Most underrated Pogues Album/Song

[Guest]

Has to be the Wake of the Medusa!

[BoabyBhoy]

Hi new here to the site. The most underrated album in my view is Peace & Love it had a hard act to follow in If I Should Fall From Grace With God but it is a brilliant album imo. As for underrated songs I could be here all day but off the top of my head London Your A Lady, Pachinko, Drunken Boat, House Of The Gods, Lorca's Novena, Gartloney Rats, Boat Train & Night Train To Lorca.

[Apachetear]

Album - Red Roses...
Song - Birmingham 6

[philipchevron]

Actually, all our records are underrated, but I'm sure time will redress the balance.

[Pyro]

Philipchevron: Well, I think that Fairytale and Rainy night are overrated, all other records are underrated.

[philipchevron]

Philipchevron: Well, I think that Fairytale and Rainy night are overrated, all other records are underrated.

No no, that can't be right. You are mistaken!

[Pyro]

Philipchevron: Ok. I have a deal: Fairytale and Rainy night are overrated, all other records are HIGHLY underrated.

How about that?

[philipchevron]

Philipchevron: Ok. I have a deal: Fairytale and Rainy night are overrated, all other records are HIGHLY underrated.

How about that?

No deal. Who is it that overrates them - the millions of people who have yet to buy them?

[KathleenwithaK]

Now, THAT was funny

[David B.]

amen, the amount of attention and airplay given to Fairytale and Rainy Night (to a lesser extent) does nothing to dimish their beauty and brilliance, and they remain some of the finest songs the Pogues ever recorded. that said, there are many, many other songs I'd love to see get more notice, most of which have already been mentioned in this discussion. in my opinion, many of the most "underrated" songs are those which were not origionally released as part of one of the main albums, but appeared on B sides and elsewhere - songs like South Australia, The Battle March Medley, The Leaving of Liverpool, Mountain Dew, and the gorgeous Shanne Bradley. Others that I consider "underrated" would have to be:
Metropolis, the jazz-infused instrumental from IISFFGWG, Kittty, the Auld Triangle, Sea Shanty, I'm a Man You Don't Meet Everyday, Rainbowman, Lorca's Novena, and just about everything else from HD, Greenland Whale Fisheries (maybe the finest rendering of a traditional song the Pogues ever did), Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six, Sit Down by the Fire, and The Recruiting Sergent Medley. Also, I think it's inexusable that Transmetropolitan and Dark Streets of London have been left off most of the Best Of collections, as these would have to rank among the very best songs Shane ever penned.

[JohnG]

Even though the first three Pogues albums are brilliant, I think Peace and Love gets sidelined. See at the times as something as a weaker sister, to If I Should Fall From Grace With God, the Pogues were still in top form. Sure, MacGowan only wrote six of the 14 tracks, but the other members contributed quite a bit as well. Terry Wood's " Young Ned of the Hill," and Philip Chevron's "Lorelei," are classic moments of pure Poguetry. Jem Finer, the "dark horse" of the Pogues contributes the beautiful "Misty Morning, Albert Bridge, while MacGowan's originals especially "White City'" and "Boat Train," are classics.

Remember, this album had to follow If I Should Fall.... so that's why critics had mixed feelings about the album, imagine if Hell's Ditch (which is still a wonderful record) had followed their third album, it would have got the same reaction. The first three albums are the Pogues doing what they did best, which was playing kick ass Irish rock. However, Peace and Love and even Hell's Ditch, while they can't match the sheer brilliance of the first three albums, are still very good albums.

Anyway, to make a long story short, my vote is for Peace and Love, for the most underrated Pogues album.

Very much agree with this.

I bought the remastered album largely because I didn't have a recording of Star of the County Down - a wonderful song I've heard Andrew perform a couple of times.

Listening to the original songs again made me appreciate how good they are.....and stood the test of time. Particular favourites are London You're a Lady which is simply majestic and Night Train to Lorca. In Night Train, Shane paints a picture really well, a bit like Bottle of Smoke, as if you're really there. This is common to a lot of good music, going back eg to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Some of the lyrics are wonderful:

".....Steam hissed up, the hot coals glowed
The furnace blazed, the wheels they rolled
On tracks of iron, straight and cold
The silver moonlight danced..."

The imagery reminded me of John Masefield's poem we learned VERY many years ago at school:

...Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays...

[Guest]

.....and Night Train to Lorca. In Night Train, Shane paints a picture really well, a bit like Bottle of Smoke, as if you're really there. This is common to a lot of good music, going back eg to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Some of the lyrics are wonderful:

".....Steam hissed up, the hot coals glowed
The furnace blazed, the wheels they rolled
On tracks of iron, straight and cold
The silver moonlight danced..."

Wasn't the main body of lyrics to that song penned by Jem Finer?

[RICHB]

For me both Fairytale and Rainy Night are two of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Fairytale is the song that in 1987 got me into the pogues and although I now have other songs by the guys that I like more I still never tire of listening to it. For years it never seemed to be incorperated into the Christmas song list (you know slade, Lennon etc) that gets dragged out every year and I used to like this fact. However now its played everywhere over Xmas. However now im older I kinda like this fact too cause I think the song is pretty anti commercialism in relation to Christmas. Rainy Night is just fantastic....

[Pyro]

Guest: Yes it was (imho that part you mentioned is one of the best parts of lyrics at all).

My problem with Rainy night and Fairytale aren´t I wouldn´t feel them...but I feel same feelings far more strongly when I listen to some Clash songs (strange - when I first heard Clash, they didn´t appeal to me too much. Then I saw Joe with the Pogues doing London Calling, then several months passed...and suddenly the Clash are on par with the Pogues to me - although in different areas.)

[JohnG]

.....and Night Train to Lorca. In Night Train, Shane paints a picture really well, a bit like Bottle of Smoke, as if you're really there. This is common to a lot of good music, going back eg to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Some of the lyrics are wonderful:

".....Steam hissed up, the hot coals glowed
The furnace blazed, the wheels they rolled
On tracks of iron, straight and cold
The silver moonlight danced..."

Wasn't the main body of lyrics to that song penned by Jem Finer?

Happy to be corrected. Many Pogues' songs are penned "Finer/MacGowan". I'd always thought that Jem wrote the music and Shane the lyrics for most, and assumed this was the case with Night Train to Lorca too.