Shotter's Nation

Editors' Notes Babyshambles’ Pete Doherty has lived the rock star life — drug troubles, model dating — and his penchant for nicking classic rock riffs is as adept as his haircuts for maintaining the rock standard. However, anyone expecting the manic energy of his earlier group, the Libertines, will be shocked to hear such light-hearted convention. “Deliver” may swipe the two chord punch of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” but it does so with a stylish preen towards pop radio. “You Talk” chats up with a deliberate brattiness but it’s all within the framework of an even-keeled, swaying rhythm that never cuts too sharp an edge. For that you have to wait for the snotty conniption fit that fuels the chorus of “Side of the Road.” In a sign of perversity, Doherty does put two of the album’s best cuts at album’s end. “Deft Left Hand” channels the same Kinks-to-Clash powerchords but with a personal mission of vaguely addressing his past, while “Lost Art of Murder” adds British folk guitarist Bert Jansch for an unexpectedly quiet finale.