-WARNERS/RHINO POGUES BOX SET DUE June, 2008

[DownInTheGround]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere. They gave it a rather good 8.5 out of 10

The Pogues:
Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say...Poguemahone!!
[Rhino UK; 2008]
Rating: 8.5

Pitchfork
Stephen M. Deusner
July 15, 2008

Full URL

The Pogues were an unlikely post-punk success: Irish artists from England who filtered rowdy punk and hard-drinking pub rock through Celtic traditions. The latter they treated as a birthright rather than a burden, not simply updating well-worn sounds but finding old ways to play new styles, which gives them a rough-and-tumble quality that tends to thwart most polished attempts to define their particular appeal. Today it seems difficult to imagine any group with a tin whistle becoming as big as the Pogues, especially without being derided as gimmicky or disrespectful-- accusations once regularly leveled at the band. They were anything but. There's a reverence in their irreverence, and respect in their range of styles and emotions: the boozily sentimental, the grandly cinematic, the snarlingly raucous, and the desperately personal. The Pogues played a barnstormer like "The Sickbed of Cuchulainn" as adeptly as a genuinely lovely and forlorn tune like "A Pair of Brown Eyes", but acted as though they refused to see the distinctions between them.

Before and after their initial break-up in 1996 (they've reformed to tour since then), there have been several retrospectives of varying depth and quality attempting to convey the band's innovation and impact: one-disc surface skimmers like The Essential Pogues from 1991, which collect their biggest hits, and two-disc career sum-ups like The Ultimate Collection in 2005, which dig a bit deeper. Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say... Poguemahone!!-- Poguemahone, the band's original name, means "Kiss my arse"-- is a very different creature. For starters, it's a 5xCD behemoth, making it the largest Pogues retrospective to date. No mere autobiography, it's a musical tome. Furthermore, rather than rehash the band's most well-known moments, this secret history of its tumultuous career scrapes together B-sides, extended singles, alternate takes, live tracks, covers, compilation cuts, pretty much everything they contributed to the Sid & Nancy soundtrack (used or unused), demos that were previously lost, demos that were never lost, demos that they might wish were lost-- in general, the musical detritus a band accumulates over three decades.

This type of vault-cleaning release can be as flummoxing as it is revelatory. By their very nature, these tracks were at some point judged inferior to those that eventually made their way onto albums or singles. Most often, a release like this works better as a historical document than as a musical experience, filling in the gaps in the band's catalog and reminding you how great said band's studio albums are. Compiled by guitarist Philip Chevron, Poguemahone nods to this expectation. Or, as drummer Andrew Ranken scrawls in the liners: "As for this monstrous pile of bullshit which was left on the cutting room floor, and probably should have been carefully incinerated, (or returned to its rightful owner), it just feels to me like the last squeeze of a desiccated teat that dangles from the shriveled udder of a mired to its knees in the bog skeletal cow unto which a foul cowman has been sent to milk. Jaysus!"

But the Pogues are better represented by a monstrous pile of cowshit than a shiny, carefully curated box set that politely considers their place in 1980s British rock, which is why Poguemahone is more satisfying than any of their glorified greatest hits. In fact, that might be the key to their long career and continued appeal, the very reason we're discussing them as a box-settable band rather than a one-off Stiff Records curiosity. They'd rather say "kiss my ass" than kiss yours, which means for Pogues enthusiasts, this box will be a fucking godsend, full of rare tracks that the most diehard will have heard and many more that will be completely new.

Because the set covers the full breadth of their career, these five discs emphasize a constant rotation of singers and musicians (each line-up is listed separately in the liners) rather than focusing on their 1980s heyday. The lumbering, slurring Shane MacGowan is less of a presence here than expected. Even so, he's as unavoidable as the drunk in the doorway, and Poguemahone makes a convincing case for his talents as both a songwriter and as a singer. The live tracks from Rum Sodomy & the Lash, especially their energetic reading of "Sally MacLennane" show his mastery over a crowd, and his raucous take on "Do You Believe in Magic?", an outtake from the EP Poguetry in Motion, avoids the pisstake and constitutes a credible, even inspired cover. Kirsty MacColl, MacGowan's best vocal foil, gets several songs on these five discs, and her voice, as always, ranges from withering contempt to devastating heartbreak in the span of a single syllable. Next to them, the other Pogues singers-- Cait O'Riordan, Spider Stacy, and Jem Finer chief among them-- can sound a bit indistinctive. Perhaps the biggest disappointments are the live cuts with Joe Strummer, who served a brief tenure in the band in the 1990s. These live versions of "London Calling" and "I Fought the Law" sound like any other Clash cover band. Better are the two versions of Steve Earle's "Johnny Come Lately"-- the studio take from his 1988 album Copperhead Road and a live cut with Stacy on vocals.

"Fairytale of New York", the Pogues' holiday chestnut is included here three times. The 1986 demo features MacGowan, Elvis Costello on piano, and enough missed notes to suggest they're all making it up as they go along. The two from the following year show how the song developed over time, finally leading to the Steve Lillywhite version on If I Should Fall from Grace With God in 1988. Other best-of fodder, like "A Pair of Brown Eyes" and "Turkish Song of the Damned", are included in solid live cuts, and the 12" single remix of "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" launches into an extensive jam that sounds like the Pogues are truly enjoying their disgrace. Such inclusions make Poguemahone a good introduction to the band, although newcomers are still strongly encouraged to pick up Rum Sodomy & the Lash. However, the best songs here are those from the darkest corners of their catalog, such as the delicate Peace & Love outtake "The Mistlethrush" and the raggedy instrumental demo "Lust for Vomit", which portray the band with all their compelling flaws intact. All in all, a monumental pile of cowshit in the best possible way.

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© 2008 Pitchfork Media, Inc.

[philipchevron]

Thank you for posting this - it's a remarkably well-considered appraisal.

[DrugProwlingWolf]

Don't know if you know this, Philip, but pitchfork is the website all the hipster college kids go to so they can pretend they have their own opinions about music. Now that pitchfork's reviewed it, all the hipsters are going to speak very highly of this boxset.

Myself, I'm glad they gave it such a considerate review. Pitchfork likes to dismiss a lot of punk acts to sound hipper-than-thou (their review of Joe Strummer's Streetcore was basically a page of "he's dead and I'm so callous that I could totally take this album or leave it"), so this is a good change of pace.

[Alex]

Mit ohne Zähne ist immer schön

Folkpunk Ein Fünf-CD-Boxset mit 110 Songs der Pogues

Von Holger True

Was ist das hier alles? Ein Haufen zweifelhafter Pogues-Nummern, die zur Zeit ihrer Entstehung nicht gut genug waren, um veröffentlicht zu werden?", fragt Pogues-Mitglied Philip Chevron im Booklet der Fünf-CD-Box "Just Look Them Straight In The Eye And Say... Pogue Mahone!" und weiß die Antwort doch genau: Eher ist das Gegenteil der Fall. Was umso mehr überrascht, als diese Zusammenstellung nicht einfach die sieben Studioalben der irischen Band aneinanderreiht und mit ein paar Demos aufwertet, sondern unbedingter Pflichtkauf auch für jene Fans ist, die schon alles offizielle Material besitzen.

Im Detail: 110 Songs befinden sich auf "Just Look...", darunter ein Hidden Track ("Goodnight Irene" auf CD 5). 82 davon waren bisher unveröffentlicht und manches nicht einmal Hardcore-Sammlern ein Begriff. Beispielsweise die Bootleg-10-Inch "The Donegal Express/The Travelling People" von der nach Chevrons Recherche weltweit nur noch zwei Exemplare existieren - eines in Deutschland und eines Japan. Auch wenn dies die größte Rarität der Box ist, an seltenem Material herrscht hier kein Mangel: Da gibt's Coverversionen von "Maggie May" (Rod Stewart), "Eve Of Destruction" (Barry McGuire) oder "London Calling" (The Clash) ebenso wie eine Bearbeitung von "Japan", einer Nummer der Free-Jazz-Legende Pharoah Sanders!

Hochinteressant: die drei Demo-Versionen des Pogues-Hits "Fairytale Of New York", an denen sich sehr gut die Entwicklung des Songs nachvollziehen lässt. Kurios: das Instrumental "Lust For Vomit". Mitreißend: die sechs Live-Tracks aus dem Barrowlands-Club in Glasgow. Ungewöhnlich: die zahlreichen Soundtrack-Beiträge für Filme wie "Straight To Hell" oder "Sid & Nancy". Und dann ist da noch "Nicaragua", eine Art Revolutions-Hymne über die Ur-Pogue Spider Stacy sagt: "Ich hatte gehofft, den Song nie wieder hören zu müssen." In der Tat, nicht die größte aller Pogues-Nummern, aber ein unentbehrliches Zeitdokument. Apropos Dokument: Das etwa 60-seitige Begleitbuch ist ein wunderbarer Nostalgie-Trip, inklusive Bandgeschichte, persönlichen Erinnerungen der Beteiligten und zahllosen starken Fotos. Vor allem Sänger und Komatrinker Shane MacGowan mit ohne Zähne ist doch immer wieder schön.

In diesem Sommer sind die Pogues auf einigen Festivals in Irland und Großbritannien zu erleben, im Winter könnte es ein paar Auftritte in London geben. Fans in aller Welt fiebern dem schon jetzt entgegen - wer diese Box hört, weiß warum.

http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2008/07/24/911320.html

GREAT REVIEW

---------------------------------------

WELT ONLINE bespricht die wichtigsten neuen Platten der Woche. Heute: Die Plattenfirma Rhino gibt aus ihrem Archiv Folk-Schätze der Pogues preis...

The Pogues: Just Look Them Straight In The Eye And Say... Pogue Mahone! (Rhino)
Die Plattenfirma hat der feuchtfröhlichsten Folkband aller Zeiten 1984 untersagt, sich Pogue Mahone zu nennen. „Póg mo thóin“ ist gälisch und bedeutet: Küss mir meinen Hintern. Vielleicht hätte die Verballhornung zu „Pogue Mahone“ kein Mensch verstanden.
Plattenfirmen mahnen allerdings traditionell zur Vorsicht. Zimperlich gingen die Pogues mit sich und ihrer Zielgruppe eher selten um. Die Bandkarriere war ein einziges Gelage, dessen irritierender Höhepunkt darin bestand, den Sänger wegen seiner Trunksucht zu entlassen. Shane MacGowans Zähne boten keinen schönen Anblick. Doch der Sänger hauchte dem von Hippies ruinierten Folk eine Art Seele ein, was auf den Platten nicht immer zu hören war.
Heute verdient die Plattefirma ungeteiltes Lob, sie hat die Schätze aus ihrem Archiv gehoben. Fünf CDs, verbunden mit dem titelgebenden Aufruf, „Pogue Mahone“ in jedes ratlose Gesicht zu lallen. Man kann ungereinigte mit radiofreundlichen Versionen vergleichen. Man hört Heimaufnahmen, Dubs, Joe Strummer, Filmmusik, John-Peel-Sitzungen und Rod Stewarts „Maggie May“ als Folkfassung im Vollrausch. Im Begleitbuch ist sogar die Handschrift einer imponierenden Getränkeliste abgedruckt.

http://www.welt.de/kultur/article2226118/Die_Pogues__wahrhaft_feuchtfroehlicher_Folk.html

Bad review...
Pogues = Drunken folk punk band, fired their singer for beeing too drunk
Shane = bad teeth, on some of his recordings he brang soul to the ruined folkscene
Rhino = good, because Mr Rhino made all the tracks of the boxset availble

[meowhouse]

Took me a second to realize this post title was in German. I thought it said something else than it does.

They're so silly, Pogues aren't drunk anymore. Except Shane and even he might not be "drunk"; merely "drinking."

[DownInTheGround]

Yay I'm a hipster maybe not knowing exactly what a hipster is does infact qualify me for the title?

Either way Pitchfork normally seems a pretty sensible website. i.e it does not get swept away with Coldplay and Muse! nd its reveiews are pretty wel written with enough time passed from release to make an informed write-up. On the otherhan if they had given it a 3 then I would be here complaining as much as anyone.

[O'Blivion]

Ah! An opportunity to use my favorite Surrealist text modifier, the
Babelfish! This should be good!

The first one:

Folkpunk, a five-CD box set with 110 of song of the Pogues Of Holger True. What here - is that everything? A heap of doubtful Pogues numbers, which were not good at present their emergence enough, in order to be published? " , Pogues member asks Philip Chevron in the Booklet of the five-CD box " Just Look Them Straight in The Eye and Say… Pogue Mahone! " and the answer knows nevertheless exactly: Rather the opposite is the case. Which all the more surprises, when this compilation lines up not simply the seven studio albums, the Irish volume and revalues also a few demos, but absolute obligation purchase also for those fans is, that already possess all official material. In the detail: 110 of song is on " Just look… " , among them a Hidden TRACK (" Goodnight Irene" on CD 5). 82 of it was so far unpublished and some not even hard core collecting tanks a term. For example, the boat putting 10-inches " The Donegal Express/The Travelling People", from after Chevron's the search world-wide only two copies exist - one in Germany and Japan. Even if this is the largest rare piece of the box, at rare material here no lack prevails: There gibt' s Coverversionen of " Maggie May" (Rod Stewart), " Eve OF Destruction" (Barry McGuire) or " London Calling" (The Clash) just like a treatment of " Japan" , a number of the Free jazz legend Pharoah of Sanders! Most interesting: the three demo versions of the Pogues hit " Fairytale OF New York " , at which very well the development of the song can be reconstructed. Strange: the instrument valley " Desire For Vomit". Dragging along: the six Live TRACKs from the Barrowlands club in Glasgow. Unusually: the numerous sound TRACK contributions for films as " Straight ton of Hell" or " Sid & Nancy". And then is there still "Nicaragua" , a kind revolution hymn over the Ur-Pogue Spider Stacy says: " I had hoped, the song never again hear too müssen." Indeed, not the largest of all Pogues numbers, but an indispensable time document. Apropos document: That for instance 60-seitige instruction book is a marvelous nostalgia Trip, inclusive volume history, personal memories of the involved ones and countless strong photos. Above all, singer and coma drunkard Shane MacGowan also without teeth are nevertheless again and again beautiful. In this summer the Pogues on some festivals in Ireland and Great Britain is to be experienced, in the winter it could give a few appearances in London. Fans in all world have a temperature already against - who hears this box, white why.



My favorite line:

Above all, singer and coma drunkard Shane MacGowan also without teeth are nevertheless again and again beautiful.


...hmmm..note to self: perhaps that should be my sig?

the second one:

The Pogues: Just look Them Straight in The Eye and Say… Pogue Mahone! (Rhino)

The record company forbade the damp-merriest Folkband of all times 1984 to call itself Pogue Mahone.
„Póg mo thóin “is gälisch and meant: Kiss me my back. Perhaps the Verballhornung would have understood
too „Pogue Mahone “no humans. Record companies remind however traditionally to the caution. Squeamish
ones dealt the Pogues with itself and their target group rather rarely. The volume career was only one Gelage,
whose irritating high point consisted of dismissing the singer because of its drunkenness craze. Shane MacGowans
of teeth did not offer beautiful sight. But the singer hauchte the Folk a kind soul ruined by Hippies, which was not
to be heard on the plates always. Today the plate company earns undivided praise, it the treasures from its archives
lifted. Five CD, connected with the title-giving call to lallen „Pogue Mahone “into each helpless face. One can compare
uncleaned with radio-friendly versions. One hears home photographs, Dubs, Joe Strummer, film music, John Peel
meetings and Rod Stewarts „Maggie May “as Folkfassung in the full intoxication. In the instruction book even the
handwriting of an impressive beverage list is printed.

[philipchevron]

"What here - is that everything? A heap of doubtful Pogues numbers, which were not good at present their emergence enough, in order to be published? ", Pogues member asks Philip Chevron in the Booklet

Gee, I just wish I'd put it more eloquently than that.

[meowhouse]

Took me a second to realize this post title was in German. I thought it said something else than it does.

They're so silly, Pogues aren't drunk anymore. Except Shane and even he might not be "drunk"; merely "drinking."

By the way, now that nobody can figure out what I meant by the above. What's shocking about "Two german reviews of the Boxset"?

The thread title used to be "Die Pogues" (and then something about reviews)--meaning, "The Pogues" in German. So at first glance I looked askance at who would have the nerve to post that here.

For example, the boat putting 10-inches

Can't figure this one out. Reference to Drunken Boat, maybe?

[firehazard]

For example, the boat putting 10-inches

Can't figure this one out. Reference to Drunken Boat, maybe?

The original German reads, "the bootleg 10-inch". It's a fine example of unnecessary Babelfish translating.

(Actually, of course, to be pedantic, the original German says it in German. Of course.)

[meowhouse]

AH, that makes much more sense!

I had a little fun using Babelfish to translate the English translation to German and then back to English again and it changes to say that Shane is a coma boozer, not a coma drunkard. I prefer the former, definitely.

[Mick Molloy]

Really positive review!

http://www.volkskrantblog.nl/bericht/210442

Babelfish translation

To cry and jump with The Pogues
Placed on 09-07-2008 20:04 by Gijsbert chamber in category art

The last days, or rather said nights, spent with Just garlic Them Straight in the Eye and Say Pogue Mahone! , five cd' s counting box with rare or onuitgebracht material of The Pogues. I have been since I in 1984, for the first time at John Peel in its weekly uurtje radio for the VPRO Streams or Whiskey a supporter of them heard and considers Shane MacGowan beside Morrissey as the largest text tekstdichter whom the British islands in the years eighty have produced. I expected therefore many of these by link member Philp chevron (he wrote among others to Thousands are Sailing, of the better songs from Pogues-catalogus, but I had not expected the emotions as a result of which I was overcome gradually, also. All the second song was home. The Rocky Road To Dublin was well for an exuberant joy dance. Not only a fancy song, but also the way it is played, and especially the youthful not yet spirits and more terrible aangetastte let through voice of MacGowan the link on its best to hear. Most beautiful treasure is undoubtedly NW3, of MacGowans a strongest songs also textual, but a song which never further then demofase have come. The text appears, however, in the cord with Shanes texts, which Faber & Faber in 1989, published, but I did not know music It can measure himself with Rainy Night in Soho and The Old Main Drag, here too picks up MacGowan memories to its youth, and does that very moving. And then we are still just at song four…. Not everything here are of course even brilliant. The numbers which the link contributed to the soundtrack for Sid And Nancy do me little, just like the songs after 1991, then MacGowan from the link had been thrown and Spider Stacy if warbler was forward slid. But the vele live prerecordings and demo' s of for example Lullabye or London and Fairy Tale or New York is splendid. The genius of Shane was of course their most important weapon fact, as from the moment that he became always more incalculable and if tragic alcoholicus went and drug addicted by living, had he more and more to the other Pogues leave, as a result of which the plates after If I Should Fall From Grace With god (1988) became also less and less. Contribution of the other link members to the uniciteit of The Pogues enormous nevertheless was, thus was notable me. It were a couple excelling bandsmen, their sound was not only really unique. Especially the acoustic instruments borrowed from folk music (accordion, tin whistle) were played with an enormous strength and speed that music tended more to punk rock than to folk music. Or to soul music. I will forget never that John Peel save the question to its favoriete soul music plate of 1984 answered with Roses For me of The Pogues. That is it, thought I, it is no folk music and no punk rock it is indeed soul music. I frequently am to these soul music link will look at. In the Netherlands but also in United Kingdom where I in December 1988, entirely bovenin the Wembley sand experienced the link on their very best. It had been their best year, had started with the almost number 1 hit Fairy Tale or New York and finishing in a tour along the largest British rooms. Their plate from that year, If I Should Fall From Grace With god has become clear afterwards also their most complete. Peak at that London Christmas shows (I there there again saw them in 1990, and in 2001, at their first reunion concerts where also material of on the box stands) the dance that was Shane made with Kirsty MacColl during Fairy Tale or New York. MacColl, for the of Ewan of which the Pogues had many songs on their repertoire (Dirty Old Town!) on the box in the zonnetje it is rightly put. She was crossed in 2002, by a stalemate serum in Mexico, which goes such as that with people with much money and power is never continued. There for years an action Justice For Kirsty, runs where I heard a Christmas show of the Pogues for the first time of then I in 2004 visited in Glasgow. By it was collected, and the Christmas hit was now logically not sung MaColl but by the ancient bassist of The Pogues Cait O' Riordan. That was an emotional peak like there but is little. The complete aftermath of MacColls misfortune contains exactly the most lezenswaardige part of appeared biography concerning the singer, written by its mother Jean. Gladly had I also more read cooperated how them with Pogues had, but there do not come you know nothing, also concerning its work with that other headstock hero of me, Morrissey. Someone who stood both with Morrissey and with MacGowan on very good foot, which must be, however, a particular woman is. The songs on Pogues-box on which she is to hear, are anyway splendid. I go myself for this reason nevertheless what more in its work to deepen, which deserves them, however. This box an enormously rich supplement on the four years has been suffered already once regular albums of the link, again brought out with many bonus bonus-tracks. Cd from the box their best work, but the first six contains songs of cd 4, incorporated in 1987, in Glasgow let hear that there were in the years eighty none better British live-band. Nou yes, on The Smiths after perhaps, but that I have unfortunately only seen in 1984, in the Meervaart in Amsterdam, then I never of The Pogues had heard. Now am possible I for years no longer without. There times go beyond, sometimes a lot of months, which I do not listen there to, but if I then now Boys hear From The County Hell then want I nothing differently more hear. And it' s lend me 10 pounds and I' ll buy you drink a And mother vigil me early in the morning

[mats]

I love these translations - Just garlic Them Straight in the Eye and Say Pogue Mahone!

[Mick Molloy]

I love these translations - Just garlic Them Straight in the Eye and Say Pogue Mahone!

Haha yeah hadn't even noticed that, well 'look' is garlic in Dutch

[fluke]

Great review. Finaly by someone who seems to know what he's talking about.. (and that's not just because it's positive but it is without all the prejudice stories that are surrounding the pogues)