User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 60 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 60
  2. Negative: 3 out of 60

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  1. KristenD
    Jul 6, 2003
    10
    It's wonderful!
  2. Caz
    Sep 7, 2003
    10
    Damn awesome! Deserves more recognition than it's getting. Will definantly reel in alot more fans.
  3. PaulK
    Apr 8, 2003
    8
    God this album gets into your head! Songs like bulletproof cupid, english summer rain, this picture, the bitter end (what a classic!) and plasticine are all worthy of single releases and are great indie-pop songs. Unfortunately with every placebo album there are a few crap songs. Second sight is b-side material and I'll be yours is mildly irritating and centrefolds is quite boring. God this album gets into your head! Songs like bulletproof cupid, english summer rain, this picture, the bitter end (what a classic!) and plasticine are all worthy of single releases and are great indie-pop songs. Unfortunately with every placebo album there are a few crap songs. Second sight is b-side material and I'll be yours is mildly irritating and centrefolds is quite boring. All in all though well worth buying. Its the second placebo I've bought and on the strength of this album I intend to buy the other remaining two. Expand
  4. KateA
    Jan 17, 2004
    10
    Can placebo get any better?they keep coming back with more,its inspiring,beautiful,edgy,true brilliance,with amazing truth
  5. John
    Jun 3, 2004
    9
    Great album from a great band... without a doubt one of the best things I've ever heard
  6. melissaj
    Sep 13, 2005
    10
    loooove this band, they can do no wrong and they just get better with age. hehe
  7. Angihftzhh
    Jun 8, 2006
    10
    I love brian molko and his amazing voice. nobody sounds like he does. and this album is one of the best i've ever had
  8. [Anonymous]
    Mar 2, 2007
    10
    Placebo!!!!!! The best band i ever heard
  9. peteFourie
    Apr 27, 2003
    10
    great!
  10. taleden
    Jun 12, 2003
    10
    best album ever made by placebo
  11. Oz
    Jul 16, 2003
    10
    Bloody amazing CD, although I loved the BMM syle in Black Market music, this CH still fits the bill.
  12. FredR
    Mar 13, 2006
    10
    It's amazing! Great lyrics about love in many ways and many other feelings are expressed trough Brian words.
  13. Dan
    May 12, 2007
    9
    The second best Placebo-Record till now...
  14. JamalS
    Dec 22, 2003
    8
    "Sleeping With Ghosts" starts off with a bang. A crunchy, melodic instrumental, "Bulletproof Cupid" is as unoriginal as it is poppy. Following "Cupid" is a strange, macabre, fandango of "English Summer Rain". Molko hums "I'm in the basement, your in the sky, I'm in the basement, drop on by" to electronic pop with a nice bass line. The album has its first kick with "This "Sleeping With Ghosts" starts off with a bang. A crunchy, melodic instrumental, "Bulletproof Cupid" is as unoriginal as it is poppy. Following "Cupid" is a strange, macabre, fandango of "English Summer Rain". Molko hums "I'm in the basement, your in the sky, I'm in the basement, drop on by" to electronic pop with a nice bass line. The album has its first kick with "This picture", a wonderful mix of Molko's wild wailing, grungy guitars and synthesizers all around. The title track, "Sleeping with Ghost" is dancable, but besides the nice singing there isn't much material there. Their single, "The Bitter End" is awesome, with a beautiful keyboard taking weight off the loud guitars. "Something Rotten" is just plain strange, and I always skip it when I can. "Plastacine" is awesome, poppy, and addictive. Brian preaches the downfall of plastic surgery to garage guitar sounds. "Special Needs" is also a great track, a cresendo starting off with piano and Molko and quickly evolving to a full band rocking session. "I'll Be Yours", as well as "Second Sight" is regular pop fare that is easily forgettable. The most intruiging and perhaps the best track on the album is "Protect Me From What I Want", where Molko has some of his best singing to more keyboard and a cagy guitar that flys around the song like a bug. The ending track is good, but doesn't leave you overwhelmed, a ballad where Molko continues his annoyingly melodic wails. Overall, the CD is good and would normally warrant itself a respectable 6 or 7 but if you get the CD special edition, and you should, the second CD filled with covers is amazing. The CD, with Pixies, Depeche Mode, the Smiths and Sinead O'Conner covers is a treat for the ears. That CD itself is a 9 or ten so rounding it out, this is an agreeable eight. Go buy it, already! Expand
  15. lennu
    May 23, 2004
    10
    I simply like it...:)
  16. MarcoM
    Nov 15, 2005
    9
    Placebo are one of the best things to emerge in the music scene and this album should be appreciated for its
  17. Mar 16, 2012
    8
    Placebo's 4th album is another solid piece of work but again fails to come near their best work Without You I'm Nothing. While most of the songs are quite good, very few of them are exceptional. Also, despite it being a pretty good collection of songs, they don't all necessarily go together to make a cohesive album and at times the pacing and style is a bit all over the place. That said,Placebo's 4th album is another solid piece of work but again fails to come near their best work Without You I'm Nothing. While most of the songs are quite good, very few of them are exceptional. Also, despite it being a pretty good collection of songs, they don't all necessarily go together to make a cohesive album and at times the pacing and style is a bit all over the place. That said, "The Bitter End", "Plasticine" and especially "Protect me from what I want" are all up there with the bands best work and there are no weak tracks on it. I don't think it works as an album but I'm still giving it an due to the number of really good tracks on it. Collapse
  18. Sep 16, 2013
    9
    First Placebo album that is not a collection of random-themed songs, but concentrates on a one problem ended relationships and people that remains with us as a 'ghosts'. Beautiful lyrics and vocals with great arrangement.

    Favourite: Sleeping with Ghosts, Centrefolds, This Picture, The Bitter End, Special Needs, Protect me from what I want.
  19. Apr 14, 2014
    9
    the great album of palcebo, in this balance of electro pop, with no loose the essential rock of the first albums, is the complement of Without You i'm Nothing in Live
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 14
  2. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Sleeping With Ghosts is glorious; an unrepentant emotional exorcism that cohesively hurdles between the bleak and wounded, the exuberant and defiant.
  2. No peaks, no gorges, just a steady oscillation between adequate and inspired.
  3. It's a rare rocktronic mix that actually grooves, even if the ride can be a little jittery.