FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
The Libertines - Up the Bracket
___________
I have been thinking a lot…
about the debut from The Libertines, Up the Bracket. The band are still going, and I know they are planning some tour dates for later in the year. Although their eponymous album of 2004 is remarkable, I think they were at their finest and most original straight out of the gate. Released in October 2002, Up the Bracket was a British response to American bands like The Strokes. Mixing something quite dirty and scuzzy with wit and intelligence, there is such a fascinating blend of the accomplished and urgent on Up the Bracket. It is an album I can happily listen to the whole way through and never get bored of. I will bring in a couple of American reviews for the album quite soon. I would urge people to get the album on vinyl, as it is one of the greatest albums of the ‘00s. I think there was a lot of interesting Indie and guitar music around the first five years of the ‘00s. I think Up the Bucket is an album that inspired and captivated a lot of other bands. Starting with the dizzying Vertigo and ending with the jumping I Get Along, we get moments of real emotion and calm (Radio America) and real electricity (Horrorshow). With Pete Doherty and Carl Barât supplying the incredible songs and vocals, their brotherhood and incredible talent shines through. I think that, almost twenty years since its release, Up the Bracket still sounds quite fresh. Maybe that is something to do with the no-thrills production of Mick Jones (The Clash).
With lyrics that mix modern Britain, poetry, romance, violence and tenderness, there is so much to love and digest through Up the Bracket. I want to bring in a review from AllMusic. This is what they wrote in their assessment:
“The first British band to rival the garage rock revival sparked by the Strokes and White Stripes in the U.S., the Hives in Sweden, and the Datsuns in, er, New Zealand, the Libertines burst onto the scene with Up the Bracket, a debut album so confident and consistent that the easiest way to describe it is 2002's answer to Is This It. That's not just because singer/guitarist Pete Doherty's slurred, husky vocals sound like Julian Casablancas' with the added bonus of a fetching Cockney accent (or that both groups share the same tousled, denim-clad fashion sense); virtually every song on Up the Bracket is chock-full of the same kind of bouncy, aggressive guitars, expressive, economic drums, and irresistible hooks that made the Strokes' debut almost too catchy for the band's credibility. However, the resemblance is probably due more to the constant trading of musical ideas between the States and the U.K. than to bandwagon-jumping -- the Strokes' sound owes as much to Britpop sensations like Supergrass (who had the Libertines as their opening band on their 2002 U.K. tour) and Elastica as it does to American influences like the Stooges and the Velvet Underground. Likewise, the Libertines play fast and loose with four decades' worth of British rock history, mixing bits and bobs of British Invasion, mod, punk, and Britpop with the sound of their contemporaries.
On paper it sounds horribly calculated, but (also like the Strokes' debut) in practice it's at once fresh and familiar. Mick Jones' warm, not-too-rough, and not-too-polished production both emphasizes the pedigree of their sound and the originality of it: on songs like "Vertigo," "Death on the Stairs," and the excellent "Boys in the Band," the guitars switch between Merseybeat chime and a garagey churn as the vocals range from punk snarls to pristine British Invasion harmonies. Capable of bittersweet beauty on the folky, Beatlesque "Radio America" and pure attitude on "Horrorshow," the Libertines really shine when they mix the two approaches and let their ambitions lead the way. "Did you see the stylish kids in the riot?" begins "Time for Heroes," an oddly poetic mix of love and war that recalls the band's spiritual and sonic forefathers the Clash; "The Good Old Days" blends jazzy verses, martial choruses, and lyrics like "It's not about tenements and needles and all the evils in their eyes and the backs of their minds." On songs like these, "Tell the King," and "Up the Bracket," the group not only outdoes most of its peers but begins to reach the greatness of the Kinks, the Jam, and all the rest of the groups whose brilliant melodic abilities and satirical looks at British society paved the way. Though the album is a bit short at 36 minutes, that's long enough to make it a brilliant debut; the worst you can say about its weakest tracks is that they're really solid and catchy. Punk poets, lagered-up lads, London hipsters -- the Libertines play many different roles on Up the Bracket, all of which suit them to a tee. At this point in their career they're not as overhyped as many of their contemporaries, so enjoy them while they're still fresh”.
Ahead of its twentieth anniversary next year, I wonder if there will be a reissue of Up the Bracket with some extras and demos. Given its legacy and how it shaped the music scene in Britain in the early-2000s, it definitely warrants new inspection and spotlight. Before wrapping up, I want to quote from a Pitchfork review of 2003:
“And so it's come to pass: the great wheel of revivalism spins, dredging up the next phase of music history to be paraded about-- it was only a matter of time before we came around to The Clash. But just as calling The Clash "punk" belittles how their sound had evolved by the movement's curtain call, it would be unfairly dismissive to brand The Libertines Clash knock-offs. You'd have to throw in a line or two about singer Pete Doherty sounding uncannily like an English Julian Casablancas to be more dismissive. British Strokes for British folks, as they say.
All cards on the table, though: Up the Bracket does emulate, thanks in no small part to production care of ex-Clash founder Mick Jones, but it never truly imitates. Like The Clash before them, The Libertines draw primarily from decades of rock tradition-- blues, dub, a healthy whiff of the English countryside, and a few gorgeous rock riffs straight from the brainstem of Chuck Berry-- and fuse them into an unruly and triumphant monster of an album. The band burns through a range of emotions with fearless abandon, and just when one track seems about to split into pieces, they pull it all together only to threaten glorious collapse again on the next song. From their plaintive anthems to fuck-all barnburners, this is some of the most fun I've had with a CD in ages. Rarely does a band approach such a wide array of attitudes with equal proficiency.
"Boys in the Band" traverses miles of territory in four short minutes; funk-fused riffs lend a dangerous swagger to Doherty's ultra-confident vocals before, curiously, the whole thing pulls a 180 into barbershop-style harmonies. It's not as crazy as it sounds, but it's twice as fun. Later, the band find themselves in the throes of a token heartfelt ballad-- even one that delivers unexpected quaintness and delicate folk sensibilities-- as old-time cymbal washes make such an obvious track better than it has any right to be. But before the glow fades, they take us right back to hook-laden rock with the title song, recalling The Clash's finest moments, complete with vocals lifted from Joe Strummer's back pocket.
There's an almost indescribable wealth of rock lurking on Up the Bracket, and rarely is it less than blissfully entertaining. In just thirty-odd minutes, The Libertines pretty much do it all. Call it calculated, call it derivative-- hell, there's so much to this album, you can call it just about anything you like and probably not be too far from the truth-- but if you don't hear it, you'll be the one missing out”.
Go and get Up the Bracket on vinyl if you can. It is a tremendous album from a band that entered music with such a huge statement! It is such a remarkable piece of work filled with so many incredible stories, lines, characters and riffs. Although many bands today can be traced back to The Libertines, I don’t think there are any that sounds quite like them or have their set of talents. Up the Bracket is a simply stunning album from…
THE boys in the band.