The Libertines, The Libertines - UK garage rock royalty, compliments of my new favorite music supporter and recommender Zubin. Big ups to Greenwich!
I guess for rock and roll, it really does take two. The early collaboration of Carl Barat and Pete Doherty was explosive, problematic, but overall fruitful. Warring personalities at worst, these two created interesting music together. On this second and final album, The Libertines personify garage rock to fullest. Warts and all. Stylistically, they cross lots of territory, but sit quite comfortably in post punk independent rock. Easy hooks, pseudo Beatles pop sensibility, and nothing more than 3 minutes. Which can be fun at first, but ultimately runs out of steam halfway through the album. 14 songs following a sad, self flagellating relationship is bit much. Don’t get me wrong, these two are at their songwriting finest when they are pining and wanton with desire. It just gets tedious. And since I don’t have the innate heredity of following their tumult from the beginning, I’m less swayed by their antics to add “depth” to their records. Still, a seminal rock album from a group that is destined to influence a generation of art rockers.
Burn by Ray LaMontagne