26×26 – L is for The Libertines

Today’s album is Up The Bracket by The Libertines

Here we have one of the finest albums of the noughties, by one of the finest bands of the noughties.

Produced by The Clash’s Mick Jones, this is a rollercoaster ride of good old-fashioned sleazy punk rock, carrying Doherty’s amazing lyrics – if The Smiths and the Sex Pistols had a love child, this is what it would sound like!

The opening track ‘Vertigo’ is just what an opening track should be, it sets the scene for the rest of the album. We are treated to some truly great songs, the best of the bunch being ‘I Get Along’, ‘Boys In The Band, ‘Up The Bracket’, and the stunning ‘Time For Heroes’ (this is on my ‘favourite songs of all time’ list).

There is not one second of wasted space on this album – all killers and no fillers!

The band’s self-titled follow-up album is of equal quality, and I listened to both albums twice trying to decide which one to write about. I chose Up The Bracket because it has ‘Time For Heroes’, but the second album has ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ – see what I mean? tough choice. That means you need to buy both of them!

The band didn’t really last too long, they  fell apart in a well-documented way, which I won’t bother going into.

They have reformed and are scheduled to play at Reading\Leeds 2010. We’ll see what happens…

Essential listening.

Standout track: Time For Heroes

Other ‘L’s who didn’t quite make it: Lou Reed, The Lemonheads, Love, Led Zeppelin, Lily Allen, Lady Gaga (!)

26×26 – E is for Edwyn Collins

Today’s album is Gorgeous George by Edwyn Collins

Released in 1994, this is the third solo album from the former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins.

The first two solo albums received reasonable critical acclaim, but failed to make an impact commercially.

However, a new record label and a cracking selection of songs helped propel this album to unprecedented success for Collins.

Featuring former Sex Pistol Paul Cook on drums, we are treated to a collection of fine tunes, with acoustic ballads (North of Heaven), psychedelic rock (Campaign For Real Rock – a hilarious dig at ageing rock stars and summer music festivals), and the trademark Orange Juice-style funk (If You Could Love Me).

However, it was the Northern Soul homage ‘A Girl Like You’ that set Collins on the road to international fame and fortune. A massive hit worldwide, including no.1 in several countries, this piece of pure, unadulterated footstomping pop put Collins firmly on the map (and became his pension fund!).

With the new-found freedom  that success brings, a couple of great follow-up albums were produced in his home studio.

A few years later, tragedy struck and Collins suffered a double brain haemorrhage and contracted MRSA. Miraculously he survived to fight another day. A remarkable story. His most recent album Home Again, released after his illness, is also a gem.

Standout track: A Girl Like You

Other ‘E’s who didn’t quite make it: Elbow, Elvis Costello, Elliot Smith

26×26 – C is for The Clash

Today’s album is London Calling by The Clash

Apologies if this seems an obvious choice, I am compiling this list using only artists who are in my iTunes library, and the letter C is not too well represented in there!

So, London Calling. We’ve all seen these ’100 Greatest Albums’ shows on TV, and this album is always in the top ten. I can’t really add much to what’s already been said a thousand times, but I’ll have my say…

Released at the tail end of 1979, this double album took the band into a new place (musically speaking). It’s iconic cover (photographed by Pennie Smith), a homage to Elvis’ debut album, has graced a million bedroom walls. Simply one of the most iconic images in the history of rock.
Having blazed a trail as one of the pioneers of punk (along with the likes of the Sex Pistols), with this album they took a new path and incorporated elements of ska, pop, soul, jazz, rockabilly and reggae, to stunning effect. From the opening staccato guitar chords of the title track, the intention is clear – it’s no-bullshit, in your face rock and roll. The excursions into broader areas of musical influences are done to great effect (Guns Of Brixton, Rudie Can’t Fail).
At the time of release we had left punk behind, and ‘the 80s’ hadn’t been invented. There was however a very strong british music scene – 2-Tone, Stiff Records to name just two, and this album sat perfectly in the scene. Racial barriers were coming down in music, Rude Boys, Rockers and Rastas were buying the same records. Good times (well, musically anyway – politically not such good times).

Quite simply, one of the greatest albums of all-time, it will be remembered forever.

Standout track: Train In Vain – there’s a lot of contenders, but this one presses my buttons!

Other ‘C’s who didn’t quite make it: CSS, Crowded House