The Pogues - The Very Best Of The Pogues torrent

Ireland's prodigal son, or whiskey-sodden tragedy case? As frontman for the Pogues, Shane MacGowan always managed to combine the two into one gloriously drunken whole. In the years between 1983 and 1991, the Pogues--their name derived from the Gaelic for "kiss my arse"--released five albums marrying the melodies of traditional Irish folk to the energy of punk-rock and rockabilly. It's the tracks on The Very Best Of, drawn from The Pogues' two most celebrated albums--Rum, Sodomy and the Lash and If I Should Fall from Grace with God--that find the band on top form; see the drunken Yuletime feud of "Fairytale of New York" featuring the late Kirsty MacColl, or the violent pint-downer of "The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn". A look beyond the drinking songs, however, and it may come as a surprise to many that MacGowan's lyrics touch on The Big Themes--romance, misery, pride and self-destruction--with a rare eloquence; the raw emotions played out in the likes of "The Old Main Drag"--a bare, honest tale of poverty and addiction, the young MacGowan "spat on and shat on and raped and abused"--are a reminder that the Pogues may have been seldom sober, but they were never anything less than utterly human. --Louis Pattison

"Fairytale of New York" (Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer)
"Sally MacLennane" (MacGowan)
"Dirty Old Town" (Ewan MacColl)
"The Irish Rover" (Traditional, arr. The Pogues & The Dubliners)
"A Pair of Brown Eyes" (MacGowan)
"Streams of Whiskey" (MacGowan)
"Rainy Night in Soho" (MacGowan)
"Fiesta" (MacGowan, Finer, Kotscher, Lindt)
"Rain Street" (MacGowan)
"Misty Morning, Albert Bridge" (Finer)
"White City" (MacGowan)
"Thousands Are Sailing" (Phil Chevron)
"The Broad Majestic Shannon" (MacGowan)
"The Body of an American" (MacGowan)