Down In Albion
by Babyshambles
User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 107 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 75 out of 107
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 107
  3. Negative: 18 out of 107

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  1. PeterD
    Nov 17, 2005
    8
    The good outweighs the bad, by far. Still, this could have been a masterpiece.
  2. markh
    Nov 20, 2005
    9
    Genius. Very, VERY good. Some moments of poor production but all in all a very good record...and I hated the Libertines!
  3. RobbieD
    Dec 6, 2005
    9
    It is a very good album. It could easily be the libertines third album. Some songs are just too much to listen too (Pentonville) but the songs that worth listening to overpower the terrible and make you want to hear them all over. i dont know why they didnt put some songs on the album like the song "babyshambles" that is a good one!
  4. JamesF
    Jan 12, 2006
    10
    First couple of listens and this album sounds alright, enough to pick out a couple of highlights in arebours and back from the dead. Listen to it a few more times and suddenly every song becomes a highlight. Listen to it constantly for 3 weeks including while you sleep and it begins to dawn on you that this could just well be the best album you've ever heard. Genius.
  5. giulia
    Jan 20, 2006
    8
    yeah, it gets better. and its of course not perfect, and it could have been even better, but there are some very good songs on it
  6. GZoST
    Jan 20, 2006
    9
    I honestly don't know what all the complaints about production are about. Sure, it's kind of low-fi, and he could have worked on some songs a bit more. But at the same time, it all makes perfect sense as it is - the brilliance of the songwriting outshines everything. Leagues better than, say, the new Strokes - which gets better reviews for some reason.
  7. GaryS
    Jan 3, 2006
    10
    Nearly as good as the Libertines. To be remembered in the decades to come!
  8. karlh
    Jan 7, 2006
    8
    This is a very strong album but an album littered with mistakes and bound to turn away the non Doherty fans and leave them to brand this album a failure. I am a huge fan of the Doherty sound but even I have to admit that the band
  9. echobox
    Jan 7, 2006
    9
    too many records are just too perfect. this record is a mess in the best possible way. a sloppy masterpiece? time will tell, but for today it's just great fun! the british (pre-reprise) replacements
  10. TeenageSodomy
    Mar 20, 2006
    7
    Oh Pete, why take the piss like this? I'm a fan and loved "Up the Bracket" and really wanted to like this one. It's starts out confusing, the 1st song goes on a bit too long and even when you're used to it, its not that good, barely a hook at all. Then comes the brilliance. "Fuck Forever", "Au Rebours" are fantastic, so is "Pipe Down". "Killamgiro" is great as well, though Oh Pete, why take the piss like this? I'm a fan and loved "Up the Bracket" and really wanted to like this one. It's starts out confusing, the 1st song goes on a bit too long and even when you're used to it, its not that good, barely a hook at all. Then comes the brilliance. "Fuck Forever", "Au Rebours" are fantastic, so is "Pipe Down". "Killamgiro" is great as well, though the single is infinitely catchier and I wished they went more in that direction than what's on offer here. Some of these tunes could have been pop song classic, but the loose, open production and the sloppiness really robs the songs of their worth. Oh Pete, we know you're a user and maybe a waster, you didn't have to prove it to us. I mean, who really wants to listen to junkie-style music. The songs are there, just play them like you were sober or with energy. Some tunes are pure rubbish, "Pentonville" being the obvious one (it's horrid, seriously a one take bad Jah rasta toasting with Pete barely audible in the back singing to acoustic guitar...i mean, people paid for this CD, you could have really given a shit). There are some others near the end which make the skin crawl, really sad, this record wasn't ready, obviously rushed or Pete just didnt care enough to work on them anymore. The great thing about the Libertines as many have said was the dualism between Pete and Carl. It worked, and the crap got canned (though the Libertines could have been better). WIth Babyshambles, Pete's the dictator and he's not good doing it alone. No wonder the guitarist left, must have been hell being in that bad. With it now being down to a trio and Pete back on guitar (which is a good thing) i dont really much of a point calling it a band, more like Pete solo. Though the group is over, this record was the nail in the coffin.… Expand
  11. SammyH
    Mar 29, 2006
    9
    So the production was sloppy at best, and there were songs that never should have seen the light of day - but nobody can deny that there are great moments on this album. The opener is beautiful, if a little long. Fuck Forever, Killamangiro, Loyalty Song, Pipedown, are all fantastic songs. 32nd of December is also a worthy effort. I think this album just needs to be re-recorded with our So the production was sloppy at best, and there were songs that never should have seen the light of day - but nobody can deny that there are great moments on this album. The opener is beautiful, if a little long. Fuck Forever, Killamangiro, Loyalty Song, Pipedown, are all fantastic songs. 32nd of December is also a worthy effort. I think this album just needs to be re-recorded with our dear Petey D a touch less wasted.… Expand
  12. KM
    Apr 10, 2006
    8
    It is a perfect reflection of the man: confusion, a lack of focus and structure, some of what is here has no place, and yet there is an undeniable brilliance underlying the album. Pipedown fires me up like nothing I've heard since Debaser (Pixies), and that is a huge compliment.
  13. kateg
    Jun 5, 2006
    10
    the best album ever. Pete, you're amazing!
  14. JoeD
    Jul 6, 2006
    10
    One of the best albums of the year for sure. but its not for those panic at the disco-loving ladies. Its for people who know good music.
  15. ChrisS
    Feb 7, 2009
    9
    This album is so much better than Shotter's Nation. And yet, it achieves fourteen points fewer than the follow-up album, whose only saving grace is the lost art of murder. Yes, during the first few listens, it sounds awful. But, as with all great albums, you can't just listen once through and make a judgement. It seems, though, that the critics' expectations of this album This album is so much better than Shotter's Nation. And yet, it achieves fourteen points fewer than the follow-up album, whose only saving grace is the lost art of murder. Yes, during the first few listens, it sounds awful. But, as with all great albums, you can't just listen once through and make a judgement. It seems, though, that the critics' expectations of this album were so low that they heard it once and wrote quick, rushed, and, to be honest, entirely unhelpful reviews; it makes you wonder why people are payed so much to write such rubbish. After the first few listens, the negative sides of the raw sound disappear, leaving only the lyrical brilliance and the pure music - the latter is not brilliant, and definitely not genius, but very good. It's very hard to find any other relatively mainstream (and yes, Babyshambles are mainstream, by the proper definition) albums of the past decade that are on this level, and, in a few years, when popular opinion, and therefore critical opinion, is no longer so much against Doherty, then this album will receive the recognition it deserves.… Expand
  16. trevor
    Nov 22, 2005
    8
    Love the album!
  17. nevermind
    Nov 23, 2005
    10
    amazing
  18. ChristophZ
    Nov 20, 2005
    9
    One of this years best!
  19. mikeo
    Dec 14, 2005
    10
    i thought the album was brilliant well worth waiting for, i think it is a masterpiece
  20. LauraC
    Dec 1, 2005
    10
    A fantastic debut album from Babyshambles. Although weak in some places it has potencial. Pete Doherty is an amazing peot with a unique and inspiring voice
  21. StephenO
    Dec 24, 2005
    10
    The album Down in Albion is one of the best lyrically of its time, although maybe messy and very unpredictable at times it gives of a 'glint of perspiration' doherty's messyness and pure love for rock and roll shines through the highlight has to be albion whilst the worst point is pentonville allround except the song cant stand me now its doherty's finest moment.
  22. SusanB
    Dec 3, 2005
    9
    A wonderful effort, far better than what I expected to hear. La Belle Et La Bete is beautiful, and Pete's lyrics are insightful, touching and witty
  23. David
    Dec 5, 2005
    8
    Pete keeps em comin. The musicians aren't quite The Libs but Pete's tune are still cool. I think some of the sloppiness and studio sounds all add to this albums charm.
  24. ArnarThorI
    Jan 1, 2006
    9
    Brilliant album, another masterpiece created by the fuckin master of the universe, Pete Doherty greeetings from iceland :D
  25. carlb
    Jan 16, 2006
    9
    basicly its an amazing album from bilo, hes put together some catchy stuff. i heard the demo which was even better, like the origial sticks and stones is much better than the album version, but give it a few listens and youll love it.
  26. michaele
    Jan 19, 2006
    10
    brilliant
  27. Constant
    Jan 30, 2006
    8
    Sure, this won't fit into FM standards, this is self-indulgent, this is sheer laziness, but then, how come any of those arguments be of any relevance? I just can't understand why "the record is a mess" would be a bad thing. Doherty's life is a mess, these are boys living in chaos, what do you expect? Coherent stuff to please the crowds? Just picture yourself reading the Sure, this won't fit into FM standards, this is self-indulgent, this is sheer laziness, but then, how come any of those arguments be of any relevance? I just can't understand why "the record is a mess" would be a bad thing. Doherty's life is a mess, these are boys living in chaos, what do you expect? Coherent stuff to please the crowds? Just picture yourself reading the book columns, like "Kurt Cobain's diary is too sloppy and not as pacy as the last Harry Potter" What does that mean, come on? (note I haven't looked into Cobain's stuff, it may be shite, I don't say) To be honest, I stepped into the record store without any idea of what I would buy, I gave an ear to this CD, and it felt so honest, so moving, that I bought it straight away. Of course I knew that all the tracks would not turn out musically as good as Fuck Forever, so what? The lyrics include real moments of heartbreaking poetry, sometimes reminiscent of Rimbaud's as the character of the doomed poet emerges, without the cliché edge that could have been. This is a quite disturbing, uneasy record on the whole, because it plays with the overwhelming idea of death in its very core. And people too uptight to listen to raw, unpolished guitar sounds should consider themselves lucky that Mick Jones saved the day with his uplifting production.… Expand
  28. TM
    Jan 3, 2006
    7
    Basically sounds like an album of Libertines offcuts(but that's still pretty good).
  29. MichaelM
    Jan 5, 2006
    10
    The Best album i ever Heard in my life!!!!!!!
  30. ElvarF
    Jan 8, 2006
    10
    Of course you give li'l Pete and his babyshambles the ten, waht else can you do. Yeah It's messy, sometimes so messy that you start to wonde rid some of these tunes were writen on the spot (dig the end of la belle et las bete) bur stills it grips you and pulls you down with it. Still they could have dithced Pentoville, but hey no ones perfect. Great fucking album!
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Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Most Discussed Album of 2006

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
56

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 22
  3. Negative: 2 out of 22
  1. E! Online
    50
    A frustratingly half-assed album, full of great ideas executed in the poorest way possible.
    Read full review
  2. Prefix Magazine
    40
    Mostly, this record is yet another reason to wish that people with real talent would stop throwing it away.
    Read full review
  3. Filter
    36
    This is a brutal disappointment. [#19, p.97]
See all critic reviews »