Search - Dirty Pretty Things :: Romance at Short Not

Carl & Co. come into their own

Jacek Belc | New York, NY | 07/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Romance at Short Notice was a long time coming, and by all reports the sessions were fraught with tension; yet the finished product makes it perfectly clear that the wait and whatever difficulties the band itself ran into were worth it.



Where Waterloo to Anywhere felt more like inertia from the Libertines than anything (an inertia that resulted in an inferior album than either Libs effort, to boot), Romance at Short Notice sees DPT finding a new identity and exploring it to great success. The style of music is still similar, of course - driving beats, witty lyrics, plentiful sing-alongs, and so on - but the songwriting has taken many, many steps up from Carl Barat's floundering attempts to hold himself up without Pete Doherty in Waterloo.



What surely contributed greatly to the variety and freshness of this record is the increased creative involvement of Carl's bandmates, Anthony and Didz. As drummer Gary Powell stated on the band forums, "[they] have contributed so much material to this album [that] their standing within the band cannot be ignored" - in the most extreme cases, two of the songs on the album actually feature lead vocals by these two. Their background vocals are abundant as well (again to great success), and of course, their musicianship itself speaks for itself.



Romance at Short Notice jumps from one style to another yet maintains an unconventional sort of unity throughout - consider, for example, the oddly appropriate segue from gruff, rollicking Hippy's Son to the almost unbearably catchy Plastic Hearts, into the more conventional (but still unique; just listen to the bass-led bridge!) Tired of England. The album's high point undeniably settles at the stunning Truth Begins, a song that (arguably) tops any of Carl's previous efforts even with the Libertines.



In short, this new album from the boys of Dirty Pretty Things resounds with brilliance - these are all, from the first track to the twelfth, masterpieces of British indie. I'm not sure what the status of this album as far as domestic US release is, but do yourself a favor and pick it up if you ever get the chance - and if the boys decide to tour this side of the pond, *definitely* make the effort to see them! With songs like these in their arsenal, the experience could barely be less than sublime."

Long live the Dirty Pretty things

John E. Gill Ochal | Saratoga Springs, NY United States | 09/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an amazing album and shows how much the band has grown since waterloo to anywhere, if you like good music grab it up! I hope they come back to the US, I saw them live in NYC on their short US tour, buy the album and see them live they are fantastic!"