Up the Bracket

The Libertines | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rough Trade Us
• ASIN: B000XFZSXG
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,098 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Vertigo

2. Death on the Stairs

3. Horrorshow

4. Time for Heroes

5. Boys in the Band

6. Radio America

7. Up the Bracket

8. Tell the King

9. The Boy Looked at Johnny

10. Begging

11. The Good Old Days

12. I Get Along

Editorial Reviews

2007 two disc (CD + PAL/Region 0 DVD) reissue of the UK band's 2002 debut album featuring one bonus track ('What A Waster') plus a bonus DVD containing three videos: 'Up The Bracket', 'Time For Heroes' and 'I Get Along'. Rough Trade. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of potential - 3 1/2 stars, October 21, 2002

By 

alexliamw (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up the Bracket (Audio CD)

I was most excited about this album. The Libertines are my great hopes for this year and following the failures of my previous hopes for the next best thing (Terris, who just weren't commercial enough, and King Adora, whose album simply wasn't good enough) I thought it could be third time lucky. Their single What A Waster/I Get Along is surely the best debut single in a very long time, and the album's title track is equally brilliant, and with both making the Top 30, plus the album being produced by Mick Jones of The Clash, I was hoping for great things.

Well, to begin with, Up The Bracket bears very few surprises. This is a shambling, deliberately rawly-produced punk rock album as indicated by the singles. The songs comically but accurately portray London life (if you are someone like these guys, and let's face it, few people are).

The lumping of The Libertines with The Strokes, Hives et al in the garage-rock movement is, I feel, a little unfair. The Libertines sounds far rawer, edgier and punkier than any of these other bands. While The Strokes may be heavily influenced by punk, it is somewhat mislabelling them to call them a punk band, while for The Libertines it is not. The Libertines are also more exciting than any of these bands, I feel.

But can they carry it out over an album? The worry is that The Libertines' album tracks will not be half as good as their singles. Alarmingly, scanning the tracklist, only one half of their debut single is included: I Get Along. What A Waster not being included is on a par with Bohemian Rhapsody not being included on the US greatest hits of Queen: a travesty, it being The Libertines' best song.

Nevertheless, Up The Bracket is a promising album. Admittedly, its best songs are the singles: I Get Along - the most Strokes-esque song, but still a punkier, better version of them; and the title track, a fantastic, rousing punk number which almost makes up for the absence of What A Waster. The album tracks also are of good quality, however. The riff to Tell The King screams "quality"; Horrorshow is pleasingly fast, messy and catchy; and opener Vertigo, while starting out with a horrible country-meets-punk riff, sound improves into a singalong chorus. Boys In The Band is cheeky and catchy also, while Radio America is the album's oddity, the live-sounding Radio America, sounding all mid-American and folksy.

Many of these tracks sound less good on first play, but after two or three they become favourites which are great to singalong to. While Up The Bracket doesn't quite fulfil the greatness of the singles, it is still a promising album stuffed with quality which heralds a chance for punk to be revived. 3 1/2 stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heard the band in concert..., November 8, 2002

By 

Matty J (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up the Bracket (Audio CD)

Although I do not yet have the CD for these guys, I did just see them in concert, and all I can say is WOW!! They opened for Morrissey, and blew the crowd away. It was like seeing the Ramones for the first time. I hope this is the start of a new musical renaissance, which sees boybands and manufactured music fade, and a livelier music scene happen, with original sounds and high energy lyrics! If you like your music rebellious, in which you can ride along the tide of rebellion with the band rather than having it thrust in your face, this is your scene! Put this music to the test if you are about to hit the highway, the powder in the mountains, or bike through a canyon of double-decker buses! The party has begun-grab your leather jacket and hightops, and jump into the crowd!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Grew On Me..., November 7, 2002

By 

"r_e_m_" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up the Bracket (Audio CD)

I completely agree with alexliamw's excellent review of this album. When I first heard it I thought it was pretty average but the more I listen to it the more I find to like.

It's more rough and ready than the other other slightly mainstream sounding punk/rock bands that alexliamw mentions but that's my kind of thing - In fact it sometimes sounds as if the band only started practicing on their instruments a couple of months before recording the record...

This is a far from earth-shattering album but a very good debut. I'll give it a full 4 stars.