To be honest, the release of this surprised me. For a band that’s only relatively recently imploded, and having only made two albums – one of which wasn’t even that great – I had to question the reasons behind the release of this. (I don’t want to give it away too much, but it’s basically about the money)
First of all, Pete Doherty is never out the bloody tabloids. It’s just getting silly now, therefore Rough Trade has someone virtually advertising a product on a day-to-day basis. Secondly, Pete and Carl have been spotted together a few times recently, even performing together, which naturally fuels the fire for a Libertines reunion.
Maybe I’m being cynical, but the whole thing just smacks of cashing in. I mean, it’s a good record, don’t get me wrong, but why would anyone buy a best-of of a band that’s still only made two albums? Just buy the two albums! Fair enough, Libs’ anthem ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ makes an appearance, despite not appearing on either album, as do so-so tracks ‘Mayday and ‘The Delaney’, but that’s not reason enough.
There are some great tracks on this – ‘Up the Bracket’ and ‘Time for Heroes’ to name but two. Tracks like these from the Libs’ debut album are a reminder of why they captured our hearts in the first place and influenced a shed load of new bands, with their romantic tales of grime and crime.
Then there are tracks like What Katie Did’ from their second album, a cute, yet shambolic pop ditty which annoyingly serves to reminds us of the potential the band had, but which they could never fully commit to tape.
I used to have a lot of admiration for Rough Trade, but they haven’t done The Libertines justice with this collection. Don’t but this album; buy the two Libertines albums instead.
