Razorlight - Up All Night

Genre rock Publisher Mercury Records External Links Official Site Universal Records

On Up All Night, Razorlight proves that they are a band who lives up to their name: sharp and bright. This is an outburst of exciting Brit-rock in the style of The Libertines, only with a lot less of the depressing cocaine-fueled psychotic back story that comes with that band.

The album starts with 3 strong tracks that would set the tone for a great night of civilized debauchery (which, I guess, is why the album is not called At Home By 8 With A Good Grisham Novel). The opening track, "Leave Me Alone," has frontman Johnny Borrell wondering why he's spending his time with a girl, filling the last minute of the song simply screaming the title of the song. The next track, "Rock N Roll Lies," finds Borrell lamenting over a girl whose band will never be heard, while "Vice" shows him being sympathetic for the guys who do anything for love. All of these tracks are great sing-alongs, driven by explosive guitars and Borrell's electric voice. Even when the band just chants out "L-O-V-E" during a chorus of "Vice," it manages not to come off as sounding completely ridiculous.

The rest of Up All Night follows the same formula: songs about drinks and girls over exciting pub rock. Throughout it all, it's Borrell who keeps you hooked to every song. He's managed to write some pretty catchy songs, and delivers them with a voice that sometimes seems too tender for the music and puts across an aggressive yell that has the subtlety of a board across the head. Sometimes he's the sensitive man of your dreams, letting you know that "Sometimes I run/sometimes I fall/but if it's L-O-V-E, I'll see you later." Other times he's playing the sexy beast, begging girls to rip it up on the dance floor.

This is an exciting album which does exactly what Razorlight promise to do. It keeps you up, keeps you lusting after women, and keeps you drinking and dancing. On their debut, Borrell and the other members of Razorlight are willing to stay up until last call. Care to try and keep up with them?