BOX SET - FINAL APPEAL

[philipchevron]

My mistake, Mr. Chevron

"In and Out" is classic Pogues in my opinion, did we ever find out who wrote the track.

Iain

Yes. It was written by Shane and Jem.

[The Duke of Ingmar]

My mistake, Mr. Chevron

"In and Out" is classic Pogues in my opinion, did we ever find out who wrote the track.

Iain

Yes. It was written by Shane and Jem.

Any reason why it says "The Pogues" when it came to name the author(s) of this song in the booklet, and not "MacGowan/Finer" ?

[philipchevron]

My mistake, Mr. Chevron

"In and Out" is classic Pogues in my opinion, did we ever find out who wrote the track.

Iain

Yes. It was written by Shane and Jem.

Any reason why it says "The Pogues" when it came to name the author(s) of this song in the booklet, and not "MacGowan/Finer" ?

Just a clerical error. It should also credit Jem Finer as Producer, not "The Pogues". It is also called "Garbo", not "In And Out". Seems Australian record companies are just as lovable as British and American ones.

[RICHB]

Did the Pogues record "Aisling" is that going to be in the set? Also didn't Shane want Summer in Siam as a haiku. Is there a recording of that? and are the songs from Straight to Hell going on the Box set?

We recorded "Aisling" and it is a contender for the box set - almost nothing is a dead cert at this stage. We never did record the Haiku version of "Summer In Siam", not even when we did a demo for it. I was always frustrated about that, as was Shane of course, but it was decided early on that "Siam" was single material and a Hiaku could never possibly be long enough for a single. This is something both myself and Shane strenuously disagreed with, but we lost the battle. By my estimation, the piece should be about 1 minute 55 seconds (one vocal verse/one instrumental verse) which still would have made it 6 seconds longer than the first Radiators from Space single.

The Straight To Hell music will remain where it belongs, and where it is available in full - on the Straight To Hell Returns CD which was released in 2004. That said, "The Good The Bad And the Ugly" is a candidate for the box set in its own right. It would not be unreasonable to expect a fair-sized chunk from our Sid And Nancy score, however.

Without wanting to sound very ignorant what is a 'haiku' version and how would it have been different?

[Zuzana]

Without wanting to sound very ignorant what is a 'haiku' version and how would it have been different?

Shane: "It’s a good track, but they fucked it up, you know. That was meant to be one verse, just one verse. (...) Yeah, like a musical haiku, yeah. Well, not really a haiku, cause a haiku has only got three lines, but I know what you’re getting at. Like ,Jonesburgh Illinois‘ by Tom Waits, just four lines, just four short lines. You only need to say it once. Everybody gets the message. You have the rippling piano at the beginning, and a rippling piano at the end. You set the mood, and then it’s over. But they fucking insisted on stringing it out and putting a saxophone solo in it, and all the rest of it. (from A Drink With Shane MacGowan)

[Johnny37]

That is superb Phil! - Thanks for such a prompt response.

Without giving you a chance to complete the audio box set may I be so bold as to enquire if there is a remote hope of releasing a dvd boxset of old, rarely seen footage? I suppose you will be restricted & compromised by television copyright law. A forlorn hope indeed.

Take care mate

Johnny37

[philipchevron]

That is superb Phil! - Thanks for such a prompt response.

Without giving you a chance to complete the audio box set may I be so bold as to enquire if there is a remote hope of releasing a dvd boxset of old, rarely seen footage? I suppose you will be restricted & compromised by television copyright law. A forlorn hope indeed.

Take care mate

Johnny37

Somebody will do this some day, I don't doubt. But it won't be me!

[The Duke of Ingmar]

Just a clerical error. It should also credit Jem Finer as Producer, not "The Pogues". It is also called "Garbo", not "In And Out". Seems Australian record companies are just as lovable as British and American ones.

Wait - the song itself is actually called "Garbo" ? Now there goes my past ...

[nboldock]

That is superb Phil! - Thanks for such a prompt response.

Without giving you a chance to complete the audio box set may I be so bold as to enquire if there is a remote hope of releasing a dvd boxset of old, rarely seen footage? I suppose you will be restricted & compromised by television copyright law. A forlorn hope indeed.

Take care mate

Johnny37

Somebody will do this some day, I don't doubt. But it won't be me!

ha ha, I imagine if you multiply the hassle of compiling an audio boxset by about, oh say, half a million - you might be close to the hassle level of a visual equivalent... best delegated to Mr N.E. OneElse, methinks...

[Sally MacLennane]

If the box will be four discs, then the "leftover" previously-released rarities I'd like to see included should only occupy one whole disc:

Haunted
Junk Theme
Hot Dogs with Everything
The Irish Rover [Extended Version]
If I Should Fall from Grace with God [Remix]
Sally MacLennane [Live]
A Pair of Brown Eyes [Live]
Maggie May [Live]
The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn [Live]
Dirty Old Town [Live]
Kitty [Live]
Young Ned of the Hill [Dub Version]
Whiskey in the Jar [Extended Version]
Hell's Ditch [Instrumental]
Got a Lot O'Livin' to Do
Miss Otis Regrets / Just One of Those Things
In and Out
Turkish Song of the Damned [Live]
London Calling [Live]
I Fought the Law [Live]

Which would still leave three discs worth of previously-unreleased material

What about putting it up to a vote by the forum members? Or else maybe something along the lines of Richard Thompson's latest box; with a limited-edition bonus disc being made available to customers who pre-ordered through the website or something similar?

Re: The earlier post above (these songs are deserately needed by many other Medusians)

Please try to get all these missing B-sides on the box set, the only way to get them is paying a fortune for the singles through E-bay or ripping you off and getting them off of the B-sides and Rarities bootleg.

We don't care how many discs it is, as long as it doesn't miss too much (Especially the officially released B-sides not on the remasters!)

P.S. Will the 'oboe' version of A Rainy Night In Soho be making it?

[philipchevron]

P.S. Will the 'oboe' version of A Rainy Night In Soho be making it?

Yes, or the "North American version" as it is now officially known (it was only ever released in Canada and the USA).

All the other tracks listed are in the box except the pointlessly extended "Whiskey In The Jar" and "Irish Rover" and the instrumental "Hell's Ditch".

[The Duke of Ingmar]

All the other tracks listed are in the box except the pointlessly extended "Whiskey In The Jar" and "Irish Rover" and the instrumental "Hell's Ditch".

So the band was not involved in producing those extended versions ? Wasn´t the band even asked ?

And while I understand that "Boys from the County Hell" was re-recorded to put out a cleaner version as a single, what was the reason behind re-recording "Sayonara" ? The only lyrical difference (I Think) was changing "motherfucker" to "holy father". But as the single was only released in Germany, I doubt that would have been necessary ...

[philipchevron]

All the other tracks listed are in the box except the pointlessly extended "Whiskey In The Jar" and "Irish Rover" and the instrumental "Hell's Ditch".

So the band was not involved in producing those extended versions ? Wasn´t the band even asked ?

And while I understand that "Boys from the County Hell" was re-recorded to put out a cleaner version as a single, what was the reason behind re-recording "Sayonara" ? The only lyrical difference (I Think) was changing "motherfucker" to "holy father". But as the single was only released in Germany, I doubt that would have been necessary ...

It's not so much we weren't involved as we weren't very interested. Apparently, in those years, record companies required a number of additional tracks or "versions" to fill up all the ludicrous "formats" in which singles were released. Sometimes we provided extra tracks, sometimes we didn't, in which case they had to be commissioned by the Brothers Warner. That said, we tended to involve ourselves to some degree in the more interesting ones - the 7" Fiesta, the 12" Fall From Grace, the Young Ned dub version etc...........

Although "Sayonara" was only released in Germany, that was not always the intention. I believe it was originally scheduled as a UK single too. It was effectively withdrawn but, as they had already pressed some and we were about to tour Germany (I think), then it seemed to make sense to them to at least release the single there. It gave us an opportunity to do some German TV shows we probably would not otherwise have done.

[The Duke of Ingmar]

Although "Sayonara" was only released in Germany, that was not always the intention. I believe it was originally scheduled as a UK single too. It was effectively withdrawn but, as they had already pressed some and we were about to tour Germany (I think), then it seemed to make sense to them to at least release the single there. It gave us an opportunity to do some German TV shows we probably would not otherwise have done.

Yeah, I remember your TV appearances on "Gottschalks Late Night" and "Live at The Schlachthof". On the first, Shane seemed a bit out of it, forgetting to mime to "Som-yat-zu" and looking generally like "where am I and what am I doing here". Plus after the song Thomas Gottschalk bade him farewell by saying "among experts the singer is called `the Irish David Hasselhof´".

I still have those video tapes somewhere and I´ll have to confirm but I´m quite sure that The Pogues played the LP version on "Gottschalks Late Night" and the single version on "Schlachthof".

All in all I was quite happy to see those appearances cos The Pogues on German television was a rare thing, even at the height of your success.

[Kilmichael]

P.S. Will the 'oboe' version of A Rainy Night In Soho be making it?

Yes, or the "North American version" as it is now officially known (it was only ever released in Canada and the USA).

Mr Chevron, much as I normally wouldn't dream of disagreeing with somebody in the band, the 'oboe' version was definitely released outside of Canada & the USA. I used to have a Belgian import 7" of Poguetry that featured that version, bought at a record fair the same time I bought Kitty Rickets 7", actually. In fact I bought them twice, as my wife 'accidentally' melted them with a hairdryer so I had to go back a fortnight later and buy them again! Interestingly, I also had a French import 12" of Poguetry that featured the 'normal' version, e.g. the one on the re-release of Rum. So I guess Stiff really didn't know what they were doing with those releases!

Strangely, what never seems to get mentioned when talking about versions of Rainy Night is the full length version of the 1991 remix, from the 12" single, as opposed to the edit from the 7" (and re-release of Hell's Ditch). That's actually my favourite version, but as far as I know has never been released on CD.