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STREAMS OF WHISKEY
The Pogues
(Sanctuary/EMI)
There are incomprehensible vocalists and there are incomprehensible vocalists -- and then there's The Pogues' Shane MacGowan, a man who makes James Brown and Bob Dylan seem like speech therapists.
Shane is at his unintelligible best on Streams of Whiskey, a live album recorded in Switzerland in 1991 and previously issued as the bootleg Live on Rain Street. Live on Bourbon Street would be closer to the mark, as this set captures the seemingly well-lubricated Celtic punks galloping through a 16-song set with the impatient, anxious pace of a rummy trying to make last call.
But even if the performance is a little dishevelled -- and the sound is still bootleg-quality -- the set is a raucous hoot, with MacGowan and co. teetering recklessly between the edge of collapse and the edge of brilliance on spirited renditions of If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Rain Street, Dirty Old Town and Sally MacLennane.
Have a few whiskies yourself and it'll all start to make sense. Maybe even Shane.
Track Listing
1. Streams of Whiskey
2. If I Should Fall from Grace with God
3. Boys from the Country Hell
4. Young Ned of the Hill
5. Rain Street
6. Sayanara
7. Battle of Brisbane
8. Body of an American
9. Summer in Siam
10. Thousands Are Sailing
11. Sunnyside of the Street
12. Dirty Old Town
13. Sickbed of Cuchulainn
14. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
15. Fiesta
16. Sally MacLennane