Craig David (of all artistic luminaries) recently urged the British Press to not demonise Pete Doherty for fear of destroying one of our most prodigious musical talents. I fail to see the logic here. Surely printing every sneeze the man makes in public will increase hype about him, and encourage this aforementioned talent to blossom as the demand for Doherty's voice to be heard increases.
Babyshambles have risen on the back of the singer's acrimonious split from The Libertines and we now see them dragged into the limelight due to the behaviour of the tabloids - and when we eventually get to the music we find that Pete is just a guy who likes Reebok Classics. Albion has a charm through its very English heartbeat, seeming scathing at times as Doherty yells about; "a pale thin girl behind the checkout", but with a gentle acoustic backing that keeps the song almost tender, a rare moment of quality in Doherty's voice arrives through the almost whispered chorus; "Come away".
As nice as it is to hear Mansfield mentioned at last within popular music, it seems unlikely that efforts such as this will quite set the world alight - Doherty is no Ashcroft just yet. Babyshambles may have a lot to give, but it may take a few more front-page stories before we get to that point.
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