Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Peter Doherty & the Puta Madres

The album contains stunning ballads and cute introspection so I'm happy to overlook the excruciating Yankee scatting

issue 04 May 2019

Grade: A

Old skag head’s back, then — older (40 now!), probably none the wiser, still a very good songwriter. This may be the best thing he’s ever done, at least since those incendiary first moments of the Libertines.

Yeah, I can do without the affected drawl skittering this way and that around the melody — he’s better doing his affected Steve Harley yelp — but there’s not too much of that, still less the old angular post-punk guitar. Instead you get the occasional lo-fi shambolic babyish jug-band thrash, all of which are good, and a bunch of slower songs illustrated with violin and delicately picked guitar. The best is ‘Paradise is Under Your Nose’, a stunning ballad handled with restraint and taste and with a peculiarly moving last refrain: ‘I miss you now, my love,/ I want you now, my love.’

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in