It's been 10 years since the eponymous Placebo debut was released. Amazing how time flies. Perhaps quietly, the cross-border trio -- a Dutchman, an Englishman and an American raised abroad -- has become one of the best bands around. For a decade Brian Molko and company have mixed razor-wire rockers with majestic, ethereal ballad/anthems laced with chiming guitars and all of them layered with Molko's distinctive voice.

The band's glam sheen and often racy lyrics have led no less than David Bowie to not only rave about the band but also to do a duet on record and on stage with Placebo.

It all started on "Placebo," which is now reissued in a double-disc set by Astralwerks Records. The high-energy disc lacks the grace of the band's later work -- the sublime "Lady of the Flowers" excepted -- but it deftly captures the band's searing power and nascent skill. The songs were even better than they seemed -- as we learned from later, slower versions of "Teenage Angst" and "36 Degrees."

The original 10-track disc is augmented with five b-sides an previously unreleased demos. Disc 2 is a DVD with TV appearances, videos and live footage (from all eras) that feature songs from the debut LP.

After the release of "Placebo" everything changed. The band switched drummers and the music got both more and less subtle -- depending on the song -- and a new Placebo disc was greeted with obsessive spins on this music fan's CD player.

"Lyrically, Brian is writing deeply evocative and darkly slithering things, quite scary and brilliantly supported by the band's music," Bowie is quoted in the reissue's booklet. "I think Placebo are now possibly one of the best three-piece bands in the world."

Amen, Ziggy, amen.

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