 
Babyshambles have just released their third studio
album ‘Sequel To The Prequel’ and
it comes just a couple of weeks before the band
set off for an lengthy tour of the UK and it is
safe to say that the album is the most important
album ever created by the band as it comes after
Pete Doherty has had a long running problem with
drugs and the law who are forever looking out
to arrest him and bassist Drew McConnell had a
terrible bike crash back in 2011 and now after
learning to walk again the fully recovered Drew
McConnell has stepped up to co-writer helping
write the majority of the album including the
ever so personal ‘Picture Me In A Hospital’.
The album opens with the short running ‘Fireman’
the song is fast and fun sounding with a punk
feel and attitude running throughout, think of
The Ramones mixed with The Clash and The Libertines
and you will have a slight understanding of what
to expect from ‘Fireman’ before you
even press the play button.
‘Nothing Comes To Nothing’ is the
first single to be taken from the album and it
is easy to see why as the song is a melodic sounding
and flows so well with Pete Doherty singing “Nothing
ever comes to nothing without my baby” over
and over again whilst the whole band jam together
playing their instruments with ease yet letting
out such exciting sounds.
‘Farmers Daughter’ starts off in a
really sleepy way and progresses in the same way
for a good 1minute and 44seconds but as soon as
the chorus comes in the song unexpectedly comes
to life and goes on to be one of the highlights
from the album as Doherty’s vocals soar,
whilst the dirty guitar riffs feature a big uplifting
kick.
‘Fall From Grace’ see’s Doherty
sing about the tough times he has faced and his
addiction to drugs the song is extremely personal
to him and within a few times of listening to
the track you will find yourself singing “With
my head hanging high and my hands untied, on the
horizon there’s a little piece of land I
aspire, Can we go some place where they know my
face, Gather round now, bare witness to my fall
from grace” along with Doherty as his lays
the lyrics down with a stunning vocal performance.
‘Maybeline’ has the potential to go
on to be a future single release as the song is
a 3minute long pop-rock number that simple has
radio play written all over it as the band bounce
their way through the next 3minutes in an impressive
infectious way.
The album title track ‘Sequel To The Prequel’
is a great listen it sounds like something you
would expect to hear on a Broadway musical show
or maybe even something from back in the 50’s,
either way the song is big and fun sounding and
an example of Babyshambles at their best as the
song is a big bouncy number which is vocally catchy
as hell as you will find yourself singing “the
sequel to the prequel tonight” along with
Doherty in no time at all.
Lyrically ‘Penguins’ is a really poorly
written song with Doherty singing “Saturday
night turned into Sunday morning, just like it’s
supposed to, everybody’s gone it’s
just me and you, we can do what you like, go to
the zoo, we could see monkeys, we could see snakes,
we could see penguins, oh penguins are great”,
the lyrics make you wonder if Doherty with on
a mad drug bender when he wrote the song but musically
the song is great as it starts off in a deep dark
Lou Reed near spoken word style, before going
through various instrumental twists and turns
which fully brings the song to life in an explosive
way.
As mentioned above ‘Picture Me In A Hospital’
was inspired by bassist Drew McConnell’s
bike accident and is such a strong sounding song
with Doherty singing “Picture me in a hospital
where the blood runs cold and the halls are full
of undesirables” whilst the catchy violins,
guitars, bass and drums run ever so well.
‘Sequel To The Prequel’ is an album
which takes a lot more time to get into compared
to previous Babyshambles albums and after the
first couple of listens things will start to stand
out which didn’t on previous listens which
makes the album a truly rewarding album and it
is good to see the rest of the band chip in more
than before to help create a truly happy sounding
album.
4/5
Review by Trigger
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