The Libertines - Up the bracket.
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Pete Doherty it seems like you cannot open a newspaper with out some headline or other screaming about his on/off relationship with Kate Moss or his appalling drug habit.
What you don't seem to read about is his music, the thing that gave him his fame in the first place, so im here to tell you about it.

The Libertines formed in about 1998 when Carl barat and Pete Doherty were introduced to each other by Pete's sister, it wasn't long before they were playing guitars, writing songs and planning their careers in the music world.

After this first meeting the boys started to play lots of small gigs with various different band members over the years, even including a 63 year old drummer at one point!

The lads had a few ups and downs but come 2002 they had what will in years to come be heralded as a classic album.

Band Members.
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The group that appeared on this record were:-

Pete Doherty - Guitars/Vocals
Carl Barat - Guitars/Vocals
John Hassall - Bass
Gary Powell - Drums

The album was produced by ex Clash member Mick Jones, and the link with the clash does come across in a fair few songs!

The song writing duties were shared between Barat and Doherty.

The Album
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The version of the album that ive got contains 12 songs, some have a few bonus tracks or a free DVD its worth shopping around to find the best deal.

Track one - Vertigo.

The album really kicks off as it means to go one, with a bouncy guitar driven tune which is by no means heavy or grinding, but jumpy and colourful.
The drumming is perfect with a nice beat holding the tune together beautifully especially when it's combined with the stuttery bass line.

The main vocals are performed by Carl barat with Doherty giving the backing vocals and helping out with the almost beatlesesque harmonies.

Barat has a similar voice to Pete so it's sometimes difficult to tell them apart but barat has a slightly deeper voice.

Track Two - Death on the stairs.

This kicks in with a great tunefully guitar intro which is soon joined by the bass and drums.
The tune is a fairly quick paced with a simple but nice twiddly guitar line running behind the wall of drums and bass.

Vocally this song has the pair sharing vocal duties, Carl sings some sections and Pete does the others, this works brilliantly as the two voices complement each other very well.

Track three - HorrorShow.

This song is about Pete's addiction to drugs, and is the first time you really get to here Pete's unique style.
Tune wise this is a simple juttery pop punk type rock number, with fast paced guitars jumping all over the place and a drumbeat which the Clash would have been happy with.

Pete really makes this song, with his almost drunken style of slurred singing, now this might sound like he's a bad singer but in reality it gives the tune a little something else, almost like a cross between Shane McGowan and Joe strummer.

Track Four - Time for Heroes.

Probably the first song most people will have heard from the band, and one of the best.
This song is a lot better produced and a bit more commercial sounding than most others on the album, with Pete's vocals a bit more refrained and clearer.
Musically this is a catchy number with more than a slight hint at The Clash and The Jam.
The music seems to be a little further back in the track giving more emphasis on the vocals than on other songs.

Pete produces probably his finest performance on this track, with a clearer delivery and a good show of his talent.

Track Five - Boys in the band.

On of my all time favourites, and one of the songs that got me into the band when I first heard it played live on Jools Holland's later show.

The song opens with a very catchy bouncy guitar riff which jumps all around the room with you, the bass and the drums do their job well.

The main parts of the song are sung by Carl, who gives a quite rocking performance.

The chorus changes the song from decent number to quality song with a catchy use of backing vocals and a distinct change to the main tune which works very well.
The highlight of this track has to be Pete's clever almost comical backing vocals.

Track Six - Radio America.

This seems a very odd choice for the album, as it doesn't sound anything like the rest of the collection.

The song is an acoustic number with Pete tacking main singing duties and unfortunately failing, not a complete waste of time but not one to recommend the album on!

The guitars are out of tune and Pete's vocals don't rally work here, which is a shame as some of Pete's best work is his solo acoustic stuff.

Track seven - Up the bracket.

Well the album is quickly back on track with this.
This was also a single from the album and definitely one of the best tunes on the album.

Musically this is a balls out punky pop number which contains some of the catchiest moments on a rock record.
The guitars race through the tune giving out sharp colourful hooks all the way through like a Day-Glo version of the clash.
The drums really offer a lot on this song giving it a great backbone and a really bouncy feel to it.

Pete's vocals are top notch on this one and again go a long way to show how talented this young man is and hopefully he can regain this in the future.

The song also contains one of the catchiest choruses ive heard in the last few years with some nice harmonies.

Track Eight - Tell the king.

This is a little slower and more downbeat than the previous song, but still a great tune.
Musically it is a fairly simple song with some twiddly guitars thrown over some simple effective drums and bass.

The vocals are again shared between the two singers, and again this works really well.

A good tune to relax to and just listen to the clever vocal interplays and the more mellow side to the libs.

Track Nine - The boy looked at Johnny.

This starts very poorly, with a bad vocal style with the band almost sounding like they've had a few too many shandys, but this is almost a false start as the song really comes into itself during the catchy chorus.

Definitely not one id recommend the album on but as a filler its not one I skip very often.

Track Ten - Begging.

This song opens with a simple drumbeat which lasts quite some time, then the guitars start to come into the tune sounding a lot like 'the sebadoh', then a bit later carls vocals come in with a quite rocking performance.

Again this isn't the best song on the album by a long shot, and musically apart from the nice intro guitars there isn't really a lot to shout about, but as part of the album it fits well.

Track Eleven - The Good old days.

An essential Libertines song, a much darker brooding number which see's the band really show a side to their music that really should get more of an airing.

Pete's dark vocals work brilliantly with the downbeat mood of the guitars and drums.

Track Twelve - I Get Along.

The bands first single was a double a side with this and 'what a waster', and at the time people were naming them the new Strokes mainly due to this tune, a very catchy number but not a fair view of what the album contains.

The number features Carl on front man duties and he pulls this off very well, with an almost shouted chorus and a strokesy verse pattern.

A great tune to have a few bevies to and just jump around like a mad version of tigger!

OVERALL
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Well as you can probably tell I would recommend this album, it has a bit of everything.

It isn't an instantly great album, but after only a few listens it will begin to grow on you like a bad sore.
Pete does a decent job on this album as do the rest of the band, and hopefully one day he will be able to show this sort of talent again.

If you like this album I would also recommend the bands self titled second album, which shows the band in a less rocking mode but still a tuneful and talented group of musicians.

Also if you search around on the net you can find a lot of demos and bootlegs which the band have kindly aloud fans to download for free, which is a good way to find out whether this band is for you or not.
Pete has also released a few acoustic albums for free download on his babyshambles website.

http://www.babyshambles.net/

Thanks for reading.

Kyle.