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7/01/2008

An open message to Carl Barat

Photo by Ponyrock on Flickr

In my opinion, this is one of the best reviews I’ve read so far of RASN, and it’s quite insteresting to me that it comes from a New York paper, far from London, far from strange mental fabrications, far from the MYTH. And yet, even New Yorkers can’t help it. This stuff is not up with the things Barat has done with his previous band. Harsh? Maybe a bit. But can you avoid TRUTH??? The TRUTH, that seems so dear to Carl in this record. Of course you can’t avoid it, whether you like it or not. And the truth is that this is a not-bad record, with many fillers, many average songs and two gems. Dear Carl, I didn't start listening to your stuff expecting two gems per album. You can do a lot much better than this. You can still tear my heart apart with a song like Truth Begins, just like you did in the… good old days. I don’t believe you have lost it at all. You just need an injection of self esteem. And you need a songwriting partner, who could even be yourself at this point (what happened to Good Carl/Evil Carl anyway?). Your bandmates are nice and funny, they seem to be good people. But, forgive me, THEY ARE NOT AT YOUR LEVEL. You can’t throw away a fantastic song like 9 Lives in favour of something like The North only because you want to please your bass player. I’m not advocating a break up of the band but I think your loyalty is blurring your senses. I’m very sorry, Carl, but you’ve missed the train here. Some reviews have given the record three stars, some two. I can’t go over 2 stars and half. I don’t want to give you further suggestions on what you have to do now, also because I think you know it very well. You’ve still got it, Carlos. Just get it working.
With lots of love, as usual.

1 comment:

Diana said...

I love Romance at Short Notice and apart from the two real gems (for me, Truth Begins and Blood On My Shoes), I think there are also other good songs on it. Having said that, I do think you have a point there. I consider myself a fan of Dirty Pretty Things, but I think that Carl should move forward now and start a solo career. Of course he can be accompanied by other people (like that fine guitarist who played Glasto with him, Kieran Leonard), but he has to start believing in himself and do his own stuff. As you said, he can’t throw away a fantastic song like 9 Lives in favour of something like The North only because he wants to please his bass player. It's time for him start taking control over things.

I really hope that gig at Glasto wasn't a one off. I do believe it's not, Carl is at a great moment.