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Babyshambles
Down in Albion
(Rough Trade/EMI)
Say what you will about Pete Doherty, he's gotta be doing something right. Sure, the bedheaded, pasty-faced frontman of the aptly named Babyshambles seems to be nothing but a drug-addled, arrest-prone clown who's destined to end up a rock casualty.
In the meantime, though, he seems to have no problem bedding supermodels, getting out of jail faster than a politician's son -- oh, and making some compelling music.
Down in Albion, Doherty's first album since being unceremoniously dumped from The Libertines, is a warts-and-all self-portrait of the artist as a young screwup.
The beats are ramshackle and stumbling, many of the songs sound unfinished or at least underwritten, and Doherty spends much of his time lazily mumbling his lyrics between nodding off.
Yet beneath all that muck there are undeniable moments of talent and brilliance -- from the ominous rumble of La Belle et La Bete (with vocals by Kate Moss) to the laissez-faire romance of In Love With a Feeling to the Motown pop bounce of Back From the Dead to the slashing rock of Pipedown and 8 Dead Boys. If Doherty ever gets his act together and makes an entire album this good, he could take over the world.
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As it stands, he's somewhere between a lost boy, a cautionary tale and the luckiest SOB around.
Next time we're flying, we want him in the seat next to us.
Track Listing:
1. La belle et la bete
2. Fuck forever
3. A'rebours
4. The 32nd of December
5. Pipedown
6. Sticks and stones
7. Killamangiro
8. 8 dead boys
9. In love with a feeling
10. Pentonville
11. What Katy did next
12. Albion
13. Back from the dead
14. Loyalty song
15. Up the morning
16. Merry go round