At the end of yet another hectic troubled year the walking car crash that is Pete Doherty, assisted by his incredibly understanding cohorts, releases an album that reflects the good and bad of his current endeavours. The latter is all too easy to spot and makes early plays of the album painful. The lack of control in Doherty’s life is equally on display here; Mick Jones’ light approach to production gives much of it a demo feel - two tracks take a minute to kick in through chatter, silence or guitar tuning, and during another Doherty laughs over a clearly forgotten line - and the vocals are almost universally lazy and sloppy. Tracks with lovely melodies such as Loyalty Song and 32nd of December, could shine like jewels were it not for the fact that they are being delivered by a half mashed frontman. Then there’s the quality control. We all know how prolific Doherty is, churning out ditties between shots, but there’s no need for 63 minutes worth to be released on this LP. Cut the Crap is a phrase Jones should be all too familiar with. This reaches its nadir with the excruciating reggae of Pentonville, a dire offering that features a former cellmate of Doherty’s on vocals.

Anyway, enough of the criticism, because this is by no stretch of the imagination a dreadful album. Indeed it has some fine moments and is far better than the eponymous last album by the Libertines. There’s some marvellous Marr-esq rhythm in the Smiths-like Back From the Dead and A’rebours; the singles, Kilamangiro, a cracking Clash-like punk effort and Fuck Forever, Morrissey fronting the Stooges (well the riff is the Passenger), both still sound good and are possibly alone here in harking back to the urchin powerpop of early Libs. However the pinnacle, Albion is why some of us still hold some regard for Doherty. A fond ode to both the pretty face and bloated underbelly of his beloved homeland, it harks back to the bitter sweet odes of other talented but flawed performers, Ray Davies and Shane MacGowan. Overall, Down in Albion is a supremely frustrating effort, and whilst perseverance brings some rewards, the A class student who has abused Class A, can’t keep winging his exams.

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