Album Review- The Libertines- All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade

The Libertines were one of my favorite bands of the early 2000s. They had two albums which were pretty fantastic (2002s Up the Bracket and 2004s self titled). The best thing about them (or worst if you were a critic) was that they combined the sound of the Smiths and the Clash. That said, they became a supporting act for Morrissey and Mick Jones produced the band’s first album. Of course, the two frontmen - Pete Doherty and Carl Barat had separate careers but they were never as good apart as they were together. The band unexpectedly reunited to release Anthems of Doomed Youth in 2015. 

Although the first two albums are elevated by history, Anthems is a great album. It didn’t get a ton of publicity but in my eyes, really captures what is great about the band. I am a huge fan of Doherty, who was a self- destructive punchline for a time. 2019s Puta Madres and 2022s collaboration with Frederic Lo- The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime are some of his best solo work. 

We are now another nine years before we have another album, but we now have All Quiet on Eastern Esplanade. The Libertines can be captured with the album reviews for the recent disc. Critics aren’t interested and reviews are not glowing. Yet, on user based sites, Libertines fans seem to love it. So it goes. 

The most interesting thing might be that All Quiet sounds like a band’s fourth album (even if for most bands that time span might be seven years, and in this case it’s 22). But it’s a benefit that the album sounds like an act of growth and not some flimsy attempt to copy a certain sound. The band selected Dimitri Tikovoi (Placebo, Blondie, White Honey) producer and he gives it a pretty slick sound (Tikovoi also produced one of my favorite records- I’ll Gotten Gains by Michael J Sheehy) that might not capture the punk sound the way that Jones did, but captures the poppier side. 

A band that has always been defined in terms of cultural references. There are two songs that sound like they could be classic alternative covers (they’re not) - “Run Run Run” and “Oh Sh*t” and “Night of the Hunter” like the Mitchum movie. “Merry Old England” is a bit of the band’s Anglophilia they have always had a la Kinks/ Smiths/Jam and the strongest moment. There are a few songs that sound classic like “Be Young” and some that expand the sound “Shimmer”. There’s few clunkers. (“Oh Sh— was one of the singles but it may be the weakest song here) The album ends with “Songs they never play on the Radio” (another borrowed title-the name of a Nico biography) a fitting Beatlesque finale of a Doherty song from the early days of Babyshambles. While fans might slot this as the fourth of four albums in quality (which it likely is), I can see why Libertines fans are happy. I am more than happy with it.