Down in Albion

Down in Albion
Studio album by Babyshambles
Released	November 14, 2005 (2005-11-14)
Recorded	2005
Genre	Indie Rock Garage Punk Garage Rock
Length	63:49
Label	Rough Trade
Producer	Mick Jones
Babyshambles chronology
Down in Albion (2005) The Blinding EP (2006)
Pete Doherty chronology
The Libertines (2004) Down In Albion (2005) The Blinding EP (2006)

Down in Albion is the debut album by Babyshambles, Pete Doherty's post-Libertines band.

Down in Albion was released on November 14, 2005 on Rough Trade Records, although it was leaked on to the Internet on October 19, 2005. Produced by Mick Jones, Down in Albion contains a rerecorded version of their second single "Killamangiro" as well as a reggae track, "Pentonville". The inclusion of "Albion" is controversial among fans, due to the song's history as a fan favorite from the days of The Libertines. Down in Albion,^[1] telling the tale of a beauty and a beast.

The first track, "La Belle et la Bête" (French for "Beauty and the Beast"), features the vocals of Doherty's then-girlfriend Kate Moss, and "Pentonville" was written by Doherty and The General, a friend he met whilst an inmate in Pentonville Prison.^[2] The album was seen as a move away from The Libertines' style of music.^[3]

The artwork for the album was created by Doherty.^[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	56[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[6]
BBC Collective	[7]
Jam!	[8]
The Guardian	[9]
The Observer	[10]
PopMatters	8/10[11]
Pitchfork Media	7.7/10[12]
Rolling Stone	favorable[13]
Stylus Magazine	B-[14]
Yahoo! Music	[15]

The album received mixed reviews on release, with some journalists feeling that it sounded "lazy", suffered from bad production and failed to live up to the standard of Doherty's previous material^[16][17][18] (a few of the tracks on this album made their debut on various sessions recorded by The Libertines).

Track listing

All tracks by Pete Doherty unless otherwise stated.

1. "La Belle et la Bête" (featuring Kate Moss) (Pete Doherty, Chevalley, Peter Wolfe) – 5:05
2. "Fuck Forever" (Doherty, Patrick Walden) – 4:37
3. "À rebours" – 3:23
4. "The 32nd of December" – 3:08
5. "Pipedown" (Doherty, Walden) – 2:35
6. "Sticks and Stones" (Doherty, Wolfe) – 4:51
7. "Killamangiro" – 3:13
8. "8 Dead Boys" – 4:16
9. "In Love with a Feeling" – 2:51
10. "Pentonville" Feat. The General (General Santana) – 3:49
11. "What Katy Did Next" (Doherty, Alan Wass) – 3:07
12. "Albion" – 5:24
13. "Back from the Dead" (Doherty, Wolfe) – 2:52
14. "Loyalty Song" (Doherty, Walden) – 3:32
15. "Up the Morning" – 5:43
16. "Merry Go Round" – 5:22

Personnel

• Peter Doherty – vocals, artwork
• Patrick Walden – guitar
• Adam Ficek – drums
• Drew McConnell – bass guitar
• Kate Moss – vocals on track 1
• General Santana – vocals on track 10
• Barriemore Barlow – gong on track 6
• Mick Jones – producer
• Bill Price – mixing, recorded by
• Adam Fuest – recorded by
• Iain Gore – recorded by
• Daniel Parry – assistant engineer
• George Williams – assistant engineer
• Matt Paul – assistant engineer
• Jeff Teader – layout
• Hedi Slimane – photos

Singles

• Killamangiro (11 November), (2004), (Rough Trade) UK #8
• Fuck Forever (15 August), (2005), (Rough Trade) UK #4
• Albion (28 November), (2005), (Rough Trade) UK #8

Chart performance

Chart (2005)	Providers	Peak position
UK Albums Chart[19]	BPI/The Official UK Charts Company	10
European Top 100 Albums	-	32
French Albums Chart[19]	SNEP/IFOP	72
German Albums Chart[19]	Media Control	46
Irish Albums Chart[19]	IRMA	28
Swedish Albums Chart[19]	GLF	46
Italian Albums Chart[20]	FIMI	99
Swiss Albums Chart[19]	Media Control	93
Chart (2006)	Providers	Peak position
Austrian Albums Chart[19]	Media Control	52

See also

• Babyshambles discography

References

1. ^ O'Keefe, Alice (2005-10-16). "Doherty reveals his sensitive side". The Observer. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1593322,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-21. 
2. ^ "Doherty Raps with Cellmate". contactmusic.com. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/doherty%20raps%20with%20cellmate. Retrieved 2007-03-21. 
3. ^ Schild, Matt. "Babyshambles: Down in Albion Aversion.com Review". aversion.com. http://www.aversion.com/bands/reviews.cfm?f_id=2547. Retrieved 2007-03-24. "Dropping the punked-up hysteria of The Libertines for a more laid-back sound" 
4. ^ (2005) Album notes for Down in Albion by Babyshambles [booklet]. Rough Trade Records (RTRADCD290).
5. ^ "Down In Albion - Babyshambles". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/music/down-in-albion. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
6. ^ Phares, Heather. "Down in Albion". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r814446/review. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
7. ^ Turnbull, Stuart (2005-11-11). "BBC - collective - babyshambles 'down in albion'". BBC Collective. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A6796650. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
8. ^ Sterdan, Darryl (2006-05-12). "DOWN IN ALBION - Albion a beautiful mess". Jam!. http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/B/Babyshambles/AlbumReviews/2006/05/11/1575209-sun.html. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
9. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (2005-11-11). "Babyshambles, Down in Albion". The Guardian. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,16373,1639151,00.html. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
10. ^ Savage, Jon (2005-11-20). "Babyshambles, Down in Albio". The Observer. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/10bestcds/story/0,,1644894,00.html. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
11. ^ Kootnikoff, David (2005-11-04). "Babyshambles: Down in Albion". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/b/babyshambles-downinalbion.shtml. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
12. ^ Khong, Rachel (2005-11-10). "Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Babyshambles: Down in Albion". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15906/Babyshambles_Down_in_Albion. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
13. ^ Fricke, David (2006-01-09). "New CDs: Babyshambles, Sia". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2009-01-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20090113154731/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9130459/new_cds_babyshambles_sia. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
14. ^ Iliff, Andrew (2006-05-24). "Babyshambles - Down in Albion". Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/babyshambles/down-in-albion.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
15. ^ Poletti, James (2005-11-22). "Babyshambles - Down In Albion". Yahoo! Music. http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/051122/33/1yq24.html. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
16. ^ Poletti, James (2005-11-22). "Babyshambles - 'Down In Albion'". dotmusic. http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/051122/33/1yq24.html. Retrieved 2007-03-25. "Many of The Libertines' finer qualities are made all too apparent in their absence on "Down In Albion"" 
17. ^ Phares, Heather. "Down in Albion". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r814446. Retrieved 2007-03-25. "Mick Jones' "production" duties seem to consist of just sticking a few microphones into the fray" 
18. ^ Schild, Matt. "Babyshambles: Down in Albion Aversion.com Review". aversion.com. http://www.aversion.com/bands/reviews.cfm?f_id=2547. Retrieved 2007-03-25. "Down in Albion doesn’t eclipse either of The Libertines’ two gems" 
19. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Babyshambles - Down In Albion". acharts.us. http://acharts.us/album/17009. Retrieved 2007-06-10. 
20. ^ "Classifichi Artisti - Archivio" (in Italian). FIMI. http://www.fimi.it/classifiche_result_artisti.php?anno=2005&mese=11&id=142. Retrieved 2007-11-05.