So the headline may be presumptuous - preposterous even to some, but when I caught a repeat of Jonathan Ross Live on Saturday night I saw a Pete Doherty that I hadn't caught sight of in some time.
When the Libertines first staggered on to the scene in London, music in England at the time was a bland and watery soup of over produced pop acts, Oasis wannabes and clapped out beat merchants. We needed a messiah...somebody to take us back to something real, exciting and from the gut. The Libertines fulfilled that role and staked their claim in UK rock n' roll history. Detractor or not, there was no denying the authenticity of the Libertine ethos. This was not posing and posturing or studied cool. This was visceral hedonism meets old-world-Englishness out on the edge of London's urban grot.
But the drugs took hold and it's a well worn story told many a time by tabloids and second rate rockumentaries. The whole notion of death and glory became deathly boring and Pete's music slipped into mediocrity. I still thought that he was one of the finest lyricists of his generation, but there was no escaping the fact that (apart from being Kate Moss' current squeeze) he was becoming redundant.
With this in mind I found Pete's performance (and subsequent interview) on Jonathan Ross something of a surprise. He was looking sharp, he's lost his drug-bloat and his eyes weren't rolling into the back of his head. The track "Lost Art of Murder" is also a definite return to form.
It's a bit early yet to claim it as a come back. We'll have to see how the next Babyshambles album turns out and whether (great or not) it can extend his appeal beyond his loyal fan base to a public who are only familiar with his tabloid caricature. Still...it's encouraging to say the least.
Part 2 of the interview continues here
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