Sometimes, the runts of the litter really do defy the odds and come good. Take THE PADDINGTONS: for so long apparently destined to remain also-rans opening at Peter Doherty's lesser-spotted provincial gigs, they were the East End rejects who weren't even from the East End, instead hailing from East, er, Yorkshire.
Clearly nobody told the band themselves, mind, as the vogue for all things Libertines-related finally gave them a springboard into something approaching mainstream acceptance with their last single, the (cough) Top 40-worrying "Panic Attack".
With hindsight, it was gall and enthusiasm that got them through with that record really, but all this restless gigging appears to have had a Star Club-style effect on the band everyone had down as chancers, as with "50 To A £" they seem to have effected a Houdini-style trick of actually getting pretty good.
OK, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. We're not talking string quartets and "Sergeant Pepper" and it's still all a bit scabby-kneed, but we are starting to hear the beginnings of a decent guitar band at last. "50 To A £" finds the band's two guitarists joined at the intuitive hip, a rhythm section tighter than the proverbial gnat's chuff and Tom Atkins giving old Bilo a run for his money in the passionately nicotine-stained vocal department. Like, er, what happened? Since when were the urchins supposed to become good?
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So there you go. The headline - if we had 'em - would thus read "Paddingtons can actually PLAY shocker". And for once you can take that at face value. At least during the course of this rollocking 3 minutes and 6 seconds.
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