It's always been easy to appreciate Garbage's clinical pop sensibility, less easy to admire the cold metallic sheen which robbed most of their gothic-rock hits of any real passion. Thankfully their third outing sees flame-haired chanteuse Shirley Manson throwing caution to the wind, embracing a range of different styles and finding her true voice in the process. The results are consistently excellent, veering from half-whispered raps to Phil Spector-style pop and taking in a clutch of darkly affecting acoustic ballads along the way. The sheer variety of poses struck on beautifulgarbage makes it a difficult and slightly confusing listen, all but impossible to take in at a single sitting. Paradoxically, however, it also sounds like the first authentic Garbage album, easily their richest and most satisfying to date
