A remarkable 5CD Box Set by The Pogues, at least three quarters of which comprises previously unreleased material while the remainder is made up of decidedly hard-to-find Pogues' rarities.
Compiled by The Pogues with track by track annotations from Phil Chevron, there are a bountiful 109 tracks from 1983 demos (pre-dating their first recordings for Stiff Records) through to live recordings from 2001 when The Pogues re-convened for a series of memorable live shows for the first time since they disbanded in 1996.
'Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say... Pogue Mahone' is an absolute treasure trove of unreleased recordings for all Pogues' fans, spanning their entire career and featuring rehearsal recordings, b-sides, out-takes, rare mixes, BBC sessions plus recordings with Steve Earle, Joe Strummer and, of course, Kirsty MacColl.
Alongside these are unreleased soundtrack recordings from Sid and Nancy, and rarities from the films Garbo and Straight To Hell, alternate versions of Pogues' classics like "Fairytale Of New York" and "Rainy Night In Soho" and a generous selection of live recordings. These include full-throttle live recordings from Barrowlands, Glasgow in 1987 and The Pogues featuring Joe Strummer from the Forum in London, December 1991 where they perform Clash favourites "London Calling" and "I Fought The Law". The box set rounds off with live tracks from The Pogues' triumphant reunion shows at Brixton running up to Christmas 2001.
Including original songs never before released and covers such as the Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe In Magic", Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction", The Faces' "Maggie May" plus more traditional fare like Ewan MacColl's "Hot Ashphalt" and "North Sea Holes", this collection presents a true alternative picture of The Pogues' irrepressible career, an extraordinarily rich addendum to their already available recorded works.
Currently on tour in America, The Pogues are already scheduled to play a number of major festivals this summer including Ireland's Oxegen Festival and T In the Park in July and the V Festivals in August 2008.
Tracklist:
Disc: 1
1. Kerry Polka
2. Rocky Road To Dublin
3. Boys From The County Hell
4. NW3
5. Donegal Express/The Hen And The Cock Go To Carrickmacross
6. Do You Believe In Magic
7. Hot Asphalt
8. Danny Boy
9. Maggie May
10. Haunted
11. Travelling People
12. Eve Of Destruction
13. My Baby's Gone
14. North Sea Holes
15. Garbo
16. Last Of McGee
17. Afro Cuban Bebop - Strummer, Joe & The Astro-Physicians
18. Young Ned Of The Hill
19. Pinned Down/I'm Alone In The Wilderness
20. When The Ship Comes In
21. Waxie's Dargle
Disc: 2
1. Repeal Of The Licensing Laws
2. Dark Streets Of London
3. Greenland Whale Fisheries
4. Streams Of Whiskey
5. Auld Triangle
6. Poor Paddy On The Railway
7. Sea Shanty
8. Transmetropolitan
9. Kitty
10. Boys From The County Hell
11. Connemara Let's Go
12. Billy's Bones
13. Old Main Drag
14. Sally MacLennane
15. Town That Never Sleeps
16. Something Wild
17. Driving Through The City
18. Rainy Night In Soho
19. Fairytale Of New York
20. Fairytale Of New York
21. Fairytale Of New York
22. Navigator
Disc: 3
1. Aria
2. Good The Bad And The Ugly
3. Haunted
4. Love Theme
5. Junk Theme
6. Glued Up And Speeding
7. Paris
8. Needle For Paddy Garcia
9. JB 57
10. Bowery Snax/Spiked
11. Hot Dogs With Everything
12. Rince Del Emplacada
13. Rake At The Gates Of Hell
14. Turkish Song Of The Damned
15. If I Should Fall From Grace With God
16. Battle March
17. Lullaby Of London
18. Shanne Bradley
19. Streets Of Sorrow
20. Thousands Are Sailing
21. Balinalee
22. Nicaragua Libre
23. Japan
Disc: 4
1. Sally MacLennane
2. Pair Of Brown Eyes
3. Kitty
4. Maggie May
5. Dirty Old Town
6. Sickbed Of Cuchulainn
7. Fiesta
8. If I Should Fall From Grace With God
9. Johnny Come Lately Steve Earle
10. Boat Train
11. Night Train To Lorca
12. Mistle Thrush
13. Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do
14. Victoria
15. Murder
16. Lust For Vomit
17. Wake Of The Medusa
18. Black Dogs Ditch
19. Aisling
20. Murder
21. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
22. Maidrin Rua
23. Johnny Come Lately
Disc: 5
1. Johnny Was - Sexy Bongo
2. Miss Otis Regrets/Just One Of Those Things
3. All The Tears That I Cried
4. The One And Only
5. Afro-Cuban Be-Bop (Single version)
6. Turkish Song Of The Damned (Live at the Forum)
7. London Calling (Live at the Forum, London, December 1991)
8. I Fought The Law (Live at the Forum)
9. The Girl From The Wadi-Hammamat
10. Moving To Moldova
11. Call My Name
12. The Sun And The Moon
13. Living In A World Without Her
14. Who Said Romance Is Dead?
15. Sound Of The City Night
16. Four O'Clock In The Morning
17. The Star Of The County Down (Live at Brixton Academy)
18. White City (Live at Brixton Academy)
19. Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant / The Rocky Road To Dublin / The Galway Races(Live at Brixton Academy)
20. The Parting Glass/Lord Santry's Fairest Daughter (Live at Brixton Academy)
Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say... Pogue Mahone: the Pogues Box Set on amazon.co.uk
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