Philip Chevron remembered

Philip Chevron of The Pogues

Pogues guitarist Philip Chevron passed away today, after a battle with cancer. He was just 56.

Regarded as hugely influential on The Irish punk scene, he joined The Pogues around the time of their second album Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. While frontman Shane MacGowan remained much of the focus, Chevron was a songwriter for the band too, including ‘Lorelei’ on Peace and Love and ‘Thousands Are Sailing’ from If I Should Fall From Grace With God.

‘Thousands Are Sailing’ was not released as a single but remains one of their most-loved songs, dealing as many of their songs did with the Irish diaspora.

‘Lorelei’ sounds different from many of the Pogues other songs, and is no less affecting for that.

More Celtic Soul, Brothers?

pogues-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah

Celtic Soul would, I suppose, bring to mind the likes of Van Morrison, Dexy’s Midnight Runners (maybe Deacon Blue if I was feeling very generous)…but what about the Pogues?

The song that the Pogues are unquestionably best known for is, of course ‘F**ryt*l* *f N*W Y*rk’ which comes out every year, a festive favourite for the Post-punk generations and those that followed. In 1987 it reached no.2, capitalising on what had already been a pretty successful year chartwise for the Pogues, who had enjoyed their first ever Top Ten Hit earlier in 1987 with their collaboration with The Dubliners on ‘The Irish Rover.’

So…was there a Christmas no.1 contender from the Pogues twelve months later…? Well, yes…and no. ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah’ is certainly not a Christmassy sounding song, which might, partly, explain the reason it only reached no.43. It does have a lot of brass on it, and yet bares no relation to that year’s earlier hit ‘Fiesta.’ If the Pogues had wanted another tearjerker song, i suppose they could have issued another single off the fantastic If I Should Fall From Grace With God LP, ‘Thousands Are Sailing.’ But perhaps two Christmas singles in a row dealing with the Irish diaspora (well, sorta) might have been a bit much.

This track wasn’t on the next Pogues album, Peace and Love*

Anyway, this is an excellent track, so enjoy!

The Pogues -‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.’ mp3

BONUS!!

the-pogues-haunted
Another Pogues single that wasn’t included on an official Pogues studio album had been the 1986 no.42 (ouch!) single ‘Haunted.’ This song was notable for several reasons:

a) It isn’t Shane MacGowan singing but Cait O’Riordan, who had also sung lead on the track ‘A Man you Don’t Meet Every Day (on their peerless Rum, Sodomy and the Lash LP
b) It came out on MCA, not their usual company Stiff
c) It was on the soundtrack to the film Sid & Nancy.
d) It was the last single that O’Riordan did with the band, as she left to marry Elvis Costello.

The Pogues -‘Haunted.’ mp3

Several years later, MacGowan did record a version of ‘Haunted’ when he had ‘split’ from the Pogues, recorded with Sinead O’Connor:

Shane MacGowan & Sinead O’Connor -‘Haunted.’ mp3

*It was included on the re-issue, but the first Pogues album it appeared on was the compilation The Best Of The Rest Of the Pogues in 1992.

Some Covers For Saturday Part IV

Ok, I know I might have posted some of these before, but if you haven’t heard any of these before, I really think you ought to!

These tracks were on a 12″ single in 1992, and can now be found on a Nick cave compilation called Rarities…

Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan -‘What a wonderful World (Louis Armstrong cover).’ mp3

Nick Cave -‘Rainy Night In Soho (Pogues cover).’ mp3

Shane MacGowan -‘Lucy (Nick Cave cover).’ mp3

Dinosaur Jr’s take on the Cure’s classic as become legendary:

Dinosaur Jr -‘Just Like Heaven.’ mp3

This was a split 7″ single a couple of years back:

Franz Ferdinand -‘Get Up And Use Me (Fire Engines cover).’ mp3

Fire Engines -‘Jacqueline (Franz Ferdinand cover).’ mp3

These three songs are probably my favourite three cover versions of all time:

Schneider TM -‘The Light 3000 (Smiths cover).’ mp3 (AKA There Is A Light That Never Goes Out)

This Mortal Coil -‘Song To The Siren (Tim Buckley cover).’ mp3

Jeff Buckley -‘Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover).’ mp3

Three songs I haven’t posted before:

Siouxsie and the Banshees -‘This Wheel’s On Fire (Julie Driscoll and the Brian Auger trinity cover).’ mp3

Maria McKee -‘Has He Got a Friend For Me? (Richard Thompson cover).’ mp3

Elf Power -‘Upside Down (Jesus and Mary Chain cover).’ mp3

Some Covers For Saturday Part III

Well, I’ve got my USB turntable on the go again (not that it stopped working but it can be a time-consuming process) so here are a few goodies from the record collection.

The Swans were responsible for leading me to Joy Division. Aged eleven, I saw the video for their cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart on The Chart Show, a long-running UK TV show that every three weeks would do the Top Ten indie charts (the other two weeks being dance and Heavy Metal). Now the version I heard then had Michael Gira on vocals (anyone who has this please let me know etc..) but this version has the legendary Jarboe singing.

Swans -‘Love Will Tear Us Apart (Jarboe vocal).’ mp3

I said I would post it, and I have! A couple of years back, Franz Ferdinand and the Fire Engines issued a limited split 7″ (I love these! There is nothing more indie (in the old sense of the word) than a split 7″) of them covering one of the other’s songs.

Franz Ferdinand -‘Get Up And Use Me (Fire Engines cover).’ mp3

Fire Engines -‘Jacqueline (Franz Ferdinand cover).’ mp3

As a huge Cure fan, I was determined to track down a copy of this for years. A few times I thought I’d got it, only to wonder why every version seemed to cut off before the end. So when I found the 12″, I got it home to discover that…it’s how it’s meant to sound.

Dinosaur Jr -‘Just Like Heaven (The Cure cover).’ mp3

I thought this was a Nancy Griffith song -obviously without the swearing -but it was written by John Prine. Anyway, this is Alabama 3’s take on it.

Alabama 3 -‘Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness (John Prine cover).’ mp3

Finally, another record I spent years searching for (before it was eventually available on the B-sides and rarities triple CD compilation that came out in 2004). This single had Nick and Shane singing on the A-side together, before covering one of the other’s songs on the b-side.

Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan -‘What A Wondeful World (Louis Armstrong cover).’ mp3

Nick Cave -‘Rainy Night In Soho (Pogues cover).’ mp3

Shane MacGowan -‘Lucy (Nick Cave cover).’ mp3

These will be up for one week only. Enjoy!