Review:

on 2011-08-04 CharlesMartel Said:

I have to say this is not what I expected it to be. In fact it is quite poor. Having said that, it is better than a severely poor rating, so I think I can safely say that my rating and reaction is determined more by the disappointment I felt that my expectations were not met than for anything in the music itself. Perhaps I should not have such high expectations. I know I should ignore hype, but sometimes it is inevitable. The Libertines' cavalier attitude to making music had its charm and its supporters - principally among the self-appointed musical hipster fraternity which runs the New Musical Express - but I am uncertain if it stretched much beyond that.

For a band who are supposed to represent a new era in British indie music, this shoddily played, chaotic sound is not what you would expect. Never mind that the lead singer is now Britain's most high profile junkie, this is just shambolic. Whether the drugs had taken hold of Pete Doherty yet I don't know, but it certainly sounds like it. If independent music was ever going to make that Holy Grail of crossing over into the mainstream, it wasn't going to do it with this. Knock the mainstream as much as you like, and I do on a regular basis, but one thing it does have is quality production and tight arrangements. Maybe it is sometimes over-produced and too flawless, but chaos like this is not going to make that jump.

Having said all that, this album is not that great. I have played it several times now and I have yet to identify a stand out track, which is unusual. Normally, I am led into an album by such an offering. The lack of it makes it very hard for me to come to terms with this because I cannot identify with any of the tracks on it. In some ways this is quite odd. If this had come out 27 years before, in 1978, this would have been labelled as an above average punk offering. I suppose it still is, but the problem with what passes for punk these days is that it is all passe. For God's sake, punk was a movement which occurred when the Libertines were wearing nappies (or perhaps not even a twinkle in the eyes of their mothers). It was a reaction to the hopelessness and desolation of 1970's Britain. Those days are past. Music has moved on as well. Playing punk music now is like finding Snoop Dogg suddenly starting singing acoustic covers of Leadbelly. It's gone. (Actually, the thought if Snoop Dogg doing that fills me with utter revulsion).

In the end it is hard to figure out what it is about the Libertines in general and this album in particular that people rave over. For one thing, the front men are not the working class heroes they are made out to be - both Docherty and Barat are solidly middle class. The so called style which the band invented was nothing new. The music certainly is nothing new. In fact, the whole thing is nothing to write home about. It has its moments but it never really gets off the ground. I guess it is just that these guys came along and filled a vacuum.

So, if the Libertines appeals to you, I suggest you go and listen to some real punk from the first time around and not the retro stuff. There is a life out there and you will be a fool if yours passes you by without you ever having realised it. But if all you ever hear of what you think is punk is this, then you are going to be disappointed. This lacks energy, focus, direction, talent and quality. It is a mess. There are moments when it seems as if it may all come together, but these moments are fleeting and seem to be the result of luck rather than judgement.
Rating: 5/10