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Apr 2, 2024Whilst we aren’t handed the next chapter of The Libertines story on a platter, the beauty and tumult of the band is in the subtext. It’s in John Hassall and Gary Powell joining Barat and Doherty’s mythic duo on vocals for the first time on ‘Man With The Melody’. It’s in the closer, ‘Songs They Never Played On The Radio’, which was born in 2006 and finished for ‘All Quiet…’, one of the most beautiful Libertines songs of all time.
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Apr 4, 2024What they have done, though, is find their voice again, and, for the first time in over 20 years, The Libertines feel like a band with a viable future.
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Apr 4, 2024Variously embracing fado, jazzy whiskey-bar blues and tensile, grandiose strings, ... Eastern Esplanade is easily The Libertines’ most expansive and ambitious record.
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Classic Rock MagazineApr 2, 2024Steadily onwards through a flawless second side worth of classic, never-more-accessible Libertines in excelsis, before Songs They Never Play On The Radio causally encapsulates everything The Libertines were and, thankfully, still very much are. [Apr 2024, p.79]
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Apr 2, 2024Doherty's songwriting rises to the occasion. [Apr 2024, p.88]
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UncutApr 10, 2024Pop-minded producers Dimitri Tikovoi and Dan Grech-Marguerat add a sheen to the Up The Bracket-style clatter, and unexpectedly stately arrangements. [Mar 2024, p.32]
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Apr 8, 2024While the Libertines still haven't fully seized the opportunity to define what they could be as veterans instead of upstarts, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade still sounds more like the product of a working band than Anthems for Doomed Youth did, and offers enough good and great moments to keep fans believing.
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Apr 2, 2024Even the weakest Libs composition is a standard many British songwriters can only aspire to, to this day. If nothing else, it’s heartwarming that the story is still unfolding for the Likely Lads.
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Apr 8, 2024The Libertines may be running low on originality, but they can still produce a strong tune when the muse strikes.
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Apr 5, 2024This fourth may not reach those heights [of the first two albums], but it’s a solid effort from a band who, above all else, just sound grateful to have survived.
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Apr 4, 2024There are still a few forgettable plodders on All Quiet – the likes of Baron’s Claw and Be Young seem to be a bit phoned in. Yet while the fire of 20 years ago is inevitably never going to be reignited, this new version of The Libertines seems to be settling quite nicely into a once unimaginable middle age.
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Apr 4, 2024Overall, the album is a mixed bag, but it’s worth persisting with for its moments of beauty and always fun energy.
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Apr 10, 2024The Libertines, with their second comeback, have chosen the other, “safe” direction, and sacrificed their integrity for it. Doherty sounds tired, abandoning nostalgia for kitschy gestures. Barât has fun, putting on his old jacket and playing rockstar, but he’s not rethinking his role as musician, or portraying growth as a songwriter.
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