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Your support makes all the difference.I can’t be the only one who reacts queasily to the appropriation of Wilfred Owen’s sombre title by scallies whose proximity to the “holy glimmers of goodbyes” comes no closer than a dirty needle; but we’ll let that pass.
What’s more problematic for The Libertines is that this, their first album in 11 years, sounds like a heritage-rock album, revisiting the sound and fury of former glories with the mindset of the pension-provident.
“Fame and Fortune” is the best track, its journey round London “looking for the crossroads” spiced with a whimsical pop charm akin to Lionel Bart.
The cast of iconic touchstones this time includes Hancock, Orwell and Cromwell, while the music has the spindly, junkie-skeletal manner of earlier releases. But the way that songs relentlessly mythologise their past is frankly wearisome at this late stage.
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