THE POGUES : THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION

 

Disc One (75:03)

  1. Rainy Night in Soho
  2. Sally MacLennane
  3. The Irish Rover
  4. Dirty Old Town
  5. Fairytale of New York
  6. Streams of Whiskey
  7. If I Should Fall from Grace with God
  8. Fiesta
  9. Body of an American
  10. Misty Morning, Albert Bridge
  11. Repeal of the Licensing Laws
  12. Boys from the County Hell
  13. The Sunnyside of the Street
  14. A Pair of Brown Eyes
  15. Summer in Siam
  16. The Sickbed of Cuchulaínn
  17. London Girl
  18. Tuesday Morning
  19. White City
  20. Hell's Ditch
  21. Young Ned of the Hill
  22. Thousands Are Sailing

Disc Two - Live At The Brixton Academy (76:22)

  1. Streams of Whiskey
  2. If I Should Fall from Grace with God
  3. Boys from the County Hell
  4. The Broad Majestic Shannon
  5. Young Ned of the Hill
  6. Turkish Song of the Damned
  7. Rainy Night in Soho
  8. Tuesday Morning
  9. Rain Street
  10. A Pair of Brown Eyes
  11. Repeal of the Licensing Laws
  12. The Old Main Drag
  13. Thousands Are Sailing
  14. Body of an American
  15. Sally MacLennane
  16. Lullaby of London
  17. Dirty Old Town
  18. Bottle of Smoke
  19. The Sickbed of Cuchulaínn
  20. Fairytale of New York
  21. Fiesta
  22. The Irish Rover

Label : Warner Music

Release Year : 2005

Venue (Disc 2) : Brixton Academy, London, UK

Recording Date (Disc 2) : December 22 & 23, 2001

Review (AllMusic) : For those who only know the Pogues from their duet Christmas hit with Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York," or don't know anything about the Irish group at all, this album is an excellent place to start. Featuring 23 highlights from the group's catalog - with three tracks from Red Roses for Me, eight from Rum Sodomy & the Lash, five from If I Should Fall from Grace with God, three each from Peace and Love and Hell's Ditch, and just one track from Waiting for Herb, recorded as Shane MacGowan sank deeper into alcoholism - Ultimate Collection is a fair summary of the band's output over a period of nearly 20 years. They were never a singles band - in fact, their only Top Ten hits were the aforementioned Christmas single and a duet with the Dubliners on the traditional Irish jig "The Irish Rover" - but the Pogues nevertheless became one of the most successful traditional Irish folk bands, with their defining points consisting of Shane MacGowan's distinctive slurring vocals and working-class political lyrics. They had released hit collections previously, but both the 1991 albums The Best of the Pogues and The Essential Pogues were condensed 14-track albums, and 2001's The Very Best of the Pogues contained 21 tracks on a single CD. This double CD is a revamped version of the latter album, but also includes a bonus disc featuring a full show recorded at the Brixton Academy in 2001, featuring live versions of many of the tracks featured on disc one. As the years go by, the Christmas hit "Fairytale of New York" appears to get more and more popular, originally peaking at number two in 1987, number three in 2005, number six in 2006, and number four in 2007, as the tale of two sparring aging partners has consistently topped the U.K.'s polls of the nation's favorite Christmas records, and inclusion of this one track does The Ultimate Collection no harm at all.