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| The Snake | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Label | ZTT | |||
| Producer | Dave Jordan | |||
| Shane MacGowan and the Popes chronology | ||||
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The Snake is the first album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes, released in 1994 by ZTT Records. [1] [2] It peaked at No. 37 on the UK Albums Chart. [3] The band supported the album with a North American tour. [4]
The album was produced by Dave Jordan. [5] The guest musicians included Johnny Depp and members of the Dubliners and the Pogues. [6] "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" is a cover of the Gerry Rafferty song. [7] Colm Ó Maonlaí contributed on tin whistles. [5] Like a number of songs recorded by MacGowan's previous band, traditional tunes are sometimes used as a base for a new song (for example, the melody for "The Song with No Name" is based on "The Homes of Donegal"). MacGowan wanted a less polished, more straightforward sound, likening the Popes to a bar band. [8]
An expanded edition was released in 1995. [9] It had a revised running order and added three additional tracks: the traditional songs "Nancy Whiskey" and "Roddy McCorley", which had been released as b-sides the previous year, as well as a duet with Sinéad O'Connor—a new recording of the Pogues song "Haunted". The song also appeared on the soundtrack for the romantic comedy film Two If by Sea . A third edition, first released on vinyl in 1995, adds another duet, "You're the One", this time with Clannad's Máire Brennan, from the soundtrack to the film Circle of Friends . A fourth, further-expanded release appeared as a limited edition CD remaster in Japan only in 2009, adding the 1997 b-side "A Man Called Horse" as a bonus track.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [10] |
| Calgary Herald | B+ [11] |
| Chicago Tribune | [5] |
| Robert Christgau | A− [12] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |  [13] |
| The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music | [6] |
The Guardian said that "the brassy 'A Mexican Funeral in Paris' is passable, despite MacGowan's slurring and rasping reaching the level of parody." [14] The Independent concluded that "MacGowan abandons the more restless global influences which, for better or worse, infected the Pogues' later albums, returning to the rock'n'rebel-song Celtic-rock style of earlier years." [15] The Calgary Herald wrote that "The Snake shows that Shane has lost not an iota of his irascibility, eccentricity and ability to wring every emotion out of a song." [11]
Robert Christgau considered it to be MacGowan's second best work, after the Pogues' Rum Sodomy & the Lash . [12] Mark Lepage, of The Gazette , opined that "most of the time, MacGowan is a lampshade looking for a party... I'd pay money to see him and his band do all of this live, and risk the odds, but the recorded version is slapdash even for him." [16] The Los Angeles Times determined that MacGowan comes on "like the seedy, scrappy spawn of the Clancy Brothers and punk rock." [17]
All songs composed by Shane MacGowan; except where noted
Released by ZTT in 1994 on CD and cassette in 1994 in Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan, and on vinyl in Europe only. Re-released on vinyl in Europe in 2016 by Music on Vinyl/WEA.
Released in 1995 on CD and cassette in the US by Warner Bros. Records/ZTT, in Europe by ZTT, and in Poland by Warner Music Poland
Released by ZTT in 1995 on vinyl in France & Germany only, and on CD in Europe in 1998
Released by ZTT in 2009 as a limited edition remastered CD in Japan only.
with:
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, as Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation by James Joyce of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". Fusing punk influences with instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo, Irish bouzouki, cittern, mandolin and accordion, the Pogues were initially poorly received in traditional Irish music circles—the noted musician Tommy Makem called them "the greatest disaster ever to hit Irish music"—but were subsequently credited with reinvigorating the genre. The band later incorporated influences from other musical traditions, including jazz, flamenco, and Middle Eastern music.
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan was a British-born Irish singer-songwriter and musician known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He also produced solo material and collaborated with artists including Joe Strummer, Nick Cave, Sinéad O'Connor, and Cruachan. Known for his exceptional songwriting ability and his heavy alcohol and drug use, MacGowan was described by The New York Times as "a titanically destructive personality and a master songsmith whose lyrics painted vivid portraits of the underbelly of Irish immigrant life".
The Popes are a band originally formed by Shane MacGowan and Paul "Mad Dog" McGuinness, who play a blend of rock, Irish folk and Americana.
If I Should Fall from Grace with God is the third studio album by Celtic folk-punk band the Pogues, released on 18 January 1988. Released in the wake of their biggest hit single, "Fairytale of New York", If I Should Fall from Grace with God also became the band's best-selling album, peaking at number three on the UK Albums Chart and reaching the top ten in several other countries.
Red Roses for Me is the debut studio album by the London-based band the Pogues, released on 15 October 1984. It was produced by Stan Brennan, who had managed the Nipple Erectors/The Nips and Rocks Off Records shop in London.
Caitlín O'Riordan is a British musician. She played bass guitar for the Irish punk/folk band the Pogues from 1983 to 1986. She later played with Elvis Costello as well as Bush Tetras and several other projects. She uses the name Rocky O'Riordan on social media and for her Sirius-XM radio show, The Rocky O'Riordan Show.
Hell's Ditch is the fifth studio album by The Pogues, released on 1 October 1990, and the last to feature frontman Shane MacGowan as a member.
Roddy McCorley was an Irish nationalist from the civil parish of Duneane, County Antrim, Ireland. Following the publication of the Ethna Carbery poem bearing his name in 1902, where he is associated with events around the Battle of Antrim, he is alleged to have been a member of the United Irishmen and claimed as a participant in their rebellion of 1798.
Waiting for Herb is the sixth studio album by the Pogues, released in 1993, and their first without lead singer Shane MacGowan.
Peace and Love is the fourth studio album by the Pogues, released in July 1989.
Peter Richard "Spider" Stacy is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known for playing tin whistle and sometimes singing for The Pogues.
"Haunted" is a 1986 single by The Pogues. It was featured on the Sid and Nancy Soundtrack, the original soundtrack for the movie Sid and Nancy. It reached chart position #42 in the UK. Originally sung by Cait O'Riordan, in 1995 the song was re-recorded as a duet between former Pogues vocalist Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O'Connor for the Two If by Sea/Stolen Hearts soundtrack, this time reaching #30 in the UK. The original version was included on disc 1 of the 2008 compilation "Just Look Them In The Eye And Say... POGUE MAHONE!!"
The Best of the Pogues is a greatest hits album by The Pogues, released in September 1991. The album was dedicated to the memory of Deborah Korner.
The Crock of Gold was the second and final full-length album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes and was released in November 1997 on ZTT Records. The Crock of Gold followed The Snake, MacGowan's first solo album after the breakup of The Pogues, and was less critically acclaimed than its predecessor. The album is named for the novel by Irish writer James Stephens. It is the last full studio album MacGowan recorded before his passing in November 2023.
Poguetry in Motion is an EP by The Pogues, released on Stiff Records in the UK on 24 February 1986, and in the US & Canada on MCA Records. It was the band's first single to make the UK Top 40, peaking at number 29 and the first Pogues recording to feature Philip Chevron and Terry Woods.
Outlaw Heaven is the second studio album by London-Irish rock band The Popes, which was originally due for release in September 2008, but was delayed until May 2009. The sound has been compared to Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison.
Ronnie Kavanagh, known by his stage name Ron Kavana, was an Irish singer, songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, and band leader. Born in the County Cork town of Fermoy, he was the son of an Irish father and an American mother from Chicago with Cajun roots.
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer and songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis" and cover versions of Billy Bragg's "A New England" and the Kinks' "Days". Her first single, "They Don't Know", had chart success a few years later when covered by Tracey Ullman. MacColl also sang on a number of recordings produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, most notably "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues. Her death in 2000 led to the "Justice for Kirsty" campaign.
The Very Best of the Pogues is a greatest hits album by The Pogues, released in April 2001.
Essential Pogues is a greatest hits album by The Pogues, released in November 1991.
