- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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SpinThis is music to play in dark, velvety, womblike bars; this is music to play while buying cigarettes; this is music for well-dressed poor people. [May 2003, p.109]
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BlenderNot since the Clash has a band evoked so precisely the grime and thrill of young London. [#15, p.124]
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The group's innate intelligence and almost shocking ability to forge something new and thrilling out of typical garage-rock influences always shines brightly through the thick Guinness fog.
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Virtually every song on Up the Bracket is chock-full of the bouncy, aggressive guitars, expressive, economic drums, and irresistible hooks that made the Strokes' debut almost too catchy for its own good.
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Like The Clash before them, The Libertines draw primarily from decades of rock tradition-- blues, dub, a healthy whiff of the English countryside, and a few gorgeous rock riffs straight from the brainstem of Chuck Berry-- and fuse them into an unruly and triumphant monster of an album.
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Eventually every song will kick in from a slightly different angle, including faux folk and cracked ballad.
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MojoThis is thrilling, intelligent stuff. [Dec 2002, p.122]
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Up the Bracket is the most overbearing UK rock album to come out since Oasis' Definitely Maybe.
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Emphasizing colorful vocals over the average playing benefits the band enormously.
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More life-affirming than life-changing, on Up the Bracket the Libertines deliver a stellar set of songs that -- both musically and lyrically -- neatly synthesizes the past 40 years of English rock.
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Q MagazineThey're talented then, but also lucky that the strength of the decent songs outweighs the inclusion of the odd rough sketch, a studio jam, and an outright Chas & Dave-style stinker. [Dec 2002, p.103]
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As fun as Up The Bracket can be, it might well be better if the group acknowledged that it's living in the 21st century.
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Alternative PressWhile their occasional reliance on wide-eyed sloppiness isn't endearing, when the band clean up, they have some irresistible pop nuggest in them. [Apr 2003, p.80]
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UncutSeems an innocuous exercise in regurgitation rather than innovation. [Dec 2002, p.131]
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There's definitely something horrid, hairy and horrendously hippyish hobbling these lovely boys.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 80 out of 89
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Mixed: 3 out of 89
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Negative: 6 out of 89
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[Anonymous]Jan 5, 2004
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Oct 7, 2017
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Jan 9, 2015