The Medusa Fora

Whilst there is obviously no contest musically and i would much rather see Shane with the mighty Pogues i will miss the little venues i have seen the Popes in such as the tiny rock cafe in Stourbridge and the regular Paddys day Shepherds Bush Gigs. Not to mention Some real classic tunes , Rock n Roll Paddy ,Lonesome Highway, Nancy Whiskey , the Stonking Donegal Express (dont remember this one played live tho), And old Pogues numbers like Greenland Whale Fisheries.
What do ya reckon ?

Can't say I was ever that big a fan of the Popes. I loved The Snake With Eyes Of Garnet and Lonesome Highway but nothing else of theirs was as good as The Pogues. I thought the 1st album was ok overall but thought the 2nd should have been called The Crock Of S***. I know there are people who will shoot me down for saying this but Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone are way better than Shane's solo work. He is the greatest songwriter ever when he's on form, but on The Crock Of Gold he is so far below par it is sad.

Dont agree mate, paddy rolling stone and paddy public enemy i love and some great covers too, mother mo chroi and spanish lady !
Every one to their own tho

My main problem with Crock of Gold is Shane's performance. He sounds half asleep most of the time and it's like he's singing through his nose. Something seems to have sucked all the energy out of that record.

yeh miss hearing shanes solo stuff live...bring it back!

Crock of Gold is Crock of Gold !!!
Shane's doing great...and with Popes back...weeeee,this year's for me and ya!

rumsodomyandthelash wrote:Whilst there is obviously no contest musically and i would much rather see Shane with the mighty Pogues i will miss the little venues i have seen the Popes in such as the tiny rock cafe in Stourbridge and the regular Paddys day Shepherds Bush Gigs. Not to mention Some real classic tunes , Rock n Roll Paddy ,Lonesome Highway, Nancy Whiskey , the Stonking Donegal Express (dont remember this one played live tho)

Dont remember it? Tutut, he played it at the Rock Cafe!

Michaelo wrote:Can't say I was ever that big a fan of the Popes. I loved The Snake With Eyes Of Garnet and Lonesome Highway but nothing else of theirs was as good as The Pogues. I thought the 1st album was ok overall but thought the 2nd should have been called The Crock Of S***. I know there are people who will shoot me down for saying this but Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone are way better than Shane's solo work. He is the greatest songwriter ever when he's on form, but on The Crock Of Gold he is so far below par it is sad.

I love the whole album of Crock of Gold but how can you even dismiss a song like St John of Gods? I think people tended to judge Shane's work side by side with his best, so the man couldn't just release a fun Irish album for once. God forbid.

Eyeball_Kid wrote:My main problem with Crock of Gold is Shane's performance. He sounds half asleep most of the time and it's like he's singing through his nose. Something seems to have sucked all the energy out of that record.

For sure there was no shortage of coke at those sessions.

Apples and Oranges, really.

The Pogues were one of the most seminal bands of all time, so of course The Popes are going to always be in their shadow. However, The Popes with Shane MacGowan are still a damn fine band. Their playing on MacGowan's solo albums, The Snake and Crock of Gold are rowdy and brilliant. Such songs as Donegal Express, The Snake With Eyes of Garnet, and Paddy Public Enemy Number One, and More Pricks Than Kicks, are evidence enough that The Popes can hold their own. It should also be noted that The Popes are far more than MacGowan's backing band, their debut album Holloway Blvd., had some excellent songs on it

So, to answere the question are The Popes better than the Pogues, Hell, NO!!!!, but they are still a very good band.

In fact MacGowan's solo albums, were far better than The Pogues post-MacGowan albums, Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone

pogues22 wrote:In fact MacGowan's solo albums, were far better than The Pogues post-MacGowan albums, Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone

That's very subjective. I find that I listen to WfH and PM much more often than TS and CoG.

In my opinion Shane was much more hurt by losing The Pogues' democratic input on song wrting, selection, and arrangement than The Pogues were hurt by losing Shane's unpredictable work habits.

It's a shame that many fans were unwilling to listen to The Pogues without Shane. The band was unfairly punished.

Yeah, but then you write a song like Pachinko (sarcasm)

pogues22 wrote:Yeah, but then you write a song like Pachinko (sarcasm)

Why single out just one song? There are so many great tracks on those last 2 albums-
Tuesday Morning, Small Hours, Drunken Boat, My Baby's Gone, Girl From The Wadi Hammamat, Oretown, Tosspint, Bright Lights, Four O'Clock In The Morning, Love You Till The End, Where That Love's Been Gone, Living In A World Without Her etc. These are all superb songs.
Shane needed the Pogues more than the Pogues needed Shane.

pogues22 wrote:Yeah, but then you write a song like Pachinko (sarcasm)

Oh please.

Pachinko is amusing, and isn't meant (I would assume) to be anything more than that. If you're going to damn both their albums for this song then you might as well damn both of Shane's solo efforts for Truck Drivin' Man.

Shane with the Popes is no worse than Pogues...from me point of view even better in terms of stuff what he did on those 2 albums

Maybe, but as before, I believe Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone, are pretty decent albums, I just prefer Shane's solo works. The Popes and Shane took the music back to the traditional roots, while The new Pogues started doing more the experimental music, wordly that is, which in my opinion was the beginning of the end for the band. They strayed away from the original formula, which was playing kick ass Irish music.