Good news, violent people! The band that has made you feel for years that being an unstable alcoholic, jovial party-goer, pensive stoic, and blubbering spiritualist are all reconcilable (and acceptable) ways to behave is finally consecrating your questionable obsession with caricature-music with that classic symbol of a tenured band-turned-obstinate social symbol: the lumbering 5CD Box Set.
This particular badge of stubborn permanence, Just Look Them In the Eye and Say... Poguemahone, will be released by Warner/Rhino June 2 in the UK and Northern Ireland and June 17 across the pond (June 3 for the import though, apparently) and is comprised of, you guessed it, previously-unreleased material and hard-to-find rarities.
Compiled by The Pogues themselves with track-by-track annotations from Phil Chevron, Just Look Them in the Eye promises to bludgeon its listeners with a hefty 109 tracks from 1983 demos (pre-dating their first recordings for Stiff Records) through to live recordings from 2001 when The Pogues reconvened, after disbanding in 1996, for their very punctual money-grab. As an illimitable Pogues fan, you'll revel in a treasure-trove of material that this monumental band never saw fit to release in the first place, including rehearsal recordings, B-sides, outtakes, rare mixes, and BBC sessions spanning their entire career, plus recordings with Steve Earle, Joe Strummer, and, duh, Kirsty MacColl.
But wait! There's more: You'll also get unreleased soundtrack recordings from Sid and Nancy, rarities from the films Garbo and Straight To Hell (yeah, remember those?), alternate versions of songs you already own like "Fairytale Of New York" and "Rainy Night In Soho," and a heaping helping of live recordings. Still not enough, huh?? Well, how's about if they smother some never-before-released covers on top of that hot heap of tracks, like The Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe In Magic," Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," and The Faces' "Maggie May?" The deal can't get any sweeter than that. Just think how much drinking and dart-throwing you could get done while these discs play out! The Pogues rule.
See the complete tracklist, in all of its relevant glory, here.
Summer dates w/ beer gardens:
