Pete Doherty lauded for solo debut

RUBBISH. Every review I've seen say that it's a disappointment. Which is really surprising. There's only so long you can get by on 'promising potential' Pete...

i wait to see if he really is back on form. i mean i think he's got steadily worse, through the second libertines album, through the babyshambles albums... but i reserve judgement until i've heard it. i was a big libertines fan when they first came out, but i lost interest to be honest. Possibly because they got worse, partially because of all the copycat bands that came out at the time, and partially because of the hero worship and tabloid scandal.
Has anyone on here heard THe Libertines' Babyshambles sessions. They're out there on the internet if you look for them. Some really good acoustic songs from a good while back (after and before the first album). Pete's reused a lot of the songs again and again on his subsequent albums over the years.
Check it out if you can.

To be fair to the grubby finger-nailed, trilby-wearer, I saw him live once, having never been a diehard Libertines fan (I prefer 'The Libertines' to 'Up The Bracket' - a crime punishable by death in areas of Hackney) and he was fantastic. The songs weren't even that amazing but he was a lanky, charismatic, slurring wreck and eminently watchable.

Ignore the tabloid accusations of drugging up cats and leading Kate Moss astray (ha!) and he can come across as quite a likeable guy. Look at this answer he gave in an interview for ShortList magazine, published last week:

"What has been your biggest regret?

'I stage dived in Dundee and got a wedgie. That was awful. I ran off the stage and hid in the tour bus crying. The gig was going great, so I thought, “I’ll dive in,” and this big Scotsman just grabbed hold of my pants and said, “Cop a load of this, Doherty!” Those were his exact words. “Cop a load of this.” When they found me on the bus I was crying my eyes out going, “The band’s not working out. I think we should split up.” Nobody believed that was what’s wrong, and eventually I snapped, “All right! I got a wedgie, OK?”'"

i think it's amazing that he can get out of bed let alone record an album - all in all i'm well exited, i love his music....

The Observer critic likes it too, Garry Mulholland writes: "Peter Doherty has finally made the album that all of us who fell in love with the early Libertines felt that he was capable of." He adds that it's a far more focused and considered effort than predicted.

But only being able to afford one album for now, I'm intrigued by Pete's new offering but I'm gonna go for the new Bat For Lashes record instead... sorry Pete!