A remarkable 5CD Box Set by The Pogues, at least three quarters of which comprises previously unreleased material while the remainder is made up of decidedly hard-to-find Pogues’ rarities.
Compiled by The Pogues with track by track annotations from Phil Chevron, there are a bountiful 109 tracks from 1983 demos (pre-dating their first recordings for Stiff Records) through to live recordings from 2001 when The Pogues re-convened for a series of memorable live shows for the first time since they disbanded in 1996.
Just Look Them Straight In The Eye is an absolute treasure trove of unreleased recordings for all Pogues’ fans, spanning their entire career and featuring rehearsal recordings, b-sides, out-takes, rare mixes, BBC sessions plus recordings with Steve Earle, Joe Strummer and, of course, Kirsty MacColl.
Alongside these are unreleased soundtrack recordings from Sid and Nancy, and rarities from the films Garbo and Straight To Hell, alternate versions of Pogues’ classics like “Fairytale Of New York” and “Rainy Night In Soho” and a generous selection of live recordings.
Including original songs never before released and covers such as the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe In Magic”, Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”, The Faces’ “Maggie May” plus more traditional fare like Ewan MacColl’s “Hot Ashphalt and ”North Sea Holes”, this collection presents a true alternative picture of The Pogues’ irrepressible career, an extraordinarily rich addendum to their already available recorded works.
Currently on tour in America, The Pogues are already scheduled to play a number of major festivals this summer including Ireland’s Oxegen Festival and T In the Park in July and the V Festivals in August.
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