The Snake (Shane MacGowan album) explained

The Snake
Type:studio
Artist:Shane MacGowan and the Popes
Cover:The Snake (album).jpg
Released:1994
Genre:Rock
Label:ZTT
Producer:Dave Jordan
Next Title:The Crock of Gold
Next Year:1997

The Snake is the first album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes, released in 1994 by ZTT Records.[1] [2] It peaked at No. 37 on the UK Albums Chart.[3] The band supported the album with a North American tour.[4]

Production

The album was produced by Dave Jordan. The guest musicians included Johnny Depp and members of the Dubliners and the Pogues. "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" is a cover of the Gerry Rafferty song.[5] Colm Ó Maonlaí contributed on tin whistles. Like a number of songs recorded by MacGowan's previous band, traditional tunes are sometimes used as a base for a new song (for example, the melody for "The Song with No Name" is based on "The Homes of Donegal"). MacGowan wanted a less polished, more straightforward sound, likening the Popes to a bar band.[6]

Releases

An expanded edition was released in 1995.[7] It had a revised running order and added three additional tracks: the traditional songs "Nancy Whiskey" and "Roddy McCorley", which had been released as b-sides the previous year, as well as a duet with Sinéad O'Connor—a new recording of the Pogues song "Haunted". The song also appeared on the soundtrack for the romantic comedy film Two If by Sea. A third edition, first released on vinyl in 1995, adds another duet, "You're the One", this time with Clannad's Máire Brennan, from the soundtrack to the film Circle of Friends. A fourth, further-expanded release appeared as a limited edition CD remaster in Japan only in 2009, adding the 1997 b-side "A Man Called Horse" as a bonus track.

Critical reception

The Guardian said that "the brassy 'A Mexican Funeral in Paris' is passable, despite MacGowan's slurring and rasping reaching the level of parody."[8] The Independent concluded that "MacGowan abandons the more restless global influences which, for better or worse, infected the Pogues' later albums, returning to the rock'n'rebel-song Celtic-rock style of earlier years."[9] The Calgary Herald wrote that "The Snake shows that Shane has lost not an iota of his irascibility, eccentricity and ability to wring every emotion out of a song."

Robert Christgau considered it to be MacGowan's second best work, after the Pogues' Rum Sodomy & the Lash. Mark Lepage, of The Gazette, opined that "most of the time, MacGowan is a lampshade looking for a party... I'd pay money to see him and his band do all of this live, and risk the odds, but the recorded version is slapdash even for him."[10] The Los Angeles Times determined that MacGowan comes on "like the seedy, scrappy spawn of the Clancy Brothers and punk rock."[11]

Track listings

All songs composed by Shane MacGowan; except where noted

Original Edition

Released by ZTT in 1994 on CD and cassette in 1994 in Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan, and on vinyl in Europe only. Re-released on vinyl in Europe in 2016 by Music on Vinyl/WEA.

  1. "The Church of the Holy Spook"
  2. "That Woman's Got Me Drinking"
  3. "The Song with No Name"
  4. "Aisling"
  5. "I'll Be Your Handbag"
  6. "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (Gerry Rafferty)
  7. "A Mexican Funeral in Paris"
  8. "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet"
  9. "Donegal Express"
  10. "Victoria"
  11. "The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional, arranged S. MacGowan)
  12. "Bring Down the Lamp"

First Expanded Release

Released in 1995 on CD and cassette in the US by Warner Bros. Records/ZTT, in Europe by ZTT, and in Poland by Warner Music Poland

  1. "The Church of the Holy Spook"
  2. "Nancy Whiskey" (Traditional)
  3. "The Song with No Name"
  4. "Aisling"
  5. "Roddy McCorley" (Traditional)
  6. "Victoria"
  7. "That Woman's Got Me Drinking"
  8. "A Mexican Funeral in Paris"
  9. "The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional, arranged S. MacGowan)
  10. "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet"
  11. "Haunted"
  12. "I'll Be Your Handbag"
  13. "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (Gerry Rafferty)
  14. "Bring Down the Lamp"
  15. "Donegal Express"

Second Expanded Release

Released by ZTT in 1995 on vinyl in France & Germany only, and on CD in Europe in 1998

  1. "The Church of the Holy Spook"
  2. "Nancy Whiskey" (Traditional)
  3. "The Song with No Name"
  4. "Aisling"
  5. "Roddy McCorley" (Traditional)
  6. "Victoria"
  7. "That Woman's Got Me Drinking"
  8. "You're the One" (Shane MacGowan, Michael Kamen)
  9. "A Mexican Funeral in Paris"
  10. "The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional; arranged by Shane MacGowan)
  11. "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet"
  12. "Haunted"
  13. "I'll Be Your Handbag"
  14. "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (Gerry Rafferty)
  15. "Bring Down the Lamp"
  16. "Donegal Express"

Third Expanded Release

Released by ZTT in 2009 as a limited edition remastered CD in Japan only.

  1. "The Church of the Holy Spook"
  2. "Nancy Whiskey" (Traditional)
  3. "The Song with No Name"
  4. "Aisling"
  5. "Roddy McCorley" (Traditional)
  6. "Victoria"
  7. "That Woman's Got Me Drinking"
  8. "You're the One" (Shane MacGowan, Michael Kamen)
  9. "A Mexican Funeral in Paris"
  10. "The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional; arranged by Shane MacGowan)
  11. "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet"
  12. "Haunted"
  13. "I'll Be Your Handbag"
  14. "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (Gerry Rafferty)
  15. "Bring Down the Lamp"
  16. "Donegal Express"
  17. "A Man Called Horse' [Bonus Track]

Personnel

The Popes

with:

Technical

Notes and References

  1. Book: Cogan . Brian . Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture . 2006 . Bloomsbury Academic . 158.
  2. News: Pareles . Jon . Gravelly Musings of an Irish Survivor . The New York Times . 16 Aug 1995 . C12.
  3. Web site: Shane MacGowan . Official Charts . 20 June 2024.
  4. News: Sullivan . Jim . Concert Update: Shane MacGowan . The Boston Globe . 29 June 1995 . Arts & Film . 72.
  5. News: Howell . David . Ex-Pogue back in boozy, brawling form with new band . Edmonton Journal . 10 Dec 1994 . D6.
  6. Ali . Lorraine . Message in a Bottle . Rolling Stone . 10 Aug 1995 . 714 . 27.
  7. Book: The Rough Guide to Rock . 2003 . Rough Guides . 624 . 3rd.
  8. News: Sullivan . Caroline . Pop . The Guardian . 21 Oct 1994 . Features.
  9. News: Gill . Andy . The Snake . The Independent . 21 Oct 1994 . Pop Music.
  10. News: Lepage . Mark . Even Keith Richards is worried about MacGowan . The Gazette . 24 Dec 1994 . C3.
  11. News: Cromelin . Richard . Reelin' and a-Rockin' . Los Angeles Times . 24 Aug 1995 . F1.
  12. Ron Kavana, interview printed in liner notes of Kavana's 1999 live album "Alien Alert", published by Proper Records

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