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Track Listings
| 1. Carry On Up The Morning |
| 2. Delivery |
| 3. You Talk |
| 4. UnBiloTitled |
| 5. Side Of The Road |
| 6. Crumb Begging |
| 7. Unstookie Titled |
| 8. French Dog Blues |
| 9. There She Goes |
| 10. Baddies Boogie |
| 11. Deft Left Hand |
| 12. Lost Art Of Murder |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk
Even Pete Doherty stoops to making records from time to time, and Shotter’s Nation might be the best chance he’ll ever have to convince the wider public that there’s more to him than his role as Britain’s favourite comedy junkie. Finally given a major label budget and a name producer, the eternally erratic Doherty can show that he didn’t peak with the Libertines early singles. Babyshambles’ murky sounding debut Down in Albion was patchy but had its moments, but thankfully the present line-up, bolstered by veteran guitarist Mick Whitnall, sound focussed throughout, producer Stephen Street absolutely nailing a classic if dated Brit rock sound. Doherty’s chaotic existence certainly generates plenty of material and what used to be called side one is cracking. "Carry on up the Morning", the punchy if mawkish hit single "Delivery" and the catchy "UnBiloTitled", a pretty song about seedy lives, are powerful and compelling. "Crumb Begging Baghead" is lyrically pitiful yet insistently memorable and "Unstookie Titled" appears to offer some unexpected self-awareness. The second half of the record is less strong, though veteran acoustic guitarist Bert Jansch appears on the maudlin closer "Lost Art of Murder" and the junkie business of "There She Goes" is amusingly sleazy if musically slight. Doherty is an unusual star, living a life no one could aspire to, and in his defence, he never glamorises it. But if fame is a state where one’s life is beyond one’s control, then it’s no surprise that a junkie should take to it so naturally. Shotter’s Nation almost justifies his status. --Steve Jelbert
Review
Pete and Co take you on a lamenting, lethargically sung journey through Doherty's demons via a music catalogue which rips off/pays tribute - however you want to put it - to the Kinks', 'You Really Got Me' ('Delivery'), The Cure's, 'Love Cats' ('There She Goes') all the way through The Stone Roses ('Crumb Begging Baghead'), punk ('Side Of The Road') Happy Mondays/Smiths/ska and even Brit pop with Blur/Morrissey producer, Stephen Street, at the helm of the good ship Babyshambles.
Pete as confessional storyteller delivers lyrically about what he knows best with Kate, love, crack, losing yourself, murky England, crack, the fame game, tabloids and er ! crack being the obvious calls.
Pete's hooked in 'There She Goes', as he sings: 'When you came through my door/ and from your bag/you pulled out more skag than I'd ever seen/No! how could I let go?' He contemplates cleaning up in 'Lost Art Of Murder': 'Get up off your back/Stop smoking that/If you change your life/Do you think they'll change their minds...'
But drugs aside, the tracks venture in to unexpectedly tightly executed rhythms and guitar melodies, which translate to universal tales of hapless relationships. Take 'Baddie's Boogie', sympathizing with a washed up wife with her drunk of a husband and the even quite beautiful 'Deft Left Hand' with our protaganist crying, 'I will lay down and die if I can't lie by your side'.
A sporadically compelling album with a dirty charm of its own, Babyshambles have upped the stakes since their poorly received 2005, Down In Albion but then that was never going be hard, was it? --Sonja D'Cruze
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Customer Reviews
Another change compared to "Down in Albion" is the number tracks which is considerably less. And in my mind it helps significantly in giving this record a more consistent sound (I enjoyed most of the tracks from "Down in Albion", but still feel they could have took out 4,5 of them off the album and released them on EPs for instance).
At the end, I should also mention the DVD where the band talks about their influences on each song and stories behind them, which is very entertaining and gives new insight to the record. Also live performances of some of the songs.
Overall, I really recommend this album (SPECIALLY with its DVD) to any rock music fan.
This brings us to 'Shotter's Nation', where we find a now clean Pete Doherty. To be honest, the sound isn't anywhere near as chaotic, and Doherty is actually singing, as opposed to slurring, most of his lyrics.
Trouble is, your first natural reaction to any singer's first album as a recovered junkie is to expect annoying acoustic hippie twoddle about coming from the brink, and for this reason, I was a little apprehensive about Babyshambles' new album. I should have had more faith, really.
This is a fantastic album. Half the CD is Clash-style punk; the other half is interesting, toned-down, reflective indie songs. You get the impression that this album has been designed for people to wave lighters and chant along to. That's not a bad thing though.
The single, 'Delivery', is awesome. Elsewhere, 'French Dog Blues', 'Carry on up the morning' and 'Deft Left Hand' wouldn't sound out of place on either of the Libertines' CDs. My personal favourite though is 'Side of the Road', which is every bit as charged as 'Pipedown' or 'A rebours' on the first Babyshambles album.
Don't be put off by the fact that it's produced by Blur's producer, that Doherty's no longer a raging addict and that one of the original band members isn't there.... Read more ›
Now there is Shotter's Nation. A much cleaner, much tighter sounding album. It starts off triumphantly with Carry on up the Morning, a great way to start any album, in fact it's almost as good as Can't Stand Me Now as an opener. Then you have Delivery, the standard, yet catchy single breazes by.
What you have to do with this album to find its true gems is listen to it a few times, however once French Dog Blues, Unbilo/stookie Titled are in your head, they take over from the obvious choices for highlights like the incredibly infectious Death Left Hand and You Talk.
If you can put aside the its of filler on this album and search for the geniune pieces of quality, then Shotters Nation should easily place itself 2nd in the list of best Doherty creations (Up the bracket, obviously being the top dog).
The first album was raucus, a rock and roll journey to the back street dives and crack houses of good old Blighty where as this album takes you for a stroll through a park. A much more mellow feeling. The Lib's albums and the first Babyshamble's album had a sound of their own, but this is an album where you are constantly thinking "Oh, that's the sound of the Cure or the Stone Roses or the....." I had so much hope for the future sound of Babyshambles after playing The Blindind E.P to death but there is not one song that comes close to any of them.
I am not saying that this is a bad album, it is not by any means that. If it was written by anybody else I would think "wow!" but I know what Pete is capable of and I think he is capable of more challenging music then this. Maybe in time I will grow to love it as much as his other work but I doubt it.
This is a skag album, mellow and warm, I prefer his crack albums wild and out of control. Take your pick.
Big thumbs up!
I think like a lot of people, i really enjoyed the Libertines' carefree, catchy tunes - the music that really sparked off British Indie as we know... Read more
THERE IS NOT A POOR SONG ON IT
ALL EXCELLENT REALLY LOVE IT
Like watching a tv show hosted by russel brand, all this album does is remind you how crap most modern music... Read more
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