A Likely Lad

Product Information

He surrounds himself with amoral, skanky people who he seems to be aware are taking advantage -see "Wolfman" who even Mick Jones of The Clash, (who must've seen some serious skanks in his career) views as unsavoury. Doherty has made it out the other end of flashbulb infamy but, as A Likely Lad makes clear, it was touch and go. It was more like me talking him out of it, saying,’ No, I’ll tell you what, if we’re still not signed in a year, then we’ll do it. And I am happy for the new life of Pete in France and watching recently the libertines and Pete they are much professionals and better then ever .

Much of what is known about Doherty comes from sensational headlines grabbed from tabloid newspaper and bombastic interviews where the singer spieled exaggerated stories about his rockstar lifestyle or just blatantly told lies. Drugs have mostly either killed the career, the person, both, or were overcome after a few tough years. Phil the landlord was an East End fella who used to clean windows in the morning and introduced The Libertines co-frontman to the drug which would plague him the rest of his life. At the end of the day though, you're not going to get a thorough, non-biased review out of me because I love Peter, and The Libertines, and Babyshambles. Doherty sees that his behaviour was a destabilising force, but maintains he could have been offered more understanding.With his wildest days behind him, Doherty candidly explores - with sober and sometimes painful insight - some of his greatest and darkest moments, taking us inside the creative process, decadent parties, substance-fuelled nights, his time in prison and tendency for self-destruction. Some gritty parts such as the chapter about the death of an associate which Pete was implicated in which left a bad taste in the mouth.

Loving/preferring happy uppers was lucky I guess, but I wasn't cut out for the life of a smack-bandit or crack-head. Pete Doherty is perhaps best remembered as the drug-addled frontman of seminal British indie-rock band, The Libertines.

I mention all that because despite never getting hooked on smack, and having been able to just walk away from the party scene unscathed, once I got a bit older, more sensible (and probably a lot more boring, lol) I recognise a lot of the chaotic lifestyle Doherty talks about in this book. The latter is perhaps the most apt, but it lacks the reflective quality I look for in a memoir; much of the book feels like standard biographical information that one could find on Wikipedia. Doherty made eye contact with a homeless man standing back from the crowd, watching, and a silent understanding passed between them.