Now Playing: The Libertines, "I Get Along" EP

Holy shit. I mean holy fucking shit.

[Actually, stop reading right there, and that pretty much says it all. But if you find that description unduly vague, carry on...]

For the handful of us who still believe rock & roll can save the world, here's one of those rare reminders that we're absolutely, undeniably, inarguably right. Now, I'll admit, I totally skipped over the Libertines during their brief and totally fucked up life, a brief, drug & violence-drenched run that made the Pistols seem like the Stones in the longevity department. I wrote them off along with the rest of the "The" crowd that was all the rage for about 5 minutes a few years ago. The Hives, the Strokes, the Doves, the whatevers. A couple cool songs apiece, sure, but there's only so many ways you can recreate the New York Dolls or the Velvets or the Stooges or Bowie... all artists worthy of recreation, sure, but it's not going to change the world. But the Libertines... or at least the early singles & b-sides, yeah, that just might do it. Thanks to my mix-trading friend Rob, I finally took the time I needed to get into these guys... in this case, all of maybe eight seconds. And while the band's 2 (count 'em, 2) full-length albums before they imploded were fine enough, what really blew me away were two early b-sides, both found on this (now out-of-print) EP: "Skag & Bone Man" and "The Delaney." Think the early Jam and the White Stripes mashed up and spit out, pissed off and rollicking drunk. Can't say I understand a word of it, either.

The first day I threw this disc into my car stereo, I listened to each of these songs about a half dozen times. And right now, all I can think about is how pissed off I am that it's night time and I'm sitting at my computer in the quiet rather than back in my car listening to these again.