Waiting for Herb

Pogues | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1993)
• Original Release Date: October 19, 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chameleon / Wea
• ASIN: B000001A3T
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,525 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Tuesday Morning

2. Smell of Petroleum

3. Haunting

4. Once Upon a Time

5. Sitting on Top of the World

6. Drunken Boat

7. Big City

8. Girl from the Wadi Hammamat

9. Modern World

10. Pachinko

11. My Baby's Gone

12. Small Hours

Editorial Reviews

Irish punk/folk at their best

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pogues carry on without Shane., June 20, 2005

By 

Joseph P. Ulibas "Captain Couth" (Florin, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Waiting for Herb (Audio CD)

Waiting for Herb (1993) was The Pogues first album without their drunken leader Shane MacGowan. Troubles with his rampant alcohol problem caused a deep rift within the band and it spread thorugh the members like wild fire. Several of them developed problems of their own and quickly moved to oust Shane from the band. Well the remaining Pogues staggered into the studio to record Waiting for Herb.

Spider replaces Shane and auxilary Pogue Joe Strummer on lead vocals. His song Tuesday Morning became a minor hit for the band. Finer and Woods picked up the bulk of the song writing duties. The tracks that appeared on the album are pretty good, but they lack the fire that drove the
previous albums. The other tracks are good (Smell of Petroleum, Once Upon a Time, The Haunting, Big City, Modern World). I have no idea why people have slagged this disc. The follow up I can understand.

Shane rejoined the band in late 1995. This was too much for Phillip Chevron, James Fernaly and Terry Woods. They quit the band and never returned. After the tour was over Shane quit the band (this time for good). The band was down to four (Spider Stacy, Andrew Ranken, Jem Finer and Darryl Hunt) and they picked up four new members and continued the Pogues.

The CD comes with a nice booklet with photos of the band members and a lyrics for the album's tracks.

Recommended for Pogues fans.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's that?, September 16, 2005

By 

A Busy Man "derbysanchez" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waiting for Herb (Audio CD)

I'm at work, so I'll make this short.

Everyone seems to be holding this to standards that it definately cannot stand up to. This is not the MacGowan Pogues that we all know and love. And yes, this release is a bit pop. With all that aside, there really are some damn good songs on this album. In fact, I would go as far to say that "Drunken Boat" is one of my all time favorite songs from any band. And I could only hope that there were some Pop artists out there today that could put something like this together. And I've actually shared this album with many friends who have never heard anything from the Pogues, and most of them are now diehard Pogues fans.

In my opinion (judging by many of the Shane MacGowan and the Popes and various other post-Pogues MacGowan releases that I have) the Pogues would not have sounded much like the Red Roses For Me-Pogues on this album had they kept Shane, anyway.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent But Not Decadent, November 13, 2000

By 

Sean Holland "Boy About Town" (Hog City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Waiting for Herb (Audio CD)

Whew...the bloke below from Austin, TX is stretching things a bit by saying ol' Spider has as much to do with the Pogues success as Shane...

Granted, Spidey is quite a character, but drunken whistle palying is hardly on par with some of the most well-written lyircs EVER, stunning arrangements and a vocal style that no one will ever match...

Spider was in Shanes very first band (before the Nips) and his talent(?) was banging himself in the noggin with a beer tray...this is very impressive, indeed. Spider once said the Pogues didn't need Shane to continue...well, after the misery that was "Pogue Mahone" I think he came to his senses. Spider and Shane were and are lifelong friends, but Shane was an irreplaceable part of the classic "Poguetry" sound and could NEVER be replaced.

As for the album, it's pretty good, but it aint the Pogues I know and love...it was like the Clash without Mick Jones. Speaking of the Clash, if Joe Strummer couldn't fill Shane's shoes (and he sang with the Pogues for a stint) how did Spider think he could pull it off?