Imagine if the problems with Stiff never happened.

[RICHB]

Why do I have a feeling that this has more too do with what the original poster feels the album (IISFFGWG) should have been like. No Fiesta and Metroplis swapped for two tunes that 'could' be considered more traditional (Rainy Night and Body). Phils comment regarding the missing pogues album which creaped out in other guises is intresting. Imagine stuff off Sid and Nancy, Straight to Hell and Poguetry thrown in with Magie May and it would have shown the pogues in a diff erent light. I know thats probably not what you meant. When I went to see the pogues in early 88 the next day I went and bought IISFFGWG and my mate went and bought Rum. We then swapped over the next day and I couldnt believe how different the two albums sounded and felt. Years later and many home made mega mixes of those albums later it no longer feels like that but it did at the time

[dsweeney]

This has always bugged the hell out of me. As I understand it, what became the superb " Poguetry in motion" e.p. was originally intended to be the start of work on the band's next album.Stiff got into diffuculties and the tracks they had were put out as the e.p. Imagine IISFFGWG with, for arguments sake, " The body of an American " instead of " Metropolis " and " A rainy night in Soho " instead of " Fiesta ". Jesus, what an album ! It would house arguably their two greatest ballads, Fairytale and ...Rainy night..." The American trilogy " idea of FONY, Body... and Thousands... would be intact. It would be me, for me, quite possibly one of, if not THE greatest albums ever recorded. It's close as it is. What might have been...!

Once again you seem to miss the point. "Metropolis" and "Fiesta" are BRILLIANT tracks (of course you don't have to like them, everybody to his / her own...) and are part of this wonderful LP called "IISFFGWG". They really fit into the whole thing as tremendous songs and make the album a variety of different musical styles and elements which work together in wonderful harmony and make "IISFFGWG" a stand-out LP to this date and beyond it. The album is so exciting because it combines so many different influences in so many great songs which make the album an out-of-this-world heavenly listening experience
I don't really understand your intention behind your post, but maybe I'm too young and dumb or whatever. And why don't you believe Phil Chevron? Don't get me wrong, I don't want to "defend" him (don't think I have to and don't consider myself in any position to do so) nor "lick anyones arse" as you once put it, but he is a member of the Pogues and has been since officially 1985 I believe. Why should he lie or tell stories the way they didn't happen? Of course everybody has his / her own memories of things and when you read "The story of the Pogues" by Carol Clerk, you'll find that various Pogues have got at times quite different recollections and personal experiences of the same events / situations. Anyway, I don't want to offend you! I really liked the discussion about "Peace and Love" and "Hell's Ditch" and I liked your sometimes challenging opinions which were quite interesting and it was great that you stood behind yourself. Well, as you can see while reading this post, I'm quite bored right now otherwise I wouldn't write so much gibberish

Good Health to you all!

Just because I don't happen to agree with you doesn't mean I "miss the point". If you have difficulty understanding a very simple concept then maybe you are, as you say, too young and dumb. It's not a question of not believing Phil, merely that I had read somewhere someone else's different recollection of events surrounding the E.P. If they were wrong, then that's that. I simply wondered what an album would have been like at that time, rather than the album that came out over a year and a half later.

[in_the_morning]

This has always bugged the hell out of me. As I understand it, what became the superb " Poguetry in motion" e.p. was originally intended to be the start of work on the band's next album.Stiff got into diffuculties and the tracks they had were put out as the e.p. Imagine IISFFGWG with, for arguments sake, " The body of an American " instead of " Metropolis " and " A rainy night in Soho " instead of " Fiesta ". Jesus, what an album ! It would house arguably their two greatest ballads, Fairytale and ...Rainy night..." The American trilogy " idea of FONY, Body... and Thousands... would be intact. It would be me, for me, quite possibly one of, if not THE greatest albums ever recorded. It's close as it is. What might have been...!

Once again you seem to miss the point. "Metropolis" and "Fiesta" are BRILLIANT tracks (of course you don't have to like them, everybody to his / her own...) and are part of this wonderful LP called "IISFFGWG". They really fit into the whole thing as tremendous songs and make the album a variety of different musical styles and elements which work together in wonderful harmony and make "IISFFGWG" a stand-out LP to this date and beyond it. The album is so exciting because it combines so many different influences in so many great songs which make the album an out-of-this-world heavenly listening experience
I don't really understand your intention behind your post, but maybe I'm too young and dumb or whatever. And why don't you believe Phil Chevron? Don't get me wrong, I don't want to "defend" him (don't think I have to and don't consider myself in any position to do so) nor "lick anyones arse" as you once put it, but he is a member of the Pogues and has been since officially 1985 I believe. Why should he lie or tell stories the way they didn't happen? Of course everybody has his / her own memories of things and when you read "The story of the Pogues" by Carol Clerk, you'll find that various Pogues have got at times quite different recollections and personal experiences of the same events / situations. Anyway, I don't want to offend you! I really liked the discussion about "Peace and Love" and "Hell's Ditch" and I liked your sometimes challenging opinions which were quite interesting and it was great that you stood behind yourself. Well, as you can see while reading this post, I'm quite bored right now otherwise I wouldn't write so much gibberish

Good Health to you all!

Just because I don't happen to agree with you doesn't mean I "miss the point". If you have difficulty understanding a very simple concept then maybe you are, as you say, too young and dumb. It's not a question of not believing Phil, merely that I had read somewhere someone else's different recollection of events surrounding the E.P. If they were wrong, then that's that. I simply wondered what an album would have been like at that time, rather than the album that came out over a year and a half later.

Well you accused him for "historical revision by epic proportions" or something like that, that's what I find so ludicrous. Anyway, no quarrel about different opinions / tastes... just don't like this "What might have been if they ....." Ciao.

[dsweeney]

That's fair comment, Inthe..., I did accuse him of historical revisionism.
But my mistake was to take something at face value written by somebody else ( possibly Ann Scanlon from her book " The lost decade " ). If she was in fact wrong, then I totally accept that.

[philipchevron]

That's fair comment, Inthe..., I did accuse him of historical revisionism.
But my mistake was to take something at face value written by somebody else ( possibly Ann Scanlon from her book " The lost decade " ). If she was in fact wrong, then I totally accept that.

If there is any merit at all in my being a regular Medusan, it surely resides in the Horse's Mouth factor. If 20 year old books are a more reliable source, then you may as well call me a Horse's Arse.

[soulfinger]

That's fair comment, Inthe..., I did accuse him of historical revisionism.
But my mistake was to take something at face value written by somebody else ( possibly Ann Scanlon from her book " The lost decade " ). If she was in fact wrong, then I totally accept that.

If there is any merit at all in my being a regular Medusan, it surely resides in the Horse's Mouth factor. If 20 year old books are a more reliable source, then you may as well call me a Horse's Arse.

What Ms Scanlon actually says (page 87) is:

The Pogues spent the next two weeks in the studio. They had eventually abandoned "Fairytale of New York" and opted instead for an EP. "In a sense we felt that the time was right to do album," says Philip, but Rum, Sodomy & the Lash had only just come out. So rather than doing a single we decided to show four different sides to the group."

It would appear she got what she said from the right end of the horse.

[dsweeney]

Obviously what I remembered over the mists of time is the " We felt it was time to do an album " bit, from PC himself, no less. A reasonable mistake to make, I would have thought.