Babyshambles - 'Delivery'
Andy Warhol once said "you don’t read your reviews, you weigh them". So in the spirit of Warholian research we’ve spent a good part of the week weighing a pile of Doherty music reviews on one side of an ancient scale, and on the other side, a pile of Doherty life-reviews, that the tabloids have tirelessly been compiling over the past few years.
When the ‘news’ came in that Doherty has sunk to such depths of depravity that he’s (allegedly) been schooling innocent felines in the art of drug abuse, and the life-review side of the scale crashed through the floorboards into the office below, we were forced to admit defeat and racked our brains as to how we could now measure the worth of the man.
When one visionary member of the ChartBlog team joked that we should actually listen to the new Babyshambles single ,we laughed and laughed and laughed. But as the only other suggestions involved leylines and lunar tides, we decided to give it a whirl.
All of the press attention is vexing for anyone who’s interested in Doherty the artist. And whether or not he’s responsible for the media circus that surrounds him, it’s still frustrating to watch him play their clown. Especially as it grows harder and harder to hold onto the glimpses of artistry that have slipped through the cracks of a music career that’s so far fallen second to his life pursuits.
So it’s with a sigh of relief that 'Delivery' does as it promises. Whereas reviewing the last Babyshambles single made me channel the pain of a frustrated teacher etching out a school report for an underachieving but promising student – woeful attendance record, should pay more attention, MUST TRY HARDER - Delivery is solid proof of Doherty's talent. Listened to back to back, the singles sound at the same time similar and worlds apart.
Whereas 'The Blinding’s lyrics are strictly first-draft, slurred with about as much effort as was required to get a half-decent recording on tape, 'Delivery is what happens when a man begins to care again. Instead of a video of him looking the worse for the wear, we have him walking the streets like a pastor, delivering “songs of delivery from the harshness of miseryâ€.
And most importantly, the video features a cat who is categorically not under the influence. Four stars for a star’s salvation.
Download: Out now
CD Released: September 17th
(Nickie Latham)
Comments
Sorry, I don't care if his music's good. This has gone too far, I will not listen to the music of an animal torturer. He can self-destroy as much as he wants, but please leave innocent animals alone. He's a sicko. Period.
[We don't know he did it, Sev. The tabloids don't always tell the whole truth about things, see. - Fraser]
AMAZING SONG - And I'm not a Babyshambles fan!
The cat in the video is VERY IMPORTANT!!!
I had that Pete(r) Doherty in the back of my cab once.
Took weeks to get the smell out.
Great song. New album will be MEGA.
Yeah I'm throwing all my cd's in the bin because the tabloids said he drugs his cat and tabloids never take one picture and blow it out of proportion.