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- SHANE MACGOWAN AND THE POPES
The Snake (ZTT 4509-98104-2)
ON HIS first solo outing, Shane 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.
It's a comforting reversion: the music can be relied upon to be little more demanding than sprightly fiddley-diddley jigs like "Aisling", or raw thrash-a-billy rave-ups like the single "That Woman's Got Me Drinking", leaving one to focus attention more rewardingly on the words, which are funny, thoughtful, and frequently four-lettered. "Church of the Holy Spook" opens the album like a ragged spiritual manifesto, with MacGowan affirming his irreverent faith in the Holy Ghost, characterised...