The Libertines - Up the Bracket (Remastered) (2002/2022) [Official Digital Download]

The Libertines' debut album, Up the Bracket, turns 20 in October, and to celebrate, Rough Trade Records is reissuing the album in a variety of formats, including remastered vinyl editions and a deluxe box set with 65 bonus tracks.

In addition to the remastered version of the original album, the Up the Bracket box set includes demos, studio outtakes, radio sessions, b-sides and live recordings – including their entire April 10, 2002 performance at London's 100 Club – a DVD of their videos and television appearances, and cassette of their earliest demos. There's also a 60 page booklet featuring new interviews with the band, a foreword by Matt Wilkinson, rare archival photos, and memorabilia.

Led by Pete Doherty and Carl Barat, The Libertines were a genuine sensation in the UK. They projected an image that was as much a gang as as a band, four inseparable mates against the world, with a shambolic style that always seemed (and actually was) on the verge of falling apart, which was part of the appeal. (Doherty's problems with substance abuse were as written about as their music, if not more.) Produced by The Clash's Mick Jones, Up the Bracket managed to catch lightning in a bottle with such classics as "Time for Heroes," "I Get Along," "Boys in the Band," and the title track.

As The Strokes and White Stripes were importing stateside garage-rock grit to the UK in 2002, Up the Bracket channeled raucous British raconteurs like The Kinks and The Jam to mobilize a new generation of mouthy wasters. From the tetchy title track to the tipsy “Boys in the Band,” The Libertines are the pub-stool prophets who want to confront you one moment and put you in a loving headlock the next—all while charming you into buying their next drink.

Tracklist
1. Vertigo (02:38)
2. Death On the Stairs (03:24)
3. Horrorshow (02:34)
4. Time for Heroes (02:40)
5. Boys In the Band (03:42)
6. Radio America (03:44)
7. Up the Bracket (02:38)
8. Tell the King (03:24)
9. The Boy Looked at Johnny (02:38)
10. Begging (03:20)
11. The Good Old Days (02:59)
12. I Get Along (02:53)