The Libertines
I Get Along E.P.

THE REVIEW

While waiting for the new album, the Libertines satiate their fans' appetite with this E.P. containing the new single "Don't Look Back Into The Sun".

It is precisely this last one that is the most disappointing, even though, in general, it has the classic sound we were accustomed to with "Up The Bracket". The track, along with the very brief "Mayday" (59 seconds), is produced by Bernard Butler, who evidently just can't shake off the "brit-pop sound" and infuses it everywhere.
This new single leaves nothing for the listener: it is not a powerful track, it is not a punk track, it is just a pop-song marred by a slight rock edge, but above all, Pete Doherty's voice would have contributed more compared to Carl Barat's cleaner and less gritty vocals.

The songs that stand out more on the record are those produced, unsurprisingly, by Mick Jones: "I Get Along" remains the best track where truly rock'n'roll music (as hasn't been heard for some time in the UK) is driven to the maximum by a frenetic text: "You caught me in the middle dazed on the carpet / I was following the lines that move like snakes, thinkin' Somethin' ain't quite right / you got the devil on your side standing on your right c'mon..."
This is not enough to save an E.P. that ends with a song "Skag & Bone Man" which sounds like the recording of a drunken brawl, where the overlapping backing vocals are just too chaotic to bear for more than a minute.

Let's be clear: if you're going to spend something on the Libertines, buy "Up The Bracket" (perhaps the re-edition with 2 more songs: "What a Waster" and "Mocking Bird") which, all things considered, remains a truly excellent record compared to the average of today's new bands.