THE POGUES
Catchy Tunes, Inspired Singing highlight Irish release
| Publication: Scripps Howard
News Service, Courier Times Wire Service
Date Printed: March 28, 1996
By: Joe Rassenfoss
| Pogue Mahoney [sic]
It's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this Irish band's high-octane,
13-song set.
"How Come" establishes
a trend we can all get behind: Catchy tune, inspired singing from Spider
Stacey and just the right mix of traditional (pipes, banjo, accordion) and
modern (guitars, drums) instruments.
The result's a sound that will set your body in motion - if you can keep
up with the band's madcap pace on the like os "Amadie,"
based on the dark tale of an American cajun singer rendered voiceless by
a mob.
It's not all pell mell, as the ballads "Pont
Mirabeau" and "Anniversary"
illustrate. And check out the heartfelt lyrics on the latter: no moon-June-spoon
bunch, this lot.
And while the band truly deserves a nod for its wonderful playing, Stacy
(the band's third vocalist in its decade-plus existence) helps seperate
it from the masses with a soulful voice that can sound at turns like Randy
Newman on amphetamines or Bob Dylan ("Living
in a World Without Her").
The Pogues may have undergone a variety of personnel changes in recent years,
but "Pogue Mahoney" [sic] (a Gaelic expression that mirrors the
band's cheeky approach) has the sound of a band firm in its convictions.
Rating: 
Copyright 1996, Scripps Howard News Service, Courier Times
Wire Service
Joe Rassenfoss is a reporter at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.
All rights reserved
Your intrepid maintainer is DzM.
|
