The only songs off the self-titled album that were good enough to be on UTB were What became of the Likely Lads and Can't Stand Me Now in my opinion. It wasn't that the music was completely wretched, it's just everyone could see this was nowhere near their best and a lot of songs sounded like unfinished demos or rambling pieces that were simply just ****e. There was a complete lack of ambition, compounded by the fact that a lot of it was written seperately while Pete was in rehab, jail or having a tiff with Carl.

Am I the only person who hears a fair bit of Joe Strummer in Pete Doherty's vocals?

Yes.

Actually, I don't know, but I've never heard Joe. Pete seems too sloppy... to sound like Joe. And I know Joe wasn't the easiest guy to understand when singing, I just wouldn't compare Pete Doherty to Joe Strummer.

^I wouldnt compare either, but they are both amazing!

I've been feeling nostalgic and have been giving there second album another go, and I still like it better than their debut. There's just something about that their debut doesn't have. It feels so loose, like it's on the fringe of collapse that makes it a more interesting and rewarding listen, for me anyway. It's the sound of a band in the throws of death.

i LOVE the libertines and i just love everything about them (except for pete doherty's drug problems) but seriously, everyone who loves the libertines or babyshambles just wants to see him get better, there are so many people rooting for him. i hear they are set to reunite in 2010, and i just want pete to survive till then. their music was so fun and raw, its got some punk aspect mixed with the best mix of indie and garage rock. there is no band that i root for more than the libertines. they did great with just 2 albums, so they deserve to do more. the things that carl and pete did together are reminiscent of other great music duos (not quite our generation's john and paul quite yet) but thats why they need to reunite- to have a chance to be great and we will never know they cannot just become a what-if? they cant be like the fourth nirvana album, the beatles in the 70s +,etc

The Libertines will always have a special place with me as they're the band that introduced me to music beyond the charts, I only got into them about 3 or 4 years after they split so I didn't catch the hysteria at the time. For me, Up The Bracket is one of the best albums of the 21st century, yes it's rough as hell but even as I listen to some of the other so called masterpieces of this century, as great as albums like Elephant and Is This It? are Up The Bracket is still up there with the best of them, it's just so loose, raw and poetic and there are about 7 killer songs, their second album was not quite as good as the 1st but considering the circumstances it was probably as good as it could have been and is still a very interesting, sometimes uncomfortable listen. Time For Heroes is just about my favourite song of all time.

Carl said to NME that if he records something with Pete, it'll be in 2011, because he is "busy".

Are you serious? The thing that puts me off the second album is that it sounds too cohesive, and you can feel the sheen of good production all over it. Up The Bracket was raw and what you'd want from a band post-Strokes.

And in response to The Libertines reformation, I think that when it does happen it'll probably be the final bucket over water thrown over what is now a simpering fire. Pete Doherty is now pretty much a caricature of Pete Doherty (even though his solo effort was actually pretty good) and the less said about the Dirty Pretty Things recent output the better. In my opinion, they're both irrelevant now. Pete's best off throwing out lo-ki albums every now and again whilst Carl should carry on with his films, or whatever he's doing. I've never been a massive fan of Carl anyway so whatever he does I couldn't give a sh*t.

Yes, so I know this is an ancient thread that I was directed to after creating a new thread about the band, not knowing this one existed. Sorry if this treads old ground, but I'm a big fan and thought I'd try to get discussion going on this band again.

Anyone else thrilled about the reunion? Catch them at Leeds this year? Favorite songs? Heard the Get Him To The Greek soundtrack featuring Carl Barat? My favorite songs:
Up The Bracket
Time For Heroes
Vertigo
I Get Along
Horrorshow

Definitely stoked about them getting back together and hoping they record again at some point. The GHTTG soundtrack surprisingly rocked, and I'm sure a lot of that had to do with Carl's involvement.