‘Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres’ will have many rushing for the exit and some will stick around and check it out whilst others are true believers that Doherty was handed the baton of real rock and rollers who always find what they’re looking for even if they don’t quite know what it is they are looking for.  They manage to write with great talents to interpret what’s coming out of their mind and who just click and make all the madness sound cohesive and at times quite beautiful,  it’s fair to say the record at times is intimate with tales of love, loss, happiness, tragedy, addiction and work on many levels. The album was recorded live to capture the essence and spirit of the Puta Madres at a family home overlooking a fishing village in Étretat, Normandy, over four days in the summer of 2018. so as the needle drops we are gently led into ‘All At Sea’ with the unmistakable wavering vocals of Doherty. The band are given the room to breathe and at times I’m reminded of albums like Dylans ‘Blood On the Tracks’ and Velvet Underground for the loose arrangments and use of instruments (ok so this might not stack up to those two albums but you get the gist).

‘Whose Been Having You Over’ has a galic flavour and once you lock into the groove its a majestic thing with some fine guitar work from Jones and Doherty and as the first track the violin of Miki Beavis is exceptional and add eastern flavours. ‘Paradise Is Under Your Nose’ is Dohertys finest five minutes and his duet with Jack Jones is on another level for a quite beautiful song.

The autobiographical ‘Narcissistic Teen Makes First XI ‘ is classic dreamy Doherty.  I promise the payback from this album is massive if you invest a bit of time and energy into it.  sure I can see how people will play it once and call it a shambles I get that but give it a chance.  There’s a gentle hand at work here and Doherty sounds content and comfortable with the musicians he’s assembled around him for this record as they play around his relaxed skiffle on tracks like ‘A Fool There Was’ as that gypsy violin leads a merry dance.

It’s not The Libertines and its not his loudest record but it might just be his best.

Author: Dom Daley

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