Babyshambles: Down in Albion

Herald rating: **

Say this for Babyshambles' debut - at least it's not pretending it's something it's not. If you were to imagine what an album by a band led by one Pete Doherty - supermodel-courting English tabloid-famous English jailbird junkie rocker - might sound like, then Down in Albion sure ticks some boxes fast.

Yes it's addled, erratic, self-absorbed. It's got Kate Moss all areas too - picture in the liner notes, on guest backing vocals, in the title of What Katy Did Next.

Ditto to the above if you assumed having Mick Jones as a producer would make a record sound like the Clash. There are parts of this that sound like the fifth forgotten, unfinished and unloved side of London's Calling.

But even those assumptions aren't enough to prepare you for the long uncomfortable ride that Down in Albion delivers.

It's no triumph in face of Doherty's much-publicised dependencies. More the sound of them and the attendant self-pity getting the better of the songs, the singing, and just about everything else. It's equally infuriating and fascinating. At some points it sounds like it's nodded off. At others it's cringe-inducing as Doherty starts with a promising tune and lyric only for it to wobble out the door. Still, it's not afraid to confront the reason most of us are remotely interested in Doherty at all.

On opening track La Belle et La Bete (The Beauty and the Beast) Doherty sings about having "spent all her hard-earned money getting high" before Moss delivers her breathy tones over the song's spindly rockabilly.

The echoes of the Clash resound, especially on A'rebours, the very Train in Vain-ish The 32nd of December, and the cod reggae of Sticks of Stone. There's some Smiths in there too on Back from the Dead. But even with the scratchy rock energy generated by the likes of Pipedown (on which Doherty seems to be handing out anti-drugs advice to a bandmate) and the look-at-me-I-might-die single F*** Forever, this is a listless album teetering on the edge and sometimes falling off. It certainly does that on Pentonville, a grim ode to Doherty's prison time largely toasted by former cellmate "General Santana".

Likewise, Up the Morning sounds like it's being made up on the spot. And by the sixteenth and final track, Merry Go Round, it sounds like Pete needs a bit of a lie down and this patch of the studio floor will do quite nicely.

Yes, it's strangely engrossing first time through. But it's the sound of a rock'n'roll lifestyle getting the better of the music. Ironically enough, it's anything but addictive.

Label: Rough Trade/Shock