Up All Night is the debut album by English indie rock band Razorlight, released on 28 June 2004. The album was mainly recorded at Sawmills Studio and mixed at Sphere Studios by John Cornfield.
On 4 June 2014, the band, with only lead singer Johnny Borrell remaining from the line-up which recorded the album, played at the Electric Ballroom in Camden to mark Up All Night's 10th anniversary.[1]
Up All Night received positive reviews but music critics were divided by the overall musicianship resembling that of bands both classic and contemporary. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 65 based on 16 reviews.[2]
Tim Jonze of NME gave the album high praise for Johnny Borrell's sharp street poetry and the band's instrumentation for giving Borrell the right amount of strength and control to sing them, saying "For all its flaws, Up All Night bristles with passion, energy and, most importantly, amazing songs."[8] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone praised Borrell for backing up his bravado with tracks that exude tight lyrics and optimism, saying that "Up All Night is a brilliant mod explosion of scruffy pub punk, in the mode of his old friends the Libertines."[11] Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian said the album's various influence-filled tracks get by on Borrell being able to deliver them with gusto and conviction, concluding that "Originality may not be Razorlight's strong point, but Borrell's raw charisma carries the day."[7] Richard Banks of BBC praised the band's commitment to delivering upbeat three-chord punk tracks while still being to able to make it wholly original, concluding that "With a debut this good, Razorlight are a band that deserve to do very, very well."[4]
Mark Edwards of Stylus Magazine was mixed about the record, saying the band utilise the basic rock 'n' roll formula to craft catchy tracks but then sputter out in terms of inspiration to create nondescript material. He concluded with, "This is a good debut album—no more, no less. The second album could very well be as good as they think this one is. But they're going to have to wait a while before they get what they so desire."[12] Alex Reicherter of PopMatters felt that a majority of the album's tracks utilising the hedonistic party tale formula work and any diversions from it fall flat, saying "though they lack the rapid-fire consistency of their predecessors, they've put together a likable, if completely unoriginal rock record that's sure to get even the dullest of parties onto the police blotter."[10] Nick Sylvester of Pitchfork found the album's instrumentation and lyrics derivative of The Strokes and Television, and criticised Borrell's vocal delivery for impersonating said bands' frontmen with no passion, concluding that "Razorlight refuse to meet their influences with anything more than half hugs and limp handshakes, butchering the bits they brazenly borrow, and taking rock 'n' roll apathy to formerly unbelievable lengths."[9]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Johnny Borrell, unless otherwise noted; all music is composed by Razorlight
