Audio By Carbonatix
Pete Doherty can skim a police blotter and place tiny red check marks next to all possible offenses. What crime hasn’t our gack-obsessed, Coleridge-invoking roue committed? Time for Heroes: The Best of the Libertines is a crime of sorts too. With the scabs from a recent partial Libertines reunion still forming, and another concert being rumored, the compilation comes across as an unsavory cash-grab.
If you can ignore that sin (as well as the three tracks from the band’s self-titled second album), you’re left to clutch a rather standout compilation. The Libertines, for all their fleeting glory, were indeed deft at crafting brilliant three-minute guitar-pop ditties, tipping a bowler hat to everything from British Invasion bounce to punk grit to Jam provincialism. Time for Heroes’ victories hark back to Barat and Doherty’s still-best-mates days: top of the indie food chain, playing guerrilla gigs in fire-code-violating clubs, going nipple-to-nipple before one mike for that awesome vocal finale in “Death on the Stairs.” However, “What a Waster” is more proper, an up-front, cautionary tale about squandering your green and your gifts. If Doherty only paid heed to his own words.
When news happens, Miami New Times is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If Miami New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
