-Potent pub rock from the Pogues (Boston gig review)

[Zuzana]

Potent pub rock from the Pogues

By Jonathan Perry
Globe Correspondent / March 21, 2008
The Boston Globe
section: A&E / Music

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"Here's a happy one," Pogues singer Shane MacGowan slurred into his microphone after the accordion had wheezed the last lullaby notes of "Kitty," a ballad about a prisoner kissing his sweetheart goodbye before being whisked off to jail for a very long time. Summoning a modicum of lightness and strength amid the gloom and doom surrounding him, MacGowan swayed into "The Sunnyside of the Street," a song that was neither as breezy nor sunny as it sounded.

As the veteran eight-piece Irish folk-punk band carried the tune aloft on a featherbed of tin whistle, mandolin, banjo, and acoustic guitar, MacGowan sang about boarding a train with a "heart full of hate and a lust for vomit" after witnessing "children without no shoes" in Rome and "bodies in Bombay."

Romance and ruin - the latter, especially, caused by copious amounts of booze and bad luck - have been at the bruised, bilious heart of the Pogues' work and their checkered history for 25 years now. If Wednesday night's nearly two-hour, 26-song slog through the reunited band's bacchanalian tales of revelry and escape proved anything, it was that the heart of the Pogues, battered though it might be, was still stubbornly beating.

During the first (not quite sold-out) show of a two-night stand at the Orpheum Theatre, the full spectrum and range of the band's powers were on peacock-proud display - a jubilant clatter of ancient Celtic reels and waltzes clinking pint glasses with pub-crawl punk, and even a tender love song or two tossed in for good measure.

At the epicenter, attired in top hat (an impish flourish that set off his plain stage uniform of black jacket and slacks and white shirt) and tottering from what appeared to be the effects of a prodigious day of drinking, MacGowan was, inevitably, a mess, but his legendary insobriety hardly merits mentioning anymore. Sadly and somewhat perversely, a lurching gait and wrecked demeanor are what's expected of him, and from him. Certainly no one expects MacGowan to write more songs as heartachingly lovely as "Love You 'Till The End," which tin whistle player Spider Stacy wonderfully sang after MacGowan had staggered offstage for the second time.

In a remarkable display of constitution, habit, or both, MacGowan was somehow able to maintain coherence and muster fervor while singing the band's extensive back catalog. His guttural, sour growl of a voice was well-suited to numbers like "Dirty Old Town" and gave coarse flavor to the crisp, impeccable musicianship of his clear-headed cohorts flanking him.

Gimme Danger, a Boston foursome led by ex-Dropkick Murphys guitarist Marc Orrell, opened the show with a hard-hitting, half-hour set of lean, tough-minded barroom punk.

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© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

[Mike from Boston]

Certainly no one expects MacGowan to write more songs as heartachingly lovely as "Love You 'Till The End," which tin whistle player Spider Stacy wonderfully sang after MacGowan had staggered offstage for the second time.

Yeah, especially since he never wrote that song in the first place.

It is very disheartening to read these reviews in a Boston paper. They just don't get it. If you hadn't
gone to the show, you would think Shane had to leave the show-Pogues fans know this is a regular part
of shows, since the beginning, where other members take the lead.

Jim Sullivan, whose blog/review was posted elsewhere on the forum, has reviewed them since the 80s
he is the best source of a intelligent and informed review (in spite of the curious Body/Freeborn Man
mistake).

[Jimmy Jazz]

Certainly no one expects MacGowan to write more songs as heartachingly lovely as "Love You 'Till The End," which tin whistle player Spider Stacy wonderfully sang after MacGowan had staggered offstage for the second time.

Yeah, especially since he never wrote that song in the first place.

It is very disheartening to read these reviews in a Boston paper. They just don't get it. If you hadn't
gone to the show, you would think Shane had to leave the show-Pogues fans know this is a regular part
of shows, since the beginning, where other members take the lead.

Jim Sullivan, whose blog/review was posted elsewhere on the forum, has reviewed them since the 80s
he is the best source of a intelligent and informed review (in spite of the curious Body/Freeborn Man
mistake).

i thought the same thing. obviously some of these writers are given an assignment and don't do too much research

[meowhouse]

I thought the Herald's review was a little more accurate. I especially didn't care for the "Shane was a mess as usual" crack. Has the writer ever seen him before? He didn't seem a mess to me. Maybe I am biased or just dense. I thought he did a fine job.

[barbinberkeley]

I thought "Kitty" was about a man who had to choose going to sea rather than go to jail. I was sad to read that lazy, mean-spirited article. The writer couldn't even be bothered to look up who wrote a song. Then, the obligatory "Shane was a wreck" crap. It was so trite and mean. From the pictures I've been seeing, he looks pretty great. Don't these writers think anybody has any feelings? I bet it was a great show, and any one of us could have traded places with that hack and written a better review. Harumph!

[The Duke of Ingmar]

I thought "Kitty" was about a man who had to choose going to sea rather than go to jail.

To me it´s always been about a man who was sentenced to lots of years in jail but is able to escape right in time. Not necessarily across the sea, as I always took "in a day I´ll be over the mountain" literally. So to me he just runs away and hides somewhere in the country, looking for refuge.

[barbinberkeley]

Hi Duke. I remember hearing somewhere that back in the old days when the only way to transport trade items was by land or ship, a person might be offered the choice of working on the ship or rotting in a prison cell. This is what I think it's about. The tragedy of a man forced to make that awful choice gives that song such drama and pathos, it's hard to hear sometimes, and yet, there is hope that they'll be reunited someday. When he "sadly kissed her pale lips" the picture comes up before my eyes. Powerful song, beautifully delivered.

[DrugProwlingWolf]

I like how the dude says Love You Til The End is a more tender, heartfelt song than Shane could ever write even though Shane is the guy who fuckin' wrote Rainy Night In Soho, which (no offense) is an almost objectively superior song in terms of sheer romantic ethos.

[The Duke of Ingmar]

Hi Duke. I remember hearing somewhere that back in the old days when the only way to transport trade items was by land or ship, a person might be offered the choice of working on the ship or rotting in a prison cell. This is what I think it's about. The tragedy of a man forced to make that awful choice gives that song such drama and pathos, it's hard to hear sometimes, and yet, there is hope that they'll be reunited someday. When he "sadly kissed her pale lips" the picture comes up before my eyes. Powerful song, beautifully delivered.

Thanks for the background info ! Never heard of that before, but it makes great sense. And agreed, The Pogues` version is a beautiful piece of music.

I think Shane once said that he only knew one or two people from outside his family and the Tipperary area who knew this song before the Pogues played it. Does anyone know who recorded earlier versions of this song ?

[Clash Cadillac]

Hi Duke. I remember hearing somewhere that back in the old days when the only way to transport trade items was by land or ship, a person might be offered the choice of working on the ship or rotting in a prison cell. This is what I think it's about. The tragedy of a man forced to make that awful choice gives that song such drama and pathos, it's hard to hear sometimes, and yet, there is hope that they'll be reunited someday. When he "sadly kissed her pale lips" the picture comes up before my eyes. Powerful song, beautifully delivered.

Thanks for the background info ! Never heard of that before, but it makes great sense. And agreed, The Pogues` version is a beautiful piece of music.

I think Shane once said that he only knew one or two people from outside his family and the Tipperary area who knew this song before the Pogues played it. Does anyone know who recorded earlier versions of this song ?

The only information I was able to find on this song is here:

http://www.poguetry.com/roses.htm

[The Duke of Ingmar]

The only information I was able to find on this song is here:

http://www.poguetry.com/roses.htm

Thanks, Clash !

[barbinberkeley]

I was listening today to Kitty, and I think I was wrong about the going to sea idea. He says that tomorrow he'll be "over the mountain", so that makes it unlikely it's about the sea, and more likely that he's on the run. The next song on the album is The Leaving of Liverpool, so I guess I was mixing up the two songs together. Thanks for posting The Parting Glass website. I love to delve into what songs are about. I had no idea of the history told in so many Pogue songs.