Track Listing

1. Gridlock
2. White City
3. Young Ned Of The Hill
4. Misty Morning Albert Bridge
5. Cotton Fields
6. Blue Heaven
7. Down All The Days
8. USA
9. Lorelei
10. Gartioney Rats
11. Boat Train
12. Tombstone
13. Night Train To Lorca
14. London You're A Lady

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104141 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The last great Pogues album, and the beginnings of the end of Shane MacGowan's association with the band. Much of Peace And Love is written and sung by the band's other members, and while this is no problem in itself--any of Phil Chevron, Terry Woods or Jem Finer could have carried a band by themselves--the album as a whole has the somewhat strained quality of people forcing themselves to have a good time despite everything. This is not to suggest MacGowan contributes nothing of interest. "White City", a lament to a demolished dog track, and "Down All The Days", a tribute to the writer Christy Brown, are both examples of everything MacGowan was good at: an economic and morbidly funny use of language, and an ability to wring new melodies from the most worn folk chord progressions. However, the real attractions here are turned in by MacGowan's long-suffering bandmates: Chevron's shimmering madman's lullabye "Lorelei" especially, a glorious and frustrating hint of a solo career that, disappointingly, has shown no sign of happening. --Andrew Mueller

Customer Reviews

A great band audibly falling apart
After the career peak of 1988's If I Should Fall From Grace with God LP, the Pogues were never the same again. Constant touring, creative differences and over-indulgence in booze and drugs would soon lead to their demise, but this LP contains much to savour along with a certain amount of quite dodgy stuff. Previously, Shane MacGowan had written most of the band's material, but now other Pogues spread their songwriting wings and this is what lends the album its disjointed tone. Two lesser Pogues contribute the opening instrumental 'Gridlock' which, though a blatant attempt to recreate the previous album's 'Metropolis', still provides a gripping opening and a good introduction to the frenetic energy cancelling itself out which really characterises the album: talented musicians at cross purposes. Jem Finer writes the majestic and lovely ballad 'Misty Morning, Albert Bridge', the mid-paced potboiler 'Night Train to Lorca' and the mournful and tuneless 'Tombstone'. Terry Woods writes the rollicking 'Gartony Rats' and the bombastic and rancorous 'Young Ned of the Hill'. Phil Chevron contributes the cheesy and embarrassing 'My Blue Heaven' and 'Lorelei', a song I'm afraid I find an over-earnest dirge. MacGowan's six songs are the best, though he struggles to find the form of previous albums and his singing voice is shot completely. The outstanding songs are 'White City', an energetic lament for the dog racing stadium which was demolished to make way for the BBC Headquarters, 'USA', a hellish nightmare journey through a continent of darkness, and 'Boat Train', a headbanging narrative of excess and illness from Dublin to London via Holyhead which leaves the listener reeling. Shane's other songs are really doodles or, in the case of 'London You're a Lady', overproduced to the point of ruination. So the album is a mess, but not without its moments - in many ways like the band that created it. I'm actually rather fond of this LP.

End of one chapter, beginning of another
The Pogues were never just the quintessential Irish emigrant pub band. The drunken slurrings of Shane MacGowan disguise one of the finest songwriting talents of the late 20th century. For his last album with the band that made him infamous, he has the good grace to share the limelight with his bandmates (and let's face it, any band that produces this many talented songwriters has to be worthy of respect!). The album lacks the rawness of predecessors "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash" and "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" - in fact the best songs here are provided by other band members, particularly noteworthy being Philip Chevron's gorgeous "Lorelei" (with the late Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals) and Terry Woods' historical protest rant "Young Ned of the Hill", which says everything there really is to be said about Oliver Cromwell... But for all that, the band is in secure territory here: leftfield drinking songs, laments for days gone by, an occasional burst of political invective, and lots of gorgeous acoustic instrumentation underpinned by the rumble of rhythm guitars. Maybe not quite as exciting as IISFFGWG, but hard to fault.

... and Harmony. A cracker
This is a hugely underrated album, probably because the general opinion is that the Pogues without Shane McGowan aren't anything special. Rubbish. McGowan does appear on the album and is in good form with now-established classics such as Misty Morning Albert Bridge and White City. But the rest of the band chip in liberally throughout the album, with some fantastic results. There's something for everyone remotely into Irish music, from folk afficianados to rebel-rousers to Irish-American emigres, and perhaps the best ballad ever by this band in Lorelei. There are hefty traditional influences on this album, less eclectic than on a McGowan-centric Pogues album, but equally powerful, and perhaps making their place in the progress of Irish music clearer. It's a little gem.