Some ghostly good tunes for you gallivanting ghouls…
Bessie Smith – Haunted House Blues
Bobby Picket – The Monster Mash
Ryan Adams – Halloween (UK bonus track)
The Pogues – Boys From the County Hell
Volcano Suns – Descent into Hell
Tag Archive for 'the-pogues'
30
Oct
Happy Halloween
17
Mar
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Can’t believe it’s taken me this long to post about this amazing five disc Pogues box set lovingly compiled by their own Phil Chevron. After all, it made my best of 2008 list. What better time to rectify the situation than today? This is no mere odds n’ sods set. It includes gleaming gems like “Maggie May” (which I had the good fortune of seeing at The Filmore in 1986), a couple of tracks from Joe Strummer’s stint replacing Shane McGowan (criminally not the haunting version of “Straight To Hell”), and demos galore (including what the band feels is the best song never to make it onto a Pogues record, “NW3,” which would appear as “Mother Mó Chrói” on a Shane solo record. Another favorite of mine is the Sexy Bongo track “Johnny Was.” This comes from a legendary episode in Pogues history where Andrew Ranken, Darryl Hunt, Jem Finer, James Fernly and Phil Chevron formed their own opening act for just one show in Sweden. They wrote all the material at the sound check and performed it that evening, never to be repeated. Phil swears the majority of the crowd had no idea who they were. So here are some of the live highlights for you on this fine Paddy’s day:
From the BBC’s David “Kid” Jensen show, 6/21/84
From the BBC’s Janice Long show, 10/10/86
If I Should Fall From Grace With God
From The Barrowlands, Glasgow, 12/17-19/87
With Joe Strummer from The Forum, London, 12/12/91
19
Dec
Fairytale of New York
The greatest Christmas song ever.
25
Jun
Nips reunion
Before he had the flash of brilliance to blend traditional Irish music with punk’s snotty middle finger in The Pogues and blossomed into one of the greatest songwriters of the late 80′s Shane MacGowan fronted The Nipple Erectors, a reckless and unflinching band even by circa 1977 British punk standards. Shane was a fixture of the Sex Pistols scene. If you’re watching any documentary about that period (particularly the highly recommended “The Filth And The Fury”) and see a shot of the crowd at those seminal punk gigs be patient, it’s only a matter of time before he comes pogo-ing into the frame.
Well just a few weeks ago those very Nipple Erectors (shortened to Nips following the release of their first single) reunited for their first show in close to 30 odd years at the legendary 100 Club as a surprise guest supporting The Cute Lepers and Johnny Moped. The following videos provide an interesting before and after study.
The Nips at the 100 Club May 6, 2008
Compare that with this vid from German TV circa 1978
There are a couple more dates (and a whole bunch of songs) on The Nips myspace page but Shane does not appear to be participating.
Two long out of print singles that appeared on the defunct Chiswick label:
