The Libertines

Carlos Barât Peter Doherty Gary Powell John Hassall
The Libertines is an incredible band. I have not found any other band that have songs composed by two people that feed off each others incredible song writing skills and seem to work so well together (besides Lennon/McCartney of course). I know this is a band I will never look back on and think, "What was I thinking? How could I have ever though this band was simply fantastic?" Because this band seems timeless and I don't think you can deny the genius quality of the poetic and clever lyrics and poetic hooking hooks. Pete Doherty and Carlos Barât are both very talented even though some try to give all the credit to Pete, it is the partnership and relationship between the two that makes the Libertines astounding. I love writing songs and have aspired to be in a band singing since I was 8 after I realized that played soccer on the US national women's team would be nearly impossible. (A similarity between me and Pete. He knew he wanted to be in a band the day he realized that he was never going to play for QPR.) But when I hear the music of the Libertines, I feel that I will never become successful and will never be the smallest fraction as good as they are. But then again, I am setting a very high standard try to be as good as what  consider one of the best bands of our time.

                    

Up the Bracket (2002) is definitely more angst filled, faster, and upbeat. It is a great album if you need to get pumped up for something, or you just want to scream. Still fantastic poetic lyrics, but harder to tell seeing as for most of the songs you are yelling the lyrics very loudly.

I prefer The Libertines (2004) (although I absolutely love them both). It has a greater range of types of songs. Fast, from Carlos' Narcissist to the lovely ballad of Music When the Lights Go Out. But when you throw in the light guitar riff from What Katie Did with "shoop shoop shoop de lang de lang" and the two songs of Pete and Carlos' relationship (Can't Stand Me Now and What Became of the Likely Lads), it adds up to the perfect combination of music. I love how this record sleeve is framed in my room waiting to be mounted on my wall among all of the band photos, Kate Moss photos, and random artsy bits.

How can you argue that the Libertines are not a remarkable band?