"Bricks and mortar, a kingdom of stone,
When you die you're on your own,
They'll carve your name where you lie,
And I for one,
No tears will cry"
Finer's other offering, "Curse Of Love", is less aggressive, but not much less impressive. A glistening pop-folk lament that masks the terrors and torments of the lyrics, all direst prophecy and lovelorn abandon, with the lilting instrumentation wrapped 'round every red-raw line.
Three Shane MacGowan penned offerings are present also, two of which - the instrumental "Squid Out Of Water" with its jittering banjo and bar-room rattle, and "Infinity", a delightful romp somewhere between "White City" from Peace And Love, "London Girl" from Poguetry In Motion and the stomping, merseybeat-influenced single "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah", - I'd never heard before. The joy of having those fantastic bastards finally unfold o'er the ear-wounds, well, it'd take more than my vocabulary for to do that feeling justice.
The very best additional track herein, though, and very possibly the very best additional track added to any album ever, and maybe even the second best song Shane MacGowan ever put his name to after "Fairytale Of New York", is the heart-breaking, nigh-on-unbearably-beautiful "Rainy Night In Soho".
Originally recorded and released as part of the Poguetry In Motion EP (that earlier version is available as a bonus track on the remastered Rum, Sodomy And The Lash), the version included here is the definitive, re-recorded "single" version, all lovelorn sax and tear-stung strings and swelling orchestra. Jesus aye, it is truly an astounding record.
It's a shame these editions don't come with the videos included, as seems to be all the rage these days. For "Rainy Night In Soho", a spellbindingly evocative promo was devised featuring Shane and his missus slow dancing through the whiskey-scarred streets of the title. It's available on the Poguevision video collection, mind, and there's no reason at all why anyone should be without that article.
Hell's Ditch was released to fairly unanimous critical delight. In a review for Q Magazine, Barry McIlheney praised the bugger to high heaven whilst also noting that "Hell's Ditch perhaps makes most sense if viewed as that inevitable switch from too many nights on the ale to a less crazed, more sober state of grace."
Whilst the record may right enough possess a certain tranquility, a certain restraint even, there's no doubting that it was recorded throughout the most tumultuous period of the band's history, with Shane MacGowan at his lowest ebb and with the majority of the other members set for this or that rehab clinic or therapist or what have you.
Matters got worse following its release. A Melody Maker live review concerning a French festival appearance less than a year thereafter shakes it head to the tune of the following;
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1 - -E
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2 - Duke De Mondo
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