Babyshambles: Shotter's Nation

Herald rating: * * *
Label: Parlophone
Verdict: Tabloid king but an everyday music making man

We all know about the recreational habits of Babyshambles front man Pete Doherty. Old Pete plays so hard he gets arrested for it and not many blokes can say their ex is one of the hottest birds on the planet. So with all these distractions in the past few years making him King of the British tabloids, what's the follow up to 2005's shambolic debut Down In Albion like?

It's rock'n'roll, but his dangerous lifestyle is still more interesting. There are some good tunes: French Dog Blues sounds remarkably like the Four Tops' I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) until it sulks off into its own entity and the gentle jaunty punk of You Talk, Baddies Boogie and Side of the Road whip the album along.

There are also gutsy tender touches, like the devilishly beautiful UnBilo Titled and the shuffling ditty There She Goes (which sounds like the Cure's Lovecats). These tracks especially are a step up on Down In Albion, an album where Doherty basically didn't give a hoot and it showed. But like his former band, the Libertines, Babyshambles are a group the British love and the rest of the world - mostly anyway - don't really get what all the fuss is about. Shotter's Nation is a good album that verges on average.

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