Amy Winehouse watched over The Libertines as they recorded their comeback album.

The 'Time For Heroes' hitmakers lived in a Thai recording studio to set down tracks for their long-awaited LP, and though they kept the setting ''quite sparse'', they always had a photo of their late friend in the room with them.

Co-frontman Pete Doherty said: ''The studio was quite sparsely decorated, but we did have a front cover of Amy Winehouse over the mixing desk the whole time.

''The one constant, apart from John Hassall who was always there from dawn to dusk, was the picture of Amy.''

Though Pete admits his troubled friend could be a ''harsh'' critic, she always inspired him and his bandmates - John, Gary Powell and Carl Barat - to work harder and do better so they could reach her high standards.

He added to NME magazine: ''She was never a massive fan of my songwriting, or at least she never admitted to it.

''She was a bit of a harsh critic, but in a lot of ways we were kindred spirits and all the boys loved her.

''She was inspirational as well. While she was critical, it was because she had high standards.''