Albums 101. #1 The Libertines

So here's a novel little idea I had, well ok it's not so novel but still...

There are certain releases which, in my opinion, everyone should at least listen too and probably own. Some of them are 'classics' that you'll find on every one of those 'Best Albums Of...' lists, some are albums that I sometimes think no one else but me owns anymore, some are EPs or Singles, Compilations, Greatest Hits...the list goes on.

I've blogged about a few before, Thursday's Waiting for example, and Christe Front Drive's seminal Stereo, but, because I am that cool I've decided to make a full on list of these albums and systematically review them all, just for the benefit of anyone who reads this.

Aren't I a babe?

Now I thought I'd start fairly mainstream and unobscure, so here is number one.

#001. The Libertines. The Libertines.



Overview
There's a lot of baggage that come with this album,. A soap opera backstory of burglary, prison, heroin and the 'best' British band of the time tearing itself apart in front of the world. You may or may not be familiar with it, if you're not, hit Wikipedia and read all about it, I'm here to talk about the music.

Despite the eponymous title, The Libertines was the band's second (and last) full length LP, released couple of years after their debut had grown into a full blown scene breaker. It is that album, Up The Bracket that usually gets into those 'album lists' that music magazines put out every few years.

It features a mix of older songs, some dating back to the band's early 'Legs 11' demos or more recent sessions recorded and released on the interned and a number of fresh songs, recorded for the album and never heard before. Produced by former Clash guitarists Mick Jones who produced the bands debut) and released on Rough Trade. That's the basics, now what about the music itself?

The Album

So here I am, telling you to buy this record, but why? Simply put it is, within or without of it's context, the greatest slab of emotional, heartbroken songwriting ever. Not in a maudlin, late night listening to Leonard Cohen and drinking neat vodka way but it sort of glamourous, you half want to be the person singing way.


It's bookended by two songs that set this out perfectly, and incidentally are also among the best songs on the record. Opener 'Can't Stand Me Now' became The Libertines biggest hit and is possibly one of the best break up songs written, ever. Pete Doherty and Carl Barat trade lines over a chaotic, sprawling music background that sums up everything The Libertines had grown into. The real beauty of it is that they're singing to each other, quite literally as it is a song about the breakdown of their friendship and it makes the lyrics, already superb, doubly effective. Then their is the album's finale (if you exclude the 'hidden' bonus track), 'What Became Of The Likely Lads', again they trade vocals, looking back on lost friendship and all that jazz. Which may sound a bit like a repeat of track one, except for when you view the thing from afar., because it quite neatly sums up what the entire album is about. Having documented a whole host of troubles throughout the record the whole thing comes to head. When they sing 'I tried to make you see, but you don't want to know' it seems like you can feel the whole thing yourself.


What of the songs in between then? They're a mess. The music is full of slices of distorted guitar, loose drums and plodding bass. From the bare, two minute punky trash of 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (the closest the Libs get to being political) to the smooth, 60s pop-alike 'What Katy Did' (not about Kate Moss...apparently) there's touch of sadness to everything here. The band are on top form, there is no doubt of that, but you know that it isn't going to last. 'Music When The Lights Go Out' sees Pete, almost alone avec guitar asking whether it would be '...cruel of kind, not to speak my mind and to lie to you', 'The Saga' (with lyrics twisted from a letter written to Doherty) see the admission that 'A problem, becomes a problem, when you let down your friends...'. For a band whose first album was full of songs about being the last gang in town and sticking it to the world as friends it shows you just how far the band had come.


In truth, I could continue in a similar vein about a number (in fact almost all) other songs on the album. But I don't have the skill with words to portray the sheer brilliance of it all. The musical variety and, from some sections of the band, remarkable skill, raw emotion and often beautiful lyrics mean that I personally could never get bored of this as a record. Even the 'filler' tracks are interesting.


So basically, I've started on a high, I think this is one of the greatest albums ever released. It's also the album that really got me interested in music, and well, six years down the lien from its release, here I am still banging on about it. So either I'm really sad or it really is a classic. Go listen, make up your mind on that one. I'm confident no one will think the former...


If you like this...
The Libertines - Up The Bracket
The Strokes - Room On Fire
Babyshambles - Down In Albion