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.

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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


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