| Libertine "See You In The Next Life" CD (International Trash/Stolen Records) (Review by Rutledge) Two years later, Libertine�s first LP still holds up pretty damn well. Has it really been THAT long since SEE YOU IN THE NEXT LIFE first hit the streets? Whoa! The late 90�s! They were the best of times. They were the worst of times. Libertine was a fledgling punk/new wave powerhouse, and I was an angry young fanzine gonzo going nowhere in a hurry. But now is NOT the time for self-indulgent reminiscing.... Before this CD landed in my mailbox, it had been ages since I had given NEXT LIFE a listen. But after spinning the re-issued disc a few times, I was pleased to find out that I like the album just as much (if not MORE) in the year 2001 as I did back in �99 (And lord knows I've certainly fallen out of love with A LOT of records over the years!). While RISE ABOVE, Libertine�s first CD EP (released in 1998), now sounds kind of sucky in retrospect, NEXT LIFE has proven to be a rock-solid effort capable of standing that all-important test of time. Its best tracks foreshadow the punked-up glammy new wave goth-pop crunch of the band�s smokin' tunes on Coldfront�s new YOU CAN�T KILL ROCK N� ROLL split CD. In the space of a year, Belvy K. and Jamie Coville had coalesced into one of the hottest songwriting tandems in underground rock---and the band quickly outgrew the primitive �77-punk snarl of its earliest recordings. Excellent production gives NEXT LIFE a Big Rock boom, and Belvy�s distinctive vocal growl mixes well with Coville�s infectious guitar lines. Fab tunes like �Heartbreak�, �Moscow�, �The Sound of the Saints�, and the appealing title track retained the from-the-gut punch and anthemic thunder of the band�s bedrock punk influences (Social Distortion, The Clash) but leaned more in the melodic direction of 80�s POST-punk pop mainstays like Flesh for Lulu, the Psychedelic Furs, and solo Billy Idol. In a day and age of �old school punk� rehash and Swedish biker-rock bombast, the band�s unapologetic love of melody (�Heartbreak�, in particular, delivered a heavy dose of candy-pop sugar) was a refreshing change of pace. A few tracks still seem a little on the generic side, but at least half of NEXT LIFE is as radio-friendly as it is raunchy--securing the album a place in nouveau-classic-punk history along side the strong late 90�s works of Libertine contemporaries the Swingin� Utters, U.S. Bombs, Stiletto Boys, and Dimestore Haloes. And in the wake of what's been going down since the fall of 99 (more "punk" bands jumping on the glam and Brit-pop bandwagons), it's obvious that this was a band ahead of its time. (Among the six bonus tracks are Clash & Cheap Trick covers---AND original versions of �Candy� and �I Don�t Belong� culled from RISE ABOVE) International Trash |