30 August 2004: it was Monday and, as it usually happens in UK, a bunch of new records were released. One of them was "The Libertines", the second (and last, at least for the moment) album of the band.
"It's almost like they've come into themselves, and the living that they've done since last time has all gone into this. You know what I mean? And the subtext of the record is really great as well. It reaches you, it reaches you in the right place. It touches you. It's touching. It's beautiful really."(Mick Jones, producer)
"All songs are written by the Libertines and that's all anyone need know. They are all born out all the Libertines did and what they'll do next" (Carl Barat, Libertines guitar player).
"I love Pete, Carl and John equally and as far as I’m concerned we’re all the sum of our parts.” (Gary Powell, Libertines drummer).
"Such is the overwhelming solipsism of the album, so heavy the weight of autobiography hanging over it, that listening is a curiously mutable experience". (Maddy Costa, The Guardian)
"Pete went into renab three times during the recording of the second album but within that and within the madness he knew what he was doing" (James Endeacott, Rough Trade executive).
"We wouldn't have stuck together and recorded that album if it hadn't been for Mick [Jones]" (Pete Doherty, Libertines guitar player).
"A masterpiece of life-changing rock'n'roll" (Anthony Thornton, Libertines biographer and NME writer)
"Somebody had a number for someone to come down and literally in the middle of the recording like every minute Carl would stop and go, Have you got that number? I could really do with some coke, man! And then Pete came up to the mic and said, Would someone get my fucking guitarist some cocaine?!?" (Roger Sargent, photographer and author of the album cover photo).
"It was a pretty good experience for everybody" (Geoff Travis, Rough Trade boss).
"I don't think I was particularly excessive during that album. Occasionally I'd come in and just sleep" (Pete Doherty).
"The Libertines was a darker, more introspective beast than its predecessor, containing an all-pervading sense of paranoia that even jauntier numbers like Don't Be Shy couldn't alleviate". (Pete Welsh, author of "Kids in the riot" and friend).
"There's always been that sense of collapse with us, although this album was a struggle to do. We knew when we were doing it that there were situations around the actual work that were making things difficult" (Carl Barat).
"Slightly less tuneful than its predecessor, The Libertines makes Doherty's dramas seem less a roadblock than a crucial ingredient; no band in recent history has better captured the vertiginous experience of falling apart and loving it" (Christian Hoard, Rolling Stone)
"I didn't even notice just how close to the bone this album was until we started doing interviews" (Gary Powell).
"It really is a miracle that our new album got finished" (Carl Barat).
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