Babyshambles
Down in Albion (20th Anniversary Edition)
Produced by The Clash’s resident innovator, Mick Jones, and even boasting a vocal cameo from Kate Moss, Down In Albion evokes the sights and smells of its era yet also possesses a forward looking perspective which creates a perpetually relevant body of work that both charts and soothes the human condition.
Accompanying the album’s original 16 tracks, the anniversary edition includes five carefully chosen songs from the band’s archives, with several – despite bootleg fame amongst the band’s fanbase – getting their first official release.
Gang Of Gin and 352 Days were both recorded around the album and were considered as possible b-sides but never officially released, while Why Did You Break My Heart/Piracy did feature on the flip side of the single release of Albion.
Do You Know Me and My Darling Clementine are both taken from the fan favourite session for Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show, which was recorded in October 2004 and helped to lay the creative foundations for Down In Albion.
Initially formed in 2003 when Doherty was temporarily excluded from The Libertines, Babyshambles quickly evolved into an alternative creative outlet for the songwriter, allowing him to explore a different range of themes within a fluid, spontaneous musical landscape.
Forging an expressive, collaborative partnership with bassist Drew McConnell, drummer Adam Ficek and lead guitarist Patrick Walden, as the Babyshambles’ line-up solidified, Down In Albion managed to not only bottle the lightning of a group who always sailed close to the wind – creatively, culturally and personally – but it is also filled with insightful and timeless songwriting that skips between vivid narratives and full throttle emotion.
This edition not only celebrates their visceral mix of personal experience and state of the nation observations, but also pays tribute to Babyshambles’ Walden, who passed away earlier this year. While his characterful playing and melodic innovation is etched deep within Down In Albion's music, the guitarist's portrait, photographed by Hedi Slimane, has also been embedded within the sleeve using a special UV gloss.
From the nihilistic-titled yet deceptively hopeful Fuck Forever, via the squalor and the joy of Pipedown and 8 Dead Boys, the humour of What Katie Did Next, the romanticism of In Love With A Feeling and the melancholic yet heart-swelling 21st century anthem Albion, with a smile and roar Babyshambles debut is a truly immersive and invigorating web of feelings, abandon and creative energy.
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