Sleeping with Ghosts

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Sleeping with Ghosts
Studio album by Placebo
Released	April 1, 2003
Recorded	2002
Genre	Synthpop Indie rock Alternative rock
Length	46:32
Label	Astralwerks/Emd
Producer(s)	Jim Abbiss
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork (6.4/10) link Rolling Stone link
Placebo chronology
Black Market Music (2000)	Sleeping with Ghosts (2003)	Once More with Feeling (2004)

Sleeping with Ghosts is the fourth album released by European band Placebo in 2003 (see 2003 in music). It achieved chart success in the UK, Australia and Europe. This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.

Contents 1 Album meaning 2 Chart success and positions 3 Track listing 4 Covers (special edition) 5 Additional notes 6 External links

[edit] Album meaning

The album has several songs based on a theme of relationships; whether it is relationships that end badly as in "The Bitter End", power struggles in relationships "Special Needs" or the idea that soulmates live forever in the titletrack "Sleeping with Ghosts". Songwriter Brian Molko told Kerrang! magazine that he was trying to exorcise the ghosts of the past. "I'm looking back to what's happened in my past emotional decade, trying to understand it. Trying to exorcise the ghosts and the demons of relationships past. It's the old cliché of it being therapeutic but it does work for me in that way." Brian is also known to have said, "Sleeping with Ghosts... making love to a memory." Another interview has Brian explaining "The album title's about carrying the ghosts of your relationships with you, to the point where sometimes a smell or a situation or an item of clothing they bought brings a person back. For me it's about the relationship that you have with your memories. They inhabit your dreams sometimes. There can be a lot in the future that's gonna remind you of the ghost of relationships past. So I see the album as a collection of short stories about a handful of relationships. Most of them mine. In a way writing the songs helps me to get a lot of the nasty feelings off my chest and put them in a box, and therefore have a bit more of an objective discourse with those emotions because you've done something positive with them, you've rid yourself of them." During their concert in Sofia on September 12, 2003, rock band Placebo dedicated the song "Centrefolds" to Johnny Cash who had died the same day. Frontman Brian Molko cited Cash as a key influence then asked the audience to sit down and began playing the song along with his bandmates.

[edit] Chart success and positions

Sleeping with Ghosts reached the top 20 in the UK, top 40 in Australia and sold well throughout Europe. The first single "The Bitter End" reached number one in Portugal, went top ten in Greece and made the top twenty in the UK and Italy in early 2003. Second single "This Picture" went top ten in Portugal and top 40 in the UK and Spain in June 2003. "Special Needs" made the UK top 40 in September 2003. In 2004, "English Summer Rain" made the top 40 charts in the UK and Spain while "Protect Me From What I Want" made the French charts. In the US, "Sleeping with Ghosts" reached top twenty on the Heatseeker charts in 2003.

• #1 - France
• #2 - Germany
• #3 - Switzerland
• #6 - Austria
• #11 - UK
• #11 - Australia
• #14 - Sweden
• #14 - Finland
• #28 - Denmark

[edit] Track listing

1. "Bulletproof Cupid" – 2:22
2. "English Summer Rain" – 4:01
3. "This Picture" – 3:34
4. "Sleeping with Ghosts" – 4:38
5. "The Bitter End" – 3:10
6. "Something Rotten" – 5:28
7. "Plasticine" – 3:26
8. "Special Needs" – 5:15
9. "I'll Be Yours" – 3:32
10. "Second Sight" – 2:49
11. "Protect Me From What I Want" – 3:15
12. "Centrefolds" – 5:02
13. "Protège-Moi" – 3:13 (*Additional Track on the 2 Disc Special Edition)

[edit] Covers (special edition)

1. "Running Up That Hill" (Kate Bush)
2. "Where Is My Mind?" (Pixies)
3. "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (The Smiths)
4. "Johnny and Mary" (Robert Palmer)
5. "20th Century Boy" (T-Rex)
6. "The Ballad Of Melody Nelson" (Serge Gainsbourg)
7. "Holocaust" (Alex Chilton)
8. "I Feel You" (Depeche Mode)
9. "Daddy Cool" (Boney M)
10. "Jackie" (Sinéad O'Connor)

[edit] Additional notes

The special edition version of this album was released on 22 September 2003 worldwide (not just the UK), featuring a diverse selection of cover versions that the band had recorded in previous years.

[edit] External links

• Placebo web page
• Xsofplacebo officiel French fansite Everything about Placebo
• BBC Radio 1 Placebo Interview

v • d • e Placebo

Brian Molko | Stefan Olsdal | Steve Hewitt

Live members: William (Bill) Lloyd | Alex Lee

Discography

Studio albums: Placebo | Without You I'm Nothing | Black Market Music | Sleeping with Ghosts | Meds

DVDs and compilations: Soulmates Never Die (Live in Paris 2003) | Once More With Feeling (video collection) | Once More with Feeling | Covers

Singles: "Bruise Pristine" | "Come Home" | "36 Degrees" | "Teenage Angst" | "Nancy Boy" | "Pure Morning" | "You Don't Care About Us" | "Every You Every Me" | "Without You I'm Nothing" | "Burger Queen Francais" | "Taste in Men" | "Slave to the Wage" | "Special K" | "Black-Eyed" | "The Bitter End" | "This Picture" | "Special Needs" | "English Summer Rain" | "Twenty Years" | "Protège-Moi" | "Because I Want You" | "Song to Say Goodbye" | "Infra-Red" | "Meds"