The boys are back with a brand new bag of tunes and a brighter outlook. Does their first album in 11 years deliver them from their own past or does it leave them clinging onto old glories?…
It’s been 13 years since The Libertines tumultuously spilled into fame with their debut album ‘Up The Bracket’ and for most indie music fans, we know where the story went from there (in case you don’t here’s a link to their Wiki page).
Following their reunion at Reading Festival in 2010, we were teased with the embers of a new album from the Camden quartet but all talk soon dwindled and for Libs fans it felt like a Mayan prophecy of the end of days was more likely to come to fruition than another record.
Well thank our lucky stars we’re all still here in one piece to witness the barnstorming and (certainly to most Libs fans) prophetic return of Pete and Carl with ‘Anthems for a Doomed Youth’.
‘Anthems for a Doomed Youth’ was released in August this year by Virgin EMi.
The album rumbles into gear like an old Vespa with ‘Barbarians’, which spells out in clear terms their desire to ‘scream out loud and have it off with a mental crowd’. The chorus may be catchy, jangling and everything you’d expect but there’s a strong sense of brooding and maturity in its verses – they are all in their mid-to-late thirties after all!
The same could be said for the single, ‘Gunga Gin’. I’ll be honest I wasn’t sure about this when I first heard it some 3 months before the album came out, it felt awkward and jarring but with time it’s grown to become one of my favourite songs on the album.
There was a lot of chin-stroking and puzzled looks when The Libs announced that they were working with producer Jake Gosling instead of previous stalwart Mick Jones or indeed Stephen Street. Gosling’s previous projects (One Direction and Ed Sheeran are two notable examples) have been a far cry from the sort of hedonism and chaos that Jones had embraced and even encouraged when recording their first two albums.
The result however proves that this was a stroke of genius, both as a statement of their intentions to put the old days behind them and to produce an amazing sounding record. Old favourite, ‘You’re my Waterloo’ has benefited most from Gosling’s Midas touch, slowing the track right down and replacing Pete’s guitar with a piano – after all this time the track has blossomed to fulfil its potential as a heart-warming ballad.
Another new track ‘Heart of the Matter’ sees Pete and Carl return to their peak both lyrically and musically. It’s the perfect landmark between The Libertines of old and their new incarnation, cutting to the very core with clever word-play that perfectly sums up the last 15 years of their journey together in a 3 minute track. In my mind it is a true masterpiece.
To answer my question at the beginning of this review, I think it’s safe to conclude that The Libertines are a band not just reformed but a band reborn. ‘Anthems for a Doomed Youth’ reminds us just how gifted they are, not just as a songwriting duo but as a whole band. Sure it begs the question ‘What could’ve been?’ but then again if this is the result, then who’s to say that we haven’t been truly spoilt by their trials and tribulations. As the traditional Libs sign off goes, ‘the good ship Albion sails on course’.
