Babyshambles

It has gotten to the point where it’s pretty much impossible to separate Pete Doherty’s musical career from his personal life, yet it has also helped him out to a certain degree by keeping him in the spotlight. While he’s never really lived up to the high expectations set by the Libertines’ first album, he’s always hinted he was capable of another great album and Shotter’s Nation is the closest he’s come in a long time. It lacks the roughest edges that made Down In Albion appealing even when it wasn’t completely compelling musically but the addition of Stephen Street’s production brings an accessibility to the songs that simply wasn’t there before. Couple this with a less harsh approach to the songwriting and some very mellow tunes and it looks like this could be Doherty’s pop album. Some doubted that Pete would be around long enough to make a second Babyshambles album, let alone a cohesive, entertaining one that stands up as one of his best efforts to date.