Up The Bracket

Uncut - 5 stars out of 5 - "If rock 'n' roll is all about freedom and the consequences that come with that, there's never been a better handbook." Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "[B]rimming with character, easily surpassing their debut, its energy level like a battery charge." Spin - "[A] dark, tense record, but one still crackling with life." - Grade: A- Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...This lot splutter like unsafe fireworks. They could and should be huge..." Rolling Stone - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2003" - "...The thrill is hearing the Libertines try--not too hard--to keep it together..." Spin - "...This is music to play in dark, velvety, womblike bars; this is music to play while buying cigarettes....If the Libertines represent the first wave of well-Stroked clone bands, we are optimistic..." - Grade: A Magnet - "[T]he catchy THE LIBERTINES mostly proves the Brits have always taken their pop much more seriously than we ever have." Mojo - 4 stars out of 5 - "[A]n extraordinary, challenging second LP, suffused with tenderness and anger..." CMJ - "At their best, the Libertines are a band worthy of the overseas claims that they're the next Kinks or Jam." Rolling Stone - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[T]he Libs still sound like a gloriously combustible rock & roll mess..." Uncut - Ranked #22 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "[Their] punk discharges on love, drugs and mutual loathing sound beautifully, if brutally, honest." Rolling Stone - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "[N]o band in recent history has better captured the vertiginous experience of falling apart and loving it." Spin - Ranked #30 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "Barat concludes this beautiful train wreck with a warm-hearted yet cold-eyed three-song intervention..." Mojo - Ranked #57 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "The Libertines slap you in the chops like a Francis Bacon painting." Uncut - "[L]ike The Clash's LONDON CALLING before it, repeat listenings reveal an endless succession of gorgeous hooks, spindly solos and tunes to hum forever."

This is the debut album by the East London four-piece indie act whose music has been compared to that of The Smiths and The Strokes, amongst others. 'Up The Bracket' was produced by ex-Clash guitarist, Mick Jones. Included is the single, 'Up The Bracket', and the double A-side tracks 'I Get Along' and 'The Boys In The Band'.|

USでロウ・パワーなロックンロール・バンドに注目が集まるなか、UKからの返答とでもいうべく颯爽と登場したリバティーンズ。ヴォーカルとギターを担当するピーター・ドハーティー、カール・バラットの2トップに、ゲイリー・パウエル（ドラムス）、ジョン・ハッサール（ベース）のリズム隊からなる平均22歳の4人組だ。ガレージ一直線というより、UKバンドらしいニューウェイヴ以降の匂いを感じさせるパンクっぷりがカッコ良い。本人たちは意識しているかわからないけれど（してなくても全然OK）、アルバム全体からイギリスのロックの歴史が詰まったサウンドが聴こえてくる。荒さとしなやかさ、疾走感とクールさ、歌メロが光る楽曲。それをプロデュースするのが、元クラッシュのミック・ジョーンズってところも良い。あらゆる輪廻が繰り返された、2002年のいまだからこそ生まれてきた必然的なロックンロール!
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