‘Down In Albion’ was perhaps the messiest album ever to have been given an official release, an album showcasing 16 tracks that sounded only half finished. Two years on and it seems that things have changed drastically for the band; Pete Doherty seems to be cleaning up his act, and Babyshambles have thus released an album that has been perfectly polished in the form of ‘Shotters Nation’. With Stephen Street in charge of the production duties here, the man best known for his work with The Smiths and Blur; it was always clear that this album was going to be a lot more professional sounding than its predecessor. Whilst the previous album was released through Rough Trade Records, this latest effort from the band saw a release on major label Parlophone and I guess the big question is then; Does the music of Pete Doherty live up to the media hype of his personal life with this latest offering?
In some instances, the band does live up to the media hype that surrounds Pete Doherty, however for the most part by all accounts it does not. Although the production of the album here is strong, there is no denying the fact that this album has no real stand out tracks. Whilst last album ‘Down In Albion’ was blessed with the cracking single ‘Killamangiro’, there is no sign of such strength of track here. This is in no small part down to the clean production of the album; the previous charm of the band can be seen in their edginess and the appeal of their unpredictable front man, however all of this now seems to be gone. The clean production of the band, and pleasant mid-tempo rock tracks just don’t seem to suit Babyshambles whatsoever. Although its great that Pete Doherty did not simply crash and burn as so easily could have happened, this is just not the strong second album from the band that I was hoping for.
In truth ‘Shotters Nation’ is a hell of a lot more listenable than ‘Down In Albion’ was, but given the monstrous mess of a release that the last album was; this is no great achievement. Having said this however, I actually prefer ‘Down In Albion’ as at least it was interesting, which is more than can be said about this latest offering. Plodding along and showing extremely little in the way of innovation, ‘Shotters Nation’ provides twelve tracks of neatly produced mediocrity.
There are of course a couple of moments here that do provide a decent amount of entertainment in this release, however sadly are few and far between. Opening track ‘Carry On Up The Morning’ actually introduces the album fairly promisingly and when I first heard it I actually found it to be a pretty decent introduction to the album. Sure it’s not the most exciting track that Pete Doherty has ever written, however it’s a decent track nonetheless and his drawn out vocals come across well here over the backdrop of some fine instrumental work. Sadly then, the band don’t seem to keep this up for long as with next track ‘Delivery’ things seem to go downhill and fast. Opening up with an embarrassingly simple guitar line, the track seems to have no direction whatsoever and soon becomes tiresome. Seemingly trying to sound like The Kinks ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘Delivery’ is a track that falls flat on its face.
After the initial promising opening track of the album, the next real glimpse of interesting music comes in the form of ‘Deft Left Hand’, the albums penultimate track. Eight tracks have thus passed and none have had a lasting impact on me whatsoever, and in fact by the time I’d reached this late stage of the album I’d even forgotten what the promising opening track had sounded like. So, the fact of the matter here is that even the tracks that at first come across as interesting are instantly forgettable and seemingly highly disposable.
For much of the album the lyrics here reflect the front man’s turbulent relationship with supermodel Kate Moss, and his personal drug use/abuse that has made him so popular with the tabloids. Pete Doherty has clearly had a tough time of it in recent years, and lyrics of this sort were extremely predictable, however I still don’t particularly want to hear it. The lyrical statement of “I never said it was clever, I just like getting leathered” during the track ‘You Talk’ for instance is hardly big news to us.
‘Shotters Nation’ was Babyshambles big opportunity to prove themselves as a band and justify their transition from an independent record label to a major, however all Babyshambles manage to prove here is that without a scarily unpredictable front man they are nothing more than a massively over hyped rock band producing music that offers nothing new. The clean production in this release just doesn’t suit the band, and as Pete Doherty and co. plod through this album they fail to ever truly ignite. The raw emotion of old is no longer apparent, and although Doherty proves himself to be a fairly competent musician; this was never his appeal in the first place. ‘Shotters Nation’ is an album that will appeal to very few, an altogether unexpected outcome from a man that looked destined to be heading for an early grave.
Label: Parlophone
Release Date: 1st October 2007
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
