WARNERS/RHINO POGUES BOX SET, 2008

[Clash Cadillac]

Clash Cadillac was last seen rocking back and forth clutching the box set and muttering to himself, "My precious, my precious..."

[Rich]

I actually got an email from Barnes and Noble this morning saying that they have it packed and ready to ship complete with a tracking number from UPS. I'm hoping that I'm not getting a packet of Body Butter. So Rich here's hoping that you get yours soon as well.

That's good news -- perhaps progress is being made! I just noticed that the price at bn.com went up from $45 to $58 since yesterday, so maybe that means they think they might actually HAVE some to sell in the near future and therefore they are raising the price accordingly.

[DzM]

I just noticed that the price at bn.com went up from $45 to $58 since yesterday, so maybe that means they think they might actually HAVE some to sell in the near future and therefore they are raising the price accordingly.

Amazon seems to have bumped to $64.xx too.

They also list a partner that claims to have New and Used in stock starting at around $51:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... thwaoft-20

[Davey Coyle]

Just got the box set yesterday.
Barrowlands 1987 I was there. Special brew at Rutherglen train station.
Thank you

[territa]

Clash Cadillac was last seen rocking back and forth clutching the box set and muttering to himself, "My precious, my precious..."

okay. have you played it yet?

[Zuzana]

A fan review of the box set...

Album Review: The Pogues- Just Look Them Straight In the Eye and Say...Poguemahone!! boxset
Monday, July 21, 2008
T.O. Snob
Full URL

Just Look them Straight In the Eye and Say...Poguemahone!! is the new boxset from The Pogues. The compilation pulls together well over 100 songs and 5 hours of rare material from the influential celt/punk band on one 5-CD set.

Not only do we get the live material, some of which is incredibly rare, but we also get lots of BBC sessions, including with the legendary DJ John Peel.

There are demos galore on the set. Some, like "Repeal of the Licensing Laws", dating back as early as 1983. The quality of some of these is dubious. You think Shane MacGowan is incomprehensible on the records? Try listening to him when he hasn't written all the lyrics yet. And do we really need three demos, all recording within about a year, of "Fairytale of New York" which somehow actually get progressively worse?

Thankfully we get a load of outtakes and a previously unreleased tracks, some of which are very good like "Something Wild", that never got to see the light of day. Add to these alternative versions, mixes, soundtrack songs, and dubs and we have a solid basis for Pogues fans.

We are also treated to a number of interesting covers like Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" and the Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe In Magic?" (and some not so good like "Eve of Destruction"). As well as many traditional songs that didn't wind up on proper Pogues albums like "Rocky Road To Dublin" and "Danny Boy".

The set touches on every era of The Pogues, including some live recordings when Joe Strummer was in the band. From this we get versions of The Clash's "I Fought The Law" and "London Calling".

Unlike most compilations, Pogue Phil Chevron who is really responsible for the set, including some non-Pogues songs. It's really cool to be able to hear The Pogues working as a backing band for the likes Joe Strummer, Steve Earle, and Kristy MacColl.

Phil Chevron also did comprehensive notes for the set which give you a good idea about the origin of the songs. Other Pogues including Andrew Ranken, James Fearney, and Spider Stacey contribute some of their memories in a Pogues picture gallery.

All of this comes at a very reasonible price ($59.99) which makes this a bargain for Pogues fans. But don't go looking for it at HMV, it's only available through import (best place is Amazon).

http://www.pogues.com

[Krokodyle]

Mine is on backorder (of course) with Amazon, but I've managed to hear the set and it's bloody brilliant. I can't wait to see the real thing, eventually...

[Drew]

I had mine ordered on amazon US for a month and half, they cancelled the order.

I ordered it from Amazon UK and got it in 5 days! 5 Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[bigchinasean]

My boxset was ordered from Barnes y Noble mid June and it came yesterday! I thought
it would be more interesting. No, I joke. I especially love Terry Woods' songs. All the
Hell's Ditch stuff seems to fit well enough into the proper album (well maybe not
pinned down). Interesting listening to the stuff from the final album interspersed
with the older material. I enjoy the final Pogues album, but - in some sense it
is the least Pogues album of them all. Though I must say I do listen to it as much
as I listen to the others (save for Hell's Ditch). Take care Pogues fans and go
into debt if you must for this set.

[cutters]

to Philip and everyone else involved in what was obviously a huge undertaking, i just wanted to give a genuine thanks for the 5 new pogues albums. because that is what it is. it's waking up one day in 2008, and realizing that you just got 5 new Pogues albums. it's something i never imagined. and it is impossible to express what it's like to be listening to songs i've never head before, and experiencing the same feeling i had in 1988 when my living-with-the-other-divorced-parent brother brought if i should fall from grace with god on a visit. so thanks.

question -- can someone give me a quick primer on the identity of the other women singing, like on the fairytale demos?

[philipchevron]

to Philip and everyone else involved in what was obviously a huge undertaking, i just wanted to give a genuine thanks for the 5 new pogues albums. because that is what it is. it's waking up one day in 2008, and realizing that you just got 5 new Pogues albums. it's something i never imagined. and it is impossible to express what it's like to be listening to songs i've never head before, and experiencing the same feeling i had in 1988 when my living-with-the-other-divorced-parent brother brought if i should fall from grace with god on a visit. so thanks.

question -- can someone give me a quick primer on the identity of the other women singing, like on the fairytale demos?

That's Cait O'Riordan, who was the Pogues bassist from 1982 to 1986, singing on the first two demo versions of "Fairytale Of New York" and also on both recordings of "Haunted" as well as significant backing vocals on things like "Do You Believe In Magic?". This question has now come up so often that I now feel I should have made specific note of it in the booklet accompanying the box, but as no other singer is specified (Andrew, Terry, Spider and myself all sing on the box set in addition to Shane), that did seem superfluous at the time. I also sometimes forget that there is a whole world of Poguetry out there that knows nothing of our existence before "Fairytale" brought us to inter/national prominence in late 1987/early 1988. The box set does try, to some extent, to acknowledge this by listing all the Pogues line-ups at the start of the booklet and coding them, so that, for example, "Do You Believe In Magic" (c) can be cross-checked against line-up (c) from which it will be learned that Cait was with the band in the period that recording was made and personnel deducements made accordingly.

from December 2003 to December 2005, Cait was the bass player for my "other" band, The Radiators, and it was during this period that she also returned to the Pogues briefly to perform "I'm A Man You Don't Meet Everyday" and "Fairytale Of New York" for ten shows on the 2004 Christmas UK and Dublin Tour. She has since turned up as the bass player with a trio called Prenup.

In the very early days of The Pogues, Ms O'Riordan's live specialty was her interpretation of the Crystal Gayle song "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", and I know from personal experience as a frequent member of the audience that she sometimes nailed it bigtime. However, as aficionados of early Pogues bootlegs will know, on none of the occasions she nailed it bigtime were there tape recorders present, capturing it for posterity. Which is why neither "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", nor indeed Jem Finer's version of "Me And Bobby McGee" made it to the box set. Such versions of both that did make it onto vinyl and CD over the years can now live on in bootleg infamy, untroubled by alternative evidence that they were ever any good.

[cutters]

thanks Philip. i simply didn't recognize Cait's voice.

to Philip and everyone else involved in what was obviously a huge undertaking, i just wanted to give a genuine thanks for the 5 new pogues albums. because that is what it is. it's waking up one day in 2008, and realizing that you just got 5 new Pogues albums. it's something i never imagined. and it is impossible to express what it's like to be listening to songs i've never head before, and experiencing the same feeling i had in 1988 when my living-with-the-other-divorced-parent brother brought if i should fall from grace with god on a visit. so thanks.

question -- can someone give me a quick primer on the identity of the other women singing, like on the fairytale demos?

That's Cait O'Riordan, who was the Pogues bassist from 1982 to 1986, singing on the first two demo versions of "Fairytale Of New York" and also on both recordings of "Haunted" as well as significant backing vocals on things like "Do You Believe In Magic?". This question has now come up so often that I now feel I should have made specific note of it in the booklet accompanying the box, but as no other singer is specified (Andrew, Terry, Spider and myself all sing on the box set in addition to Shane), that did seem superfluous at the time. I also sometimes forget that there is a whole world of Poguetry out there that knows nothing of our existence before "Fairytale" brought us to inter/national prominence in late 1987/early 1988. The box set does try, to some extent, to acknowledge this by listing all the Pogues line-ups at the start of the booklet and coding them, so that, for example, "Do You Believe In Magic" (c) can be cross-checked against line-up (c) from which it will be learned that Cait was with the band in the period that recording was made and personnel deducements made accordingly.

from December 2003 to December 2005, Cait was the bass player for my "other" band, The Radiators, and it was during this period that she also returned to the Pogues briefly to perform "I'm A Man You Don't Meet Everyday" and "Fairytale Of New York" for ten shows on the 2004 Christmas UK and Dublin Tour. She has since turned up as the bass player with a trio called Prenup.

In the very early days of The Pogues, Ms O'Riordan's live specialty was her interpretation of the Crystal Gayle song "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", and I know from personal experience as a frequent member of the audience that she sometimes nailed it bigtime. However, as aficionados of early Pogues bootlegs will know, on none of the occasions she nailed it bigtime were there tape recorders present, capturing it for posterity. Which is why neither "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", nor indeed Jem Finer's version of "Me And Bobby McGee" made it to the box set. Such versions of both that did make it onto vinyl and CD over the years can now live on in bootleg infamy, untroubled by alternative evidence that they were ever any good.

[LittleCupcakes]

Thanks for the hard work, Mr Chevron (et al)! This is a corker of a set.

[Clash Cadillac]

Clash Cadillac was last seen rocking back and forth clutching the box set and muttering to himself, "My precious, my precious..."

okay. have you played it yet?

Yes, have not been able to compose a post that really describes how grateful I am to all that made this box set happen, especially Philip who toiled under incredible circumstances. Packaging is first class and it is fantastic that these tracks are now officially documented for future generations.

[sainjamison]

May 27 Update: The box set will be in Ireland shops on May 30, and the U.K. & N. Ireland shops on June 2. iTunes Music Store pre-orders are available from the Ireland and U.K. stores.

--==--

Still wrestling with the track listing, but we're getting there.

A number of you have been kind enough to help track down sources of some of the more troublesome tracks, and although that general SOS did not raise anything like the obscure rarities I hoped it would, it was nevertheless a useful exercise.

Naturally, I have managed to lose track of the name of everybody who helped in this respect, but would like to credit you all nevertheless. If you feel you helped with the box set (principally by sending me rare material on CDR etc) and feel you deserve a mention in the credits, please add your name to this list. Don't be shy. Credit where credit is due. It doesn't matter whether your contribution was used or not (in any event, that may never be known if a better source emerged later).


Kirk Danby
Yasunori Hoshino
David Lally
Christian Ahern
Lionel Grosheny
Øyvind Lade

Mr. Chevron, this box set is incredible! I've had it since it came out and just found this site. It's been the only thing I've listened to for over a month and I'm very pleased. I just find The Aria unlistenable. What;s that all about anyway? The rest is just phenomenal. Thank you