Babyshambles - Down In Albion (20th Anniversary) (2LP Cream Vinyl)

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.

1. La Belle et la Bete 

2. Fuck Forever 

3. A'rebours 

4. The 32nd of December 

5. Pipedown 

6. Sticks and Stones 

7. Killamangiro 

8. 8 Dead Boys 

9. In Love with a Feeling 

10. Pentonville 

11. What Katy Did Next 

12. Albion 

13. Back from the Dead 

14. Loyalty Song 

15. Up the Morning 

16. Merry Go Round 

17. Gang of Gin 

18. 352 Days 

19. Do You Know Me (BBC Radio 1 Session) 

20. My Darling Clementine (BBC Radio 1 Session) 

21. Why Did You Break My Heart/Piracy