Babyshambles - Shotter's Nation
 

Babyshambles? What’s a babyshamble? Ooooh.. Pete Doherty is a band?! Amazing.
With the 2D image drawn of Pete Doherty etched in to the brains of the public though the British media, he is almost immediately doomed to be brushed under the carpet as nothing but a waster who got lucky. "Down in Albion" seemed like an endless, reckless romp through everything that crossed his troubled mind and did not do Pete any favours in the eyes of the world. With the second Babyshambles album, there was a point to be proved, and “Shotter’s Nation” does that exactly.

“Shotter’s Nation” is concise and coherent, clocking in at 43:14 where its predecessor stumbled in half baked on its way home from abusing some penguins along the way over the 60 minute mark, and where Albion seemed at times like a chore to listen to in its entirety, “Shotter’s Nation” flows past with ease and a charming grace, which has been missing in anything Pete has put his hand to since 'For lovers' reached the top ten in 2005.

The album has an impressive feel to it, from the CDs packaging including an artistic cover to the tone of the music through out. Pete’s voice is back on form, returning to a charming croon that recalls the glory days of the Libertines but still seems to be confident and cheeky enough to hint at impressive things to come from the prince of Albion.

As for the tunes, all the big guns are out, they are solid musically and lyrically. The album kicks off with a scrawling guitar intro to Carry on the morning, nodding cheekily towards "Down in Albion" before setting off at full speed leaving everything Babyshambles have done so far in its dust. The lyrics are clever and relevant to Pete, something missing in a lot of pop music in the charts today. We can read every day about claims against Michael Jackson or about Britney's domestic problems, but when it comes to song writing they shy away from the real problems in their lives they should be tackling in favour of "wanting more" or "Rocking their worlds".

The album moves on towards the kinks inspired "Delivery", which is a catchy and inspired song. "Here comes a delivery" Pete purrs over the track, and this kind of thing is a sure-fire way to make sure he is received well to the heart of a nation suffering without a musical spear head. The same goes for You talk, Unstookie titled and most of the album, It is filled with a graceful swagger that makes the 'shambles irresistible.

The problem with "Down in Albion" was its inconsistency, but here with "Shotter’s Nation", the biggest problem here is that it runs the risk of being too consistent. Despite endless unfinished or badly composed tracks on Albion, it had its moments; And when those moments came, they blew you away. Where Albion had a handful of diamonds in the mud, Shotter's nation is simply track after track of Gold. Pete Doherty, a musical genius or a kitten abusing waster? Well, Both. But he’s on the right track.

8/10

I liked Down in Albion a lot more..its was messy and sloppy, but more like pete and the shambles......this albums really good, but seems to be to clean and produced and not really the kind of thing you would expect form the babyshambles....the first 5 songs are teh best, the rest are average except for the last...
7/10

-1/10.

I really dislike this band.

how do you get a -1??
it wasnt that bad

I was in a pissy mood. They still aren't great enough to warrant a review on them though.

shotters nation is at least better then Down in Albion
Deft Left Hand is a good song i don’t get why its at the end of the album I guess it saves the album from being a wreak. Even if the song is about Kate Mosse. The Whole baby shambles thing with the hype and alright music seems very familiar…….All and all I think its it’s a step forward and I look forward to seeing what Sid Vicious I mean Doherty is up to next

I hope he never makes another album

any jackass who shoots up cats should be put to sleep

thats a really retarted thing to say. He never shot up his cats, that was the goddamn press making up lies that only stupid people belived. he's an amazing artist

The album itself was pretty good, but I wasnt blown away or anything.The first couple tracks are really really good, as is Lost Art Of Murder, which is such a beautiful song and shows what a great writer he is. i like Down In Albion more beacuse it seemed more like a 'babyshambles record' but this one is better, although not nearly as good as anything hed done with the Libertines

I give this album a U for unclassifiable.