Track Listing

1. Leave Me Alone
2. Rock'n'Roll Lies
3. Vice
4. Up All Night
5. Which Way Is Out
6. Rip It Up
7. Dalston
8. Golden Touch
9. Stumble & Fall
10. Get It And Go
11. In The City
12. Hang By, Hang By
13. To The Sea

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70452 in Music
• Released on: 2004-06-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Up All Night might be Razorlight's debut album, but we've heard their like before: from Oasis's Gallagher brothers, whose wilful arrogance is echoed in frontman Johnny Borrell's proclamations of his own songwriting genius, or The Libertines, who share Razorlight's romantic vision of London as a city of boozy rock & roll dreams. And while those two touchstones are probably a pretty good encapsulation of the Razorlight sound--holler-along choruses, presented with a slightly greasy leather-jacket sense of urchin cool—there's certainly more to Razorlight than such a simple equation can spell. Sure, there's nothing especially original about Borrell's tales of hot clubs and pretty girls, but his delivery is passionate in all the right places: see the startling "In The City", which finds him bursting with enthusiasm, words spewing out of his mouth like a teenage Dylan. The title track is the album's highlight, a graceful number about walking the streets through 'til dawn. But the irrepressible "Rip It Up" proves Razorlight can spit out the odd party number, thieving the guitar sound direct from 70s punk pioneers Television's Marquee Moon and fleshing it out into a rabble-rousing indie-club stomper. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
Debut album from the London based sleaze-rock quartet. Released under two years into their formation the Anglo- -Swedish group rode into fame via the NME launced nu-rock movement along with UK counterparts such as The Libertines and Bloc Party. Comparisons with the New York scene pre and of the band's time are evident with the sounds evoked of The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, The Strokes as well as UK acts such as The Cure. The album includes the single 'Golden Touch'

Customer Reviews

A promising debut from London's loves
Despite the music press hyperbole and self-proclaimed greatness (if I had a penny for every comparison to the Gallaghers...), this album is actually very good, its only short coming being its slight lack of variation. Borrell's lip curling vocal echoes Lou Reed and Tom Verlaine, and the group have clearly been hanging around in their local record store's 'post-punk' section. The album starts blindingly, losing its way a little at the midpoint before being resurrected by shoe-in singles 'Golden Touch' and 'Stumble and Fall' and then the excellent 'To The Sea'. Much has been said about Borrell's 'grown-up' songwriting, but it seems that his lyricism, while at times highly accomplished (although Dylan-esque is perhaps too strong), is frequently lazy and repetitive. His 'falling' imagery, for instance, grates a little as it is not particularly original and is over-used. But these are only very small imperfections that marr this very promising debut. It seems to me that when Borell's songwriting does reach an artistic maturity, should their potential ephemeral 'great white hype' tag not bury them, then Razorlight will be a very important group indeed.

Bloody Good Album!
If you liked the singles Stumble and Fall, Rock and Roll Lies and latterly Golden Touch then you will love this album. It's fresh, frantic and energetic. It rock and rolls along nicely and Johnny's strong and distinctive vocals give the album a real edge. There aren't really any weak tracks on the album - although Golden Touch and Vice are real anthemic highlights, Johnny rightly deserves praise for his songwriting abilities.

Nothing amazingly original, but this is a solid album with great songs - what more could you ask for?!

The boy with the Golden Touch
Johnny Borrell's reputation precedes him. Having famously proclaimed himself to be the greatest songwriter of his generation, you could easily be forgiven for dismissing him as just another conceited and deluded young hopeful. That is until you realise that he has the material to support such a claim - with this first offering from Razorlight threatening to be the most significant debut since The Stone Roses fifteen years ago. Flanked by two Swedes, Björn Ågren's jagged guitar and the pounding bass of Carl Dalemo augment Johnny's songs, who, with a voice that belies his tender years, makes sharp observations of London life – telling seedy tales of love and rock'n'roll from the bars and backstreets of the city, far removed from the glitz and the glamour. The maturity and intelligence of the writing is startling coming from one so young. The spiky early singles "Rock n Roll Lies" and "Rip It Up" showcase the band’s energy and vigour, whilst the edgy and menacing "Up All Night" is a worthy and fitting title track. The standout tracks on the album are the majestic single "Golden Touch", sure to fill the airwaves this summer, and the thrillingly anthemic "Vice", which sounds like The Clash covering Costello. Other highlights include the frantic "Stumble & Fall", and Johnny's impassioned Dylan-esque torrent of words on the live favourite "In The City". An album with no weaknesses, and the sort of record that you like the first time around, love after the second listen, and can't stop playing from thereon in. Razorlight can seemingly do no wrong at the moment, and thankfully you get the impression there is a lot more to come from one Johnny Borrell...