Songs to get jiggy to! (The Best Of The Pogues - Pogues)

Member Name: rose_haire

Product:	The Best Of The Pogues - Pogues
Date:	22/12/00 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: some excellent tracks

Disadvantages: songs get a bit samey after a while

My dad got this for christmas 2 years ago and I have to admit I slagged him off for having it something chronic! However recently I have started to really like the pogues due to the advent of Napster; all my uni friends download constantly and they came across the Pogues through Fairytale Of New York, their most famous song. Before long everyone in the house was fake jigging around the room while singing the lyrics we had downloaded from the Net. I like to say that I liked them way back when but the truth is that I dissed them way back when!!

The Pogues are James Fearnley, Terry Woods, Philip Chevron, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, Andrew Ranken, Darryl Hunt and most famously Shane MacGowan. What I like about this band is that they are actually a band, each of them plays an instrument really well and all the tracks are well orchestrated; they have a really "big" feel. I think this is why they get everyone up and jigging! The songs also have infectious melodies, and let's face it, hearing Shane sing convinces anyone they can sing the songs!

Here are some of the best tracks on the CD

1 Fairytale of New York
The most famous Pogues song with the excellent Kirsty MacColl (sadly departed this week). This is in my Top Ten Christmas songs even though it's not cheesy! It's about Irish immigrants in New York and shows someone else's experience of Christmas. Everyone loves this one, it's really anti-sentimental and also has a great tune and chorus. The instrumentals are particularly fine as always.

2 Sally MacLennane
My favourite song on the CD. This one is a very upbeat number guaranteed to have everyone up jumping around the room! It's about a little town in Ireland and people leaving it behind to emigrate. A lot of the Pogues' songs are updates of traditional songs and this can be seen here.

3 Dirty Old Town
The tempo slows a bit here. Another trad song updated. This is a strange son
g about urban life that will be familiar to most Irish people as it has been sung by the Dubliners among others. I'm not quite sure what I think of it as I'm not quite sure what it's about but as always the tune is great as is the instrumentation.

4 The Irish Rover
A VERY famous Irish song about emigration to America and the conditions about the ships that took the Irish to the USA. It's about leaving Cork in 1806 for New York and all the supplies brought abouard the ship, apparently millions of rags, stone, old blind horses hides, bones, hogs, dogs and porter. In a way it's a depressing song as by the end the ship has sunk and everyone on board has drowned. However, it's upbeat and a real dancer!

5 A Pair Of Brown Eyes
One of the slower songs on the album. It's about being drunk (!) and remembering that's you've lost your love. "And a roving a roving a roving I'll go for a pair of brown eyes". This one's really sad and not ashamed of it!

6 Streams Of Whiskey
This one is about travelling wherever the wind may blow. Anti-depressing songs as it says "There's nothing ever gained by a wet tear", which seems to contradict A Pair Of Brown Eyes but it doesn't really matter in such a good album.

8 Fiesta
This one's got a Latino feel that is really great. The tempo varies vastly within the song which makes it really interesting. It shows off the Pogues' talent that they can pull of a song in a really different style when they are perceived to be very style-driven. This is a great party track. There's also a verse in Spanish which is pretty random.

The album goes a bit downhill after that, the songs get less and less memorable. However, there is a continuity in the album which makes it well worth buying for anyone who wants songs to throw themselves around the room to!

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