As its title suggests, Version 2.0 is no great departure for Garbage from the sound that made their eponymous 1995 debut such a hit. While much was made of the various band members' chequered pasts (drummer Butch Vig produced Nirvana's Nevermind; singer Shirley Manson was in dreadful Scottish agit-goths Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie), Garbage actually don't sound anything like what these previous projects might have led one to expect. One of the few truly modern rock bands--although for some reason this is often described as being contrived by reactionary critics--Garbage blend traditional rock instrumentation with samples, programming and the close to unlimited possibilities presented by late 1990s recording technology more naturally than many of their "Look at us! We're so contemporary!" peers. While this album fails to match the quality of the debut, it nevertheless has a number of cool moments, including the singles "Special", "When I Grow Up", "I Think I'm Paranoid", and the Beach Boys-quoting "Push It". --Ronita Dutta
