• Source: The Snake (Shane MacGowan album)

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




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. 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.




Releases


An expanded edition was released in 1995. 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." 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." 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." The Los Angeles Times determined that MacGowan comes on "like the seedy, scrappy spawn of the Clancy Brothers and punk rock."




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.

"The Church of the Holy Spook"
"That Woman's Got Me Drinking"
"The Song with No Name"
"Aisling"
"I'll Be Your Handbag"
"Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (Gerry Rafferty)
"A Mexican Funeral in Paris"
"The Snake with Eyes of Garnet"
"Donegal Express"
"Victoria"
"The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional, arranged S. MacGowan)
"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

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




= Second Expanded Release

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

"The Church of the Holy Spook"
"Nancy Whiskey" (Traditional)
"The Song with No Name"
"Aisling"
"Roddy McCorley" (Traditional)
"Victoria"
"That Woman's Got Me Drinking"
"You're the One" (Shane MacGowan, Michael Kamen)
"A Mexican Funeral in Paris"
"The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional; arranged by Shane MacGowan)
"The Snake with Eyes of Garnet"
"Haunted"
"I'll Be Your Handbag"
"Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (Gerry Rafferty)
"Bring Down the Lamp"
"Donegal Express"




= Third Expanded Release

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

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




Personnel


The Popes
Paul McGuinness - guitar, vocals
Bernie "The Undertaker" France - bass, vocals
Danny Pope - drums, percussion
Tom "The Beast" McManamon, aka "Tom McAnimal" - tenor banjo
Kieran "Mo" O'Hagan - guitar, vocals
Colm O'Maonlai - whistles
with:

Barney McKenna - tenor banjo
John Sheahan - fiddle, whistle
Brian Robertson - guitar
Siobhan Sheahan - Irish harp
Spider Stacy - whistle
Jem Finer - 5-string banjo
Tomas Lynch - uilleann pipes
Rick Trevan - tenor saxophone
Dick Cuthell - trumpet
Sarah Jane Tuff - alto saxophone
Paul Taylor - trombone
Johnny Depp - "guitar weird noises" ("That Woman's Got Me Drinking")
Máire Brennan - vocals on "You're the One"
Sinéad O'Connor - vocals on "Haunted"
Ron Kavana - guitar on "Haunted" (uncredited)
Technical
Produced by Dave Jordan and Shane MacGowan
Mixed by Steve Brown
Engineered by Niall Flynn, Steve Musters, Darren Westbrook and Richard Rainy
Recorded at Sarm East, Windmill Lane, Marcus, Raezor
Mixed at Raezor




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Shane MacGowan
• The Snake (Shane MacGowan album)
• Shane MacGowan and The Popes
• Snake (disambiguation)
• You're the One (Shane MacGowan and Máire Brennan song)
• The Crock of Gold (album)
• Hell's Ditch
• Peter Case (album)
• Jem Finer
• That Woman's Got Me Drinking