''The Blinding EP'' is an EP by English

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

Babyshambles Babyshambles are an English rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) during a hiatus from the Libertines. As of 2014 the band included Mick Whitnall (lead guitar), Drew McConnell (bas ...

. It was the band's first release since signing with major

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

. The EP was released on 4 December 2006 in the United Kingdom to positive critical reviews by that label's offshoot Regal Records (see

2006 in British music This is a summary of 2006 in music in the United Kingdom. Events *18 February – The Rolling Stones give a free concert to two million people in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. *22 February – The one billionth song is downloaded on iTunes; the son ...

) and on 5 December in the United States by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. The EP entered the official

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

at #62 on 11 December 2006, while the title song entered the download chart at #77. A week later, an entry on band's official

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

blog stated that had a fifth track not been added to make the EP ineligible in the UK Singles Chart, "The Blinding" would have entered that chart at #4. As with their debut album,

Pete Doherty Peter Doherty (born 12 March 1979) is an English musician. He is best known for being co-frontman of the Libertines, which he formed with Carl Barât in 1997. His other musical projects are indie rock, indie bands Babyshambles and Peter Dohert ...

designed the artwork for the EP.

Track listing

All lyrics written by

, all music written by Babyshambles. #"The Blinding" – 2:59 #"Love You but You're Green" – 4:35 #"I Wish" – 2:47 #"Beg, Steal or Borrow" – 3:07 #"Sedative" – 4:04 NME reported in October 2006 that the band had recorded eleven songs including those on the EP, and the following tracks not featured on the EP: "I Can See from Afar", "Anguish", "Stung Me Like Life".

Music videos

"The Blinding"

The video for "The Blinding" was directed by

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...

. It was filmed in a deserted West London

subway station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase Train ticket, tickets, board trains, and Emerg ...

underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic. Terminology In the United States, as ...

. The video features the band performing the song in the subway station, or alternatively cooped up in a glass box, with black

gaffer tape Gaffer tape (also known as gaffer's tape, gaff tape or gaffa tape as well as spike tape for narrow, colored gaffer tape) is a heavy cotton cloth pressure-sensitive tape with strong adhesive and tensile properties. It is widely used in theatre, p ...

covering their eyes, all interspersed with random bits and bobs; skulls, a deer,

standing up in an open coffin, a creepy mannequin, "Elvis is dead", a chainsaw and a "blinded" Doherty painting on a wall. Renaissance playwright

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...

also makes an appearance. His portrait is stabbed in the eye, as was Christopher Marlowe himself during a bar brawl over the bill—a wound that ended his life. The video culminates in a general mirror and guitar smashing session, including Doherty stabbing a mirror with his own reflection in it. Paul Roundhill and The General make short appearances.

"Love You But You're Green"

The video for "Love You but You're Green," directed by

, features the individual band members playing their instruments, never together but at separate locations. Adam Ficek and his drum kit are perched on a

traffic island A traffic island is a solid or painted object in a road that channels traffic. It can also be a narrow strip of island between roads that intersect at an acute angle. If the island uses road markings only, without raised curbs or other physica ...

Drew McConnell Drew McConnell (born 10 November 1978 in Dublin, Ireland) is the bass guitarist and backing vocalist with Babyshambles, the band formed by frontman of the Libertines, Pete Doherty, and for former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher's band. He lived in ...

is strumming his double bass by a log fire,

Mick Whitnall Mick Whitnall (born 7 November 1968, Doncaster, Yorkshire) is the English lead guitarist for Pete Doherty's rock band Babyshambles, replacing former guitarist Patrick Walden. He lived in South Africa for a time when he was a young boy while his ...

is in a

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

and Pete Doherty is hanging around, singing and strumming, in front of a run-down wooden

shack A shack (or, in some areas, shanty) is a type of small shelter or dwelling, often primitive or rudimentary in design and construction. Unlike huts, shacks are constructed by hand using available materials; however, whereas huts are usually r ...

and later in front of a pile of tyres in what an old car yard. Both this song and "The Blinding" were originally written while Peter was in The Libertines; however, it is unclear whether any of the other band members co-wrote them or not.

Chart performance

References

External links

babyshambles.net
- official band website
babyshamblesofficial
- official band MySpace page {{DEFAULTSORT:Blinding Ep, The 2006 EPs Babyshambles albums