Album: The Snake (U.S.)
Year: 1995
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After being drummed out of the Pogues for failing to show up for the gigs supporting the incredibly underrated Hell’s Ditch, Shane MacGowan resurfaced in 1994 with a new backing band, with the shade-throwing name of The Popes.
The first album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes was called The Snake, and while it was closer to the classic Pogues sound than the first post-MacGowan Pogues album, Waiting For Herb, it did feature crunchier guitars throughout. And while nobody was ever going to mistake it for, say, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, if you loved MacGowan’s raggedy voice and sharp songwriting, you could find things to enjoy in The Snake, like the opener “Church of the Holy Spook” or the self-depreciating “I’ll Be Your Handbag.”
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2191: Shane MacGowan & Sinéad O’Connor – “Haunted”