Really Shit Bands Surprisingly Not Being Entirely Shit
I can’t stand Hard-Fi or Babyshambles. Hard-Fi’s one-dimensional brand of chirpy cockney toss-rock grates on me something rotten and their last album was more or less entirely bereft of decent tunes. In the case of Babyshambles, the Pete Doherty Self-Destruction Roadshow has become so mind-numbingly tedious I can’t participate in conversations that even mention his name anymore without needing to walk away and calm down before I punch the person who brought it up in the first place. And Pete himself is just another artist on a crash course to complete oblivion who has only ever really produced one decent record, and even that was with the considerable help of Carl Barat – a fact put starkly in perspective by the excellence of the Dirty Pretty Things album.
Actually, what I hate most about Babyshambles is not Doherty himself, but his gaggle of fawning acolytes proclaiming him a troubled genius, rather than the mildly skilled fuckwit that he clearly is. The second coming – of what, for fuck’s sake? Jordan? And Hard-Fi are just so desperately mediocre that any acclaim they receive above a barely raised eyebrow and an indifferent shrug of the shoulders is something I find utterly baffling.
And yet and yet and yet…
A couple of recent tracks by both aren’t entirely awful. Ed actually liked the Hard-Fi album and he’s a pretty reliable judge of these things. And apparently the new Babyshambles isn’t actually all that bad. I can’t see myself reversing my position exactly, but its conceivable I might soften it slightly. In the case of Hard-Fi I’m just amazed they’ve written a song that isn’t completely rubbish, but Babyshambles may have finally produced an album worth listening to. Maybe.
Babyshambles – Delivery
Hard-Fi – Watch Me Fall Apart
Buy Babyshambles here and Hard-Fi here if you’re feeling so inclined.
Hmm, I liked the first Hard-Fi album but I find the latest one a bit rubbish, though Mrs 17 Seconds thinks I was too hard on them. as for babyshambles, Pete Doherty is frankly a car-crash (can’t bear to look, can;t bear not to), but he has been responsible for some good songs.
Ed
Hmm…can’t for the life of me understand how anyone can say that the first Hard-Fi album didn’t have any decent tunes! It was a bit patchy, but short on good tunes, it wasn’t. The new album is much more consistent though. Haven’t heard the Babyshambles album yet, but “Delivery” has definitely aroused my interest.
Only one decent record, you say? Ol’ Petey’s been part of two fantastic Libertines records, and that first Babyshambles album – albeit mixed – had a few good catches. Hard-Fi, though…that’s some mediocre crap.
I didn’t find any more than two catchy tunes on the first Hard-Fi album, and I had been really looking forward to it.
As to Pete, the second Libs album was completely disappointing. All the bile and venom had gone from the guitar and with it the spirit. There were a couple of very good songs on that album, but not many if you ask me.
I can’t believe this post! Ok, I can, but really you should be singing pete doherty’s praises – both libertines albums were amazing (the second album was disappointing you say? have you listened to it? it’s the sound of a band falling apart and a friendship being broken, and it’s fantastic) and babyshambles stuff are just as brilliant. hang your head in shame, mr toad!
Really Shit Blogs Surprisingly Not Being Entirely Shit
Regrettably this one is still shit.
Look, there are some decent songs on the second one, and it is certainly quite poignant, but ultimately the music has been deprived, for understandable reasons, of the bubbling rage that made the LIbs so great. There’s neither the aggression nor the infectious tunes to pull you in like there were on the first one.
And Doherty himself is just a freak show that deserves more privacy than it gets. Watching someone kill himself, having made an utter laughing stock of himself first, is just an awful thing to have to watch. He is no longer a musician, he’s just a circus act and needs to be bloody well left alone.
Dear Pams, that was an educational, informative and well-reasoned argument. Thank you for taking the time, I’m sure we all feel like better people for having read your contribution. It’s this ability to take the debate to a higher plane of reasoning and social analysis that makes hacks like me hang their heads in shame.
Are you a hater or am I just easily entertained?
Ever since I first heard the first Hard-fi album, I’ve had it in heavy rotation. I have good taste (I was the first kid on my block to discover LCD, Spoon, and TOTR), so I get the sense that it’s not me, it’s you.
In any case, I love their first album, just as I’m the only person in North America who will actually admit I like The Bravery.
Don’t be a hater…
I’m not a hater, I just don’t like Hard-Fi. The first Bravery album I did actually enjoy, although I’ve not heard the second.
We all have guilty pleasures – it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Load of rubbish. Babyshambles produced an excellent record. Of course, wasn’t nearly as good as the Libertines stuff, but it was a damn good record. Dirty Pretty Things put out a mediocre record which, while still good, does not compare to pete doherty’s ability.
So who gives a fuck if he is a drugged up wastrel? So were the Beatles! He’s a great musician and he’s put out great records every time