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;
"The Pogues bring the first day of the festival to a close and are utter shite. Shane MacGowan has put on a pound or 20 of late, and with a pair of sunglasses nailed in place and his beard merging with his navel fluff, he looks like a cross between Roy Orbison and Dave Lee Travis. Unbelievably, his voice is even more dreadful than on the group's last album."
The band was falling apart, y'understand, and for the good of his own health and of everyone else's, Shane MacGowan, the best songwriter of his or any other generation, was helped along the road marked To Blazes Wi' You, Sire.
The Pogues carried on with Joe Strummer fronting for a time, and recorded a couple more albums with Spider Stacy mostly on lead vocals. Shane formed The Popes and made two astounding records, the polished, rock / folk (but not folk-rock) epic The Snake and the darker, doom-soused Crock Of Gold. These days he seems to spend much of his time hanging with Pete Doherty, recently taking to joining Babyshambles onstage for to run through "Dirty Old Town".
Article comments
1 - -E
Congrats! This article has been selected as one of this week’s Editors’ Picks.
2 - Duke De Mondo
thank you!