Waiting for Herb

Waiting for Herb is a 1993 album by The Pogues, their first without former lead singer Shane MacGowan. The album saw the band continue to expand their musical reach past the traditional Irish roots it had been founded on, and was only their second full-length album without a single traditional song. The album featured the track "Tuesday Morning", which was the band's first Top Twenty hit since "Fairytale of New York."

With MacGowan (who was often considered the heart, soul, head and liver of the band) departed, his singing and songwriting duties fell to the other members. While Spider Stacy took the role of lead vocalist, much of the songwriting fell to Jem Finer, who along with Terry Woods had previously been the most prolific songwriter apart from MacGowan. However, the album saw contributions by other members who had not written songs for the band previously, including James Fearnley, Andrew Ranken, and Darryl Hunt. Ranken also sang lead vocals on "My Baby's Gone".

Upon the album's release, there was some speculation that the "Herb" in the title referred to marijuana; however, according to Stacy it was from the name of a German pornographic cartoon character.

Track listing

1. "Tuesday Morning" (Stacy) - 3:30
2. "Smell of Petroleum" (Finer) - 3:13
3. "Haunting" (Woods) - 4:04
4. "Once Upon a Time" (Finer) - 3:55
5. "Sitting on Top of the World" (Finer/Fearnley/Woods) - 3:37
6. "Drunken Boat" (Fearnley) - 6:38
7. "Big City" (Hunt) - 2:41
8. "Girl from the Wadi Hammamat" (Ranken) - 4:53
9. "Modern World" (Hunt) - 3:55
10. "Pachinko" (Finer) - 3:09
11. "My Baby's Gone" (Finer/Ranken) - 2:24
12. "Small Hours" (Finer) - 4:31

On 2004 Re-issue

13. "First Day of Forever" - 3:20 (Chevron)
14. "Train Kept Rolling On" - 3:18 (Ranken)
15. "Paris St. Germain" - 3:07 (Stacy/Woods)

Personnel

• Spider Stacy - vocals
• Jem Finer - banjo, soprano sax, hurdygurdy, guitar, pachinko, backing vocals
• James Fearnley - accordion, dulcimer, guitar, piano, harmonica, clarinet, banjo
• Andrew Ranken - drums
• Philip Chevron - guitar, backing vocals
• Terry Woods - vocals, mandolin, concertina, cittern, banjo, bazouki
• Darryl Hunt - bass, backing vocals
• David Coulter - percussion, ukulele, foghorn
• Michael Brook - guitar, keyboards, mixing, engineer, producer
• Debsey Wykes - vocals
• James Pinker - percussion
• Hijaz Mustapha - strings
• Richard Evans - engineer, mixing
• Nick Robbins - engineer
• Russell Kearney - assistant engineer
• Tony Cousins - mastering

References

1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r188443

External links

• Boston Irish Reporter on the Pogues after Shane