Review by Dan:

Babyshambles are the second band of the much maligned Pete Doherty, formerly of The Libertines, and debut LP “Down In Albion” opens with “La belle et la bete”, Pete weaving his vocals around a malingering and, at times menacing bass line, possibly self confessing with the lyric ‘…it’s a story of a coked up pansy..’ (depending on whether you read the English tabloids). The roughshod but anthemic “Fuck Forever” is next, the closest they get to a classic, with rocky “Pipedown” and riff laden “8 Dead Boys” almost in that category as well.
Pete has said in interviews that he has ‘a book of song titles, but no songs’, and “The 32nd of December” was one of these titles. It starts promisingly, but goes downhill rapidly, and probably should have remained as a title. It’s at this point that you realise that “Down In Albion tends to meander in and out of quality - at various points, Babyshambles sound tight, enabling Pete’s creative side to shine, for example the Jam/Kinks influenced “A’rebours” and the play on words that is “Killamangiro”. However, there are points where it just seems the boys are playing to humour their fragile frontman, such as “The 32nd of December”, and “Sticks and Stones”.
After a guest appearance by The General, who raps his way through “Pentonville”, the album gets a bit lazy, particularly on “What Katy did next”. Pete just seems to lose interest - maybe 12th track “Albion”, a lighters in the air for diehard fans (if you can get through the intro), should’ve been the end – the last 4 tracks have ‘filler’ scrawled all over them and probably would’ve sounded better had the wayward Doherty been a bit more interested. “Down In Albion” is a bit of a grower, but, given the chance to dispel any preconceived views you may have regarding Babyshambles, it can be shambolically rewarding in places.