The trials and tribulations of the Libertines have been well documented. The drugs, the court cases, the prison sentences, the ejection from the band of Pete Doherty and his consequent shambolic approach to playing live. In essence it has been soap opera of the first order and whilst not wishing to appear flippant about what is very obviously a troubled man, exactly the sort of behaviour we secretly want from our rock stars. Now it seems you can quench your thirst for these stories in the tabloids any day of the week or even in the so called serious music press. With this circus surrounding the band it’s easy to gloss over the music and there’s a reason for that.
You see, The Libertines are a bit hit and miss to say the least. Those of you familiar with their debut album will be familiar with the story, a couple of great singles and a lot of half arsed, sloppy, half ideas. It’s no coincidence that their two best moments didn’t even appear on their first album. ‘What A Waster’ is a classic debut single and ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ remains the best thing they’ve ever done (and I realise that ‘What a Waster’ does now appear on the re-released CD version of the album but it wasn’t there originally). It’s also no coincidence that Bernard Butler produced both of these whilst Mick Jones has produced both albums.
It is more than apparent that Mick Jones' approach to producing can be summed up as sit around whilst the band piss about and occasionally press record when it sounds as though you can get away with chucking it on the album. There is no other explanation for throwaway crap such as ‘What Katie Did’, a 50’s doo wop pastiche or the shambolic ‘Tomblands’ which at one point morphs into a sea shanty. Elsewhere guitar solos are nearly missed, bum notes remain and some of the singing veers out of tune. Some would call this an endearing charm but to these ears it remains irritating and quite frankly insulting when you’ve shelled out your hard earned cash for an album by, theoretically, one of this country’s best bands.
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That’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s moments. The first single ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ is a prime slice of garage pop complete with self mytholigising lyrics. How difficult it is to part the myth from the music, particularly in lines such as ‘Cornered the boy kicked out at the world / the world kicked back a lot fuckin’ harder’. Every utterance seems loaded with meaning, every reference to love affairs about the two front men. ‘An ending fit for the start / you twist and tore our love apart’ sings Pete to Carl (or is it Carl to Pete? Buggered if I can tell the difference between their voices half the time). ‘The Man who Would be King’ is a rollicking ride with a distinct country twang to the guitar and closer (apart from the secret track) ‘What Became of the Likely Lads’ is begging to be released as a single and possibly even an epitaph.
The rest of the album really is very poor. The remaining 12 songs veer from average to pathetic. Really, if you want my advice, save your money and buy the singles as there’s a whole heap of other releases more worthy of your cash. And have you checked out that cover? Not that they’re playing on their troubles eh?
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