakdown interjects towards the end.

The band take a traditional message of unrequited love and mix it with their inimitable bitter sweet lyrics, with Manson imploring: "I've been loved but I didn't know how to feel it / And I've been adored but I don't know if I ever believed it." A classic return to form that will hopefully reignite the fire in the band's bellies, bringing with it an album of fresh material.

Alex Fletcher, digitalspy.co.uk