Hell's Ditch

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,»link | Last album = Peace and Love
(1989) | This album = Hell's Ditch
(1990) | Next album = The Best of The Pogues
(1991) }} '''''Hell's Ditch is the fifth full-length album by The Pogues, Released in 1990, the album continued the group's slow departure from Irish music, giving more emphasis to rock and straight folk rock, and forsaking their earlier staples of traditional compositions almost entirely.

Several of the songs on the album have Asian themes, in sound or in content, notably "Summer in Siam", "The House of Gods", and "Sayonara", although only the latter has strong elements of a noticeably far-eastern tune. The song "Lorca's Novena" draws on MacGowan's affinity for Spain (particularly Almería, which he discovered years earlier when filming Straight to Hell), and one of its famous poets, Federico García Lorca. The song tells of the poet's murder by Francisco Franco's Nationalist supporters in the Spanish Civil War, and how his body, never having been recovered, was said to have walked away. "The Wake of the Medusa" is a first person narrative inspired by Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa, which appeared on the cover of the band's second album, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash. The title track "Hell's Ditch" is based largely on the life and writings of French author and playwright Jean Genet, in particular The Miracle of the Rose and Our Lady of the Flowers»http://www.poguetry.com/hd.htm, and is typically MacGowan in its vulgar description of squalid life in prison.

The album was produced by The Clash's Joe Strummer, who later served as a temporary replacement for MacGowan when the band went on tour.

Track listing

  1. "Sunny Side of the Street" (Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer) - 2:44
  2. "Sayonara" (MacGowan) - 3:07
  3. "The Ghost of a Smile" (MacGowan) - 2:58
  4. "Hell's Ditch" (MacGowan, Finer) - 3:03
  5. "Lorca's Novena" (MacGowan) - 4:40
  6. "Summer in Siam" (MacGowan) - 4:06
  7. "Rain Street" (MacGowan) - 4:00
  8. "Rainbow Man" (Terry Woods) - 2:46
  9. "The Wake of the Medusa" (Finer) - 3:04
  10. "The House of Gods" (MacGowan) - 3:46
  11. "5 Green Queens & Jean" (MacGowan, Finer) - 2:35
  12. "Maidrin Rua" (Traditional) - 1:47
  13. "Six to Go" (Woods) - 2:58

Bonus Tracks (2005 Reissue)

  1. "Whiskey in the Jar" (Traditional) - 2:41
  2. "The Bastard Landlord" (Finer) - 3:09
  3. "Infinity" (MacGowan) - 2:48
  4. "The Curse Of Love" (Finer) - 2:43
  5. "Squid Out Of Water" (MacGowan) - 3:47
  6. "Jack's Heroes" (Woods, Spider Stacy) - 3:06
  7. "A Rainy Night In Soho" (1991 Version) (MacGowan) - 4:48

Personnel

Hell's Ditch Demos

The Hell's Ditch demos (commonly known as the Falconer demos for the studio in which they were tracked) were recorded prior to Hell's Ditch, released in 1990. "Murder Ska" and "Redemption Song" are both unreleased tracks featuring Spider Stacy on lead vocals. "Victoria" and "Lust for Vomit" are both instrumental versions of songs appearing on Shane MacGowan and the Popes' 1995 debut album The Snake, the latter retitled "A Mexican Funeral in Paris". "NW3" is an early version of "Mother Mo Chroi," which was released on MacGowan's second solo effort, 1997's The Crock of Gold.

"NW3" and "Murder Ska" were played live as early as 1988 but never properly recorded. A studio version of "NW3" was recorded for inclusion on Hell's Ditch, but MacGowan was unable to deliver a satisfactory vocal performance, thus leaving the track as an unfinished instrumental.

The Falconer demos are widely available on the Internet, and pirated copies occasionally surface on the online auction site eBay. Also, the Falconer demos appear on the Pogues box set of rare and unreleased material released by Rhino Entertainment on March 17, 2008.

Track listing

  1. "Murder Ska"
  2. "Ghost of a Smile"
  3. "Bastard Landlord"
  4. "Summer in Siam"
  5. "Wake of the Medusa"
  6. "NW3"
  7. "Victoria"
  8. "Redemption Song"
  9. "Lust for Vomit"
  10. "Five Green Queens & Jean"

References

home | This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. See full license termsIt uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hell%27s_Ditch ". | compliance | March 22nd 2010