The Libertines' debut, "Up the Bracket," was released in 2002 at the tail-end of the "garage rock" phenomenon that blew up in the music press.
Maybe they weren't good-looking enough (compared to the Strokes), or maybe they weren't kitschy enough (like the Hives), or maybe they were too good at playing their instruments (The Vines), but somehow the Libertines managed to avoid the deluge of hype (at least in the United States) that so many of their peers experienced.
Whatever the reason, most rock fans know at least two things about the Libertines by now: that former Clash founding member Mick Jones produces them and that lead singer Pete Doherty has had ?¬difficulties?® with the police. He was addicted to heroin and crack-cocaine and has been arrested for, among other things, carrying a switchblade and robbing bandmate Carl Bart's apartment.
It is hard to review the Libertines' new album (pulling a Weezer Green-Album-type stunt, they named their second CD ?¬The Libertines?®) without mentioning drugs. Talking about Pete Doherty without talking about addiction is like trying to ignore the elephant in the room: the unintelligibly British, crack-smoking elephant.
The real Libertine addicts - fans who couldn't get enough of "Up the Bracket's" manic punk frenzy - are going to have to find a new drug, or at least adjust their habits for this self-titled sophomore effort. The most striking feature of "The Libertines" is what it's lacking: the unrestrained wildness of its first album.
Gone is Doherty's animalistic wail at the beginning of "Up the Bracket." In its place is the playful opening to "What Katie Did" ("shoop shoop, shoop de-lang de-lang"): perhaps an updated version of the Chiffons' "He's So Fine."
As Doherty switches into '60s pop mode, Barat (guitar and vocals), John Hassall (bass), and Gary Powell (drums) follow his lead and readjust accordingly. On "Music When the Lights Go Out," a slow ballad, Hassall and Powell (and probably Doherty, who also plays guitar) mix acoustic strumming and emotive electric solos, managing to make both sound fresh. "Campaign of Hate" is Powell's shining moment; the song progressively builds up its tempo until the last 30 seconds, when Powell successfully chases down Doherty?s galloping vocals.
The first single from "The Libertines," "Can't Stand Me Now," showcases the variety on the second album. The vocals have a slightly vaudevillian tinge (Doherty and Barat banter back and forth can't take you anywhere/wouldn't take you anywhere"), there's folksy harmonica, and Powell plays several solos on what seems to be a wooden block.
In addition to playing around with new instruments and techniques, the band manipulates the pacing of its songs differently on "The Libertines." While "Up the Bracket's" songs mostly hovered around the three minute mark, the Libertines experiment with shorter blasts of sound ("Arbeit Macht Frei" is 1:13) and longer songs with lots of relatively empty space ("Road To Ruin" is 4:21, two minutes of which have no vocals and are filled in with the other musicians' studio jam session).
Though the album sounds different than the Libertines' first, it's thematically similar. Continuing the tradition of "Up the Bracket," the Libertines show off the band's penchant for unexpected historical ("And the gate read:/Arbeit Macht Frei") and literary ("Well wouldn't it be nice to be Dorian Gray?") references. There are also sly digs at fellow members of their music scene; "Campaign of Hate" skewers "Poor kids dressing like they're rich (mods)/Rich kids dressing like they're poor (oh my god)."
The Libertines directly reference their debut at least twice. A line in "Don't Be Shy?® jokes that "the bracket's higher now" and "The Man Who Would Be King" directly continues the story of "Tell It to the King" from "Up the Bracket." The two "King" songs share the same opening drum riff (a subtle hint at their connection) and a variation of the same first line ("I've got a little secret for ya" versus "Another secret for ya"), a not-so-subtle hint. The lyrics of both deal with the narrator?s anxiety about being in charge and letting his life run out of control. Which brings us back to Doherty.
The Libertines examine what it means to fall down so far that eventually the only place left on the map left to explore is up. In pure yo-yo fashion, springing from the chaos of their past, they turn out a new work superior, albeit connected at its seams, to the original. Without the fleeting moments of insanity, the CD wouldn't sound like the scrappy British band fans have come to love. But it's the album's sophisticated development that catapults the Libertines past the hype they never got the first time around.<$>
