The Libertines, ‘The Libertines’
By user • Sep 16th, 2004 • Category: Album Reviews
If you learn nothing from The Libertines’ Pete Doherty, remember this: Don’t smoke crack.
His story, in a nutshell, reads like this: NME proclaimed them “the best in the U.K.” in 2002. Meanwhile, the singer’s addiction began to take its toll and his attendance at gigs diminished while his jail time grew. Soon, he found himself replaced in the band he started, and checking into rehab. Begrudgingly sober, he ditched his angst-ridden youthfulness and penned an introspective, 14-track concept album fueled by desperation and addiction.
Welcome back to the band, Pete.
The garage-punk of the band’s debut lingers from again enlisting Mick Jones as producer, but The Clash’s influence is more subtle this time.
Instead of mi-MICK-ing “Combat Rock,” the foursome bottled Doherty’s turmoil with an aggressive, sharp-hitting, urgency reminiscent of what Legs McNeil first coined in the late 1970s.
During “Last Post On The Bugle,” Doherty predicts, “We’ll meet again someday/Oh my boy/There’s a price to pay.”
Maybe so. But for now, we’ll enjoy the fruits of his latest relapse and cross our fingers that the price of his next won’t be too high.
Northern Star, Sept. 16, 2004
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