What do you get when you take the manic, creative energy out of The Libertines? Considering that energy was not a result of one person but of a collective, you get something that sounds like Pete Doherty’s Baby Shambles, Johnny Borrell’s Razorlight or Carl Barat’s Dirty Pretty Things — formulaic, boring and predictable. Given all three bands sound essentially the same, “Waterloo to Anywhere” is disappointing, but at this point so is everything short of a The Libertines reunion.

“Bang Bang You’re Dead,” the album’s first single, is a decent track, and the lyrics are practically proof that a The Libertines reunion is not in the making. Sounding like a caustic letter, presumably to Doherty, there doesn’t seem to be any love lost between the two former bandmates.

“Deadwood” shows off Barat’s skill as a guitarist, and between the leadoff track and the first single, expectations are set moderately high for the rest of the album. For its part, the rest of the release immediately falls short and stays there. Each song sounds more or less the same as the one before and gives a pretty good idea of the next. There’s nothing inspiring or even especially interesting here. With a little luck, Barat might be able to pull these lackluster songs together into a decent live show, maybe even record a decent follow-up, but these possibilities help little.

It could, at least theoretically, be argued that Dirty Pretty Things is the best of the three The Libertines spin-off bands, because Barat was always the most musically talented member of the original group. But that argument is a lot like saying Alec Baldwin is the best Baldwin because he has a less conventional name than Daniel, William or Stephen — it’s utterly meaningless in the big picture. The simple fact is, The Libertines had something going and after they disbanded none of the members could quite figure out exactly what it was. Was it sheer chemistry? Was it Doherty’s unpredictable vision meshing with Barat’s musical efficiency? Was it dumb luck? Whatever it was, it sure hasn’t been heard in awhile, and it’s not showing its face on “Waterloo to Anywhere.”