Never listened to any of the solo stuff...

[shakespear]

what would you recommend?

[Simon]

The Snake is brilliant. Crock of Gold is also exellent, lack just some of that rawness that the snake has.

[el hombre trajeado]

Derek Bell from the Chieftains. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOVRZdKRrwg

[Fr. McGreer]

Yeah, i'd echo that. The Snake is a great album. I don't rate Crock of Gold very highly though. There are some fantastic tracks on it such as St.John of Gods and Mother Mo Croi but i find it too sanatised and country for my personal taste, he seemed to have lost some of his bite (excuse the pun).

The Snake is a great rock & roll album. The first two tracks on full blast can't be beaten

[in_the_morning]

Sadly there's not that much of Shane's solo stuff to be discovered, but as already mentioned, Snake and Crock of Gold are (in my humble opinion)
highly brilliant. Since I'm a big country fan as well, I welcome the country influence on the latter. If you just want to start with a few tracks instead of full albums, here's what I'd recommend:

St. John of Gods
Lonesome Highway
Snake with Eyes of Garnet
The Song with No Name
More Pricks Than Kicks
Victoria
Nancy Whiskey

bla bla bla...btw: his live album with the Popes (Across the Broad Atlantic) is brilliant as well. It features some really good live versions of Pogues tracks as well.

[RICHB]

Sadly there's not that much of Shane's solo stuff to be discovered, but as already mentioned, Snake and Crock of Gold are (in my humble opinion)
highly brilliant. Since I'm a big country fan as well, I welcome the country influence on the latter. If you just want to start with a few tracks instead of full albums, here's what I'd recommend:

St. John of Gods
Lonesome Highway
Snake with Eyes of Garnet
The Song with No Name
More Pricks Than Kicks
Victoria
Nancy Whiskey

bla bla bla...btw: his live album with the Popes (Across the Broad Atlantic) is brilliant as well. It features some really good live versions of Pogues tracks as well.

Across the Broad Atlantic is a lovely little live album however I would say the pogues numbers are probably the weakest on it. They just don't pack the same punch if that makes sense. Further evidence that the pogues are not just Shane's backing band. Their music makes some already brilliant lyrics into powerful songs.

[in_the_morning]

Sadly there's not that much of Shane's solo stuff to be discovered, but as already mentioned, Snake and Crock of Gold are (in my humble opinion)
highly brilliant. Since I'm a big country fan as well, I welcome the country influence on the latter. If you just want to start with a few tracks instead of full albums, here's what I'd recommend:

St. John of Gods
Lonesome Highway
Snake with Eyes of Garnet
The Song with No Name
More Pricks Than Kicks
Victoria
Nancy Whiskey

bla bla bla...btw: his live album with the Popes (Across the Broad Atlantic) is brilliant as well. It features some really good live versions of Pogues tracks as well.

Across the Broad Atlantic is a lovely little live album however I would say the pogues numbers are probably the weakest on it. They just don't pack the same punch if that makes sense. Further evidence that the pogues are not just Shane's backing band. Their music makes some already brilliant lyrics into powerful songs.

agree! What I meant was that some of the Pogues tracks on Across the Broad Atlantic do have a refreshing and good sound in their own rights (for example "Streams of Whiskey" or "Rainy Night" or "Fairytale"), however, compared to the Pogues' musicianship (although comparing is a bit of a silly thing to do) they are not that great anymore. You just have to listen to Across the Broad Atlantic and then followed by Pogues at Brixton 2001, so yes, you are right. Nevertheless, Shane's live album is great, some very raw and powerful renditions on it.

[Low D]

The Snake is a great rock & roll album. The first two tracks on full blast can't be beaten

Agreed. But if you can choose, get the original version. It was later re-released with a different track order, and padded out with duets with Sinead O'Connor & Marie Brennan and another couple of tracks. All may or may not be good songs depending what you like, but I thought it killed the flow of the "album" and made it a compilation instead. Those duets just don't mesh!

Does anybody else think it's funny that Shane & The Popes released two studio albums AND a two-disc "best of"? I one-disc collection of non-album tracks should have been plenty, i'd think.

And for the record, I quite like both albums, and a number of the b-sides. In these days of downloading for free, you should check it all out. Some of the live stuff is laughably terrible, but some of it surprisingly good.

[RICHB]

The Snake is a great rock & roll album. The first two tracks on full blast can't be beaten

Agreed. But if you can choose, get the original version. It was later re-released with a different track order, and padded out with duets with Sinead O'Connor & Marie Brennan and another couple of tracks. All may or may not be good songs depending what you like, but I thought it killed the flow of the "album" and made it a compilation instead. Those duets just don't mesh!

Does anybody else think it's funny that Shane & The Popes released two studio albums AND a two-disc "best of"? I one-disc collection of non-album tracks should have been plenty, i'd think.

And for the record, I quite like both albums, and a number of the b-sides. In these days of downloading for free, you should check it all out. Some of the live stuff is laughably terrible, but some of it surprisingly good.

Wasn't that called the rare old stuff or something? I think I have it somewhere

[Fr. McGreer]

The Snake is a great rock & roll album. The first two tracks on full blast can't be beaten

Agreed. But if you can choose, get the original version. It was later re-released with a different track order.......

Definately. Nancy Whiskey is a great track but does not fit in straight after Church of the Holy Spook. I do like the duets, especially the version of Haunted. Sinead is just amazing on that track and struggle to choose a favourite between all the versions released (box set included).