Details

‘Up The Bracket’ launched Peter, Carl, John and Gary, spewing crazy tales of Albion and Arcadia to a bemused and baffled public. Like its predecessor, this album is obsessed with dreams and fantasy. But where ‘Up The Bracket’ was English lawns, gin in teacups and the Beano, this time round the real world keeps intruding in all its gory glory. During the brittle and honest ‘The Saga’, the careering new-wave clatter pauses and Pete mutters, with a junkie’s sly self-delusion: "No, no, I ain’t got a problem. It’s you with a problem". In the rest of the song he appears to grasp the gravity of the situation ("When you lie to your friends/And you lie to your people/And you lie to yourself/And the truth’s too harsh to comprehend/You just pretend there isn’t a problem"). It’s suddenly obvious why bandmate Carl wouldn’t talk about this song for NME recently. Although you only have to wait a moment for Carl’s acerbic reply as the song segues straight into ‘Road To Ruin’: "How can we/Make you understand/All you can be/Is written in your hand?”

Whatever happens, this an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime album, proving The Libertines are both the stuff of revolution and aesthetic princelings among the (very) lumpen indie proletariat. We won’t see their like again.

1. Can't Stand Me Now

2. Last Post on the Bugle

3. Don't Be Shy

4. The Man Who Would Be King

5. Music When the Lights Go Out

6. Narcissist

7. The Ha Ha Wall

8. Arbeit Macht Frei

9. Campaign of Hate

10. What Katie Did

11. Tomblands

12. The Saga

13. Road to Ruin

14. What Became of the Likely Lads