in_the_morning wrote:I understand what Lillywhite means and to some degree I think he is right, but on the other hand, what Shane does is up to him. I hate the whole idea of being an "overachiever" or an "underachiever"...yes, I'm, sure that Shane could have done more, he could have written many many more brilliant songs (although I don't know how many greats he wrote that never saw the light of day) and it is a bit annoying that his last album was CoG in 1997. BUT so what? He wrote some masterpieces that won't be forgotten for a very very long time and it's up to him what he does and what he does not. Everybody's got the right to do or not do what they want with their talents and stuff. I personally still celebrate the stuff he did and I think I'll be celebrating it in the future, because it's sooo good. Of course I don't only celebrate him but the Pogues as an eight-piece band with all the individual talents and musicians. Always keeping in mind the talent and creativity of all the other Pogues as well and the work they've done to get Shane's ideas together and on tape...I hate people who don't recognise the brilliancy of the other bandmembers, they are as wonderful as Shane is. Excuse the bad english....anyway, if the story with the new album is true, that is something to really look forward to. But I don't believe it until I see it clearly and sober in my own hands.
Certainly, Steve Lillywhite absolutely recognized that the Pogues was very much an 8-piece concern and what made him a great producer, I think, is that he found ways to reflect this in the work. Lillywhite always felt he had failed to some degree if he had not coaxed the best out of each Pogue, but his genius was that he knew that there frequently had to be eight different and parallel ways of making this happen.
I think his point about underachievers and overachievers boils down to the idea that Shane is a great natural talent and Bono is a hard worker. Given more time to elaborate, I feel Steve would certainly qualify and moderate both positions. In any case, as he has only met Shane once in the past decade, and seen the Pogues - minus Shane - only once in that time, at a soundcheck, he is perhaps not best placed to be making such judgments at all.
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 2:10 am
