Babyshambles

Somewhere between being arrested, dating and breaking up with Kate Moss, getting engaged to another model, pursuing his own modeling career and releasing a book of drug-addled musings, Pete Doherty recorded a second Babyshambles album. Much of Shotter's Nation sounds like Doherty's personality: erratic, sloppy and wistful, with moments of beauty (or clarity). "Delivery" is a catchy tribute to the Kinks -- complete with "You Really Got Me" hook -- but the real diamond in the rough is "Deft Left Hand," a charming song about one of the man's many loves. It's unclear which.

It's hard to imagine how Babyshambles' Pete Doherty could write a song as great as "Deft
Left Hand" and then hide it at the end of his new album. But then, many things about Pete
Doherty are hard to imagine. On Shotter's Nation, the Brit-punk rogue sounds light-hearted,
strumming through an assortment of Clash-and-Kinks-style hooks. "You went from cheery
vagabondage to cold-blooded luxury in four years," Doherty warbles in "Deft Lef... More >