After Hyde Park in 2014, nothing else truly mattered to the band's fans. When Pete Doherty entertained the crowd with a rendition of ‘Albion’ as security fixed the barriers, Carl Barat emerged to join him. To see them sing Babyshambles’ finest moment restored faith that they were friends once more.
Artwork courtesy of Tony Linkin.
*banner image credit: Ed Cooke
With kinship renewed, ‘Anthems of a Doomed Youth’ emerged a year later. Considering all the struggles, the band were in “bonus” territory with fans. After the tragedy of losing Amy Winehouse, fans could accept an album of some brilliance but largely mediocre songs in return for their existence.
Nine years on, Doherty’s sustained period of sobriety led to a sober writing session with Barat in the Caribbean. ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’ (EMI), their fourth studio album might be the one! Then Louis Theroux showcased a Doherty seemingly as lost now as he has ever been.
It’s the hope that kills you!
Like the opening half of Anthems for a Doomed Youth, The Libertines again toy with their past on former singles ‘Run Run Run’, ‘The Night of the Hunter’, and ‘Shiver’. The first two tap into the glory and odious failure alike. Pete and Carl toy with their addiction (“It’s a lifelong project of a life on the lash. / I forgotten how to care but I’ll remember for cash”) to the sound of Phil Spector and The Ramones. They evoke images of Camden’s bedraggled glory, and as they attempt to escape their inevitable final destination, “gonna live like it’s the end / I love you to death, but I must suggest / You’d better run, run, run boy”). Despite the reference points, the band are firmly in the present for once and reinvigorated them beyond recognition, showing their growth and potential for the future.
‘The Night of the Hunter’, a Pete-penned track that used the Robert Mitchum film of the same name as inspiration, holds an unnerving mirror up to their career. Their ability to use Mitchum’s big bad wolf character as a metaphor for their past catching up with them is an anxiety attack wrapped up in great poetry and a Swan Lake-esque riff. A fog consumes Doherty’s vocal innocence; free from drugs, but not from his own mind. A lost soul forever?
Through even more stark reflection, their collective trauma is laid bare on ‘Shiver’. What was it for? Why did we bother? Identity crises are not to be underestimated for men in their 40s. Many men fall to suicide, failing to find answers to these questions. The bravery, the heart, and the sheer guts for this band to exist, let alone be great again (and they are), becomes sensory overload for anyone who cared for them when they decree:
“Shiver for the Albionay”
The intertwining of their dreams of Arcadia and the Monachy’s recent changes are laced with playful preposterousness on a career-best vocal from Doherty. Hushed and ethereal, he summons images of pained stares into a mirror rueing everything and yet, knowing if it hadn’t happened, those outcomes would have been worse:
“Reasons to stay alive / not to die at 25”.
Closure? Probably Not.
They have masterfully manipulated the world they created in the 00s into the modern day. At other points, they move out of that realm completely to become topical for the first time. ‘Merry Old England’ paints a picture of post-Brexit England, greying from Empire failure and welcoming (or not) immigrants to the sound of Doherty’s solo career and Richard Hawley’s beauty. ‘Be Young’ continues this newfound form, examining global warming with blistering Dave Davies guitars and a playful Specials ‘Blank Expression’ breakdown.
Elsewhere ‘Oh Sh*t’ roars to the surface with Jamie T’s ‘Zombie’, THe Pistols, and The Ramones in its heart. Barat’s vocal, a snarling Scott Walker, oozes charisma on this tale of chancers whilst the sonic explodes boisterously but forever playfully.
Is ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’ the classic that they should have written in their twenties? No, but for the first time in two decades of near misses and regret, they’ve steered the Albion ship in its direction. With sustained sobriety and strong allegiances, the modern-day Burton and Taylor are beginning to define in terms of glory rather than defeat.
It’s the hope that makes you feel alive!