Waiting for Herb

Infobox Album |
Name = Waiting for Herb
Type = Album
Artist = The Pogues


Released = September 1993
Recorded =
Genre = Folk rock
Length = 46:07
Label = Chameleon
Producer = Michael Brook
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:1ckcu3qgan7k link]
Last album = "The Best of The Pogues"
(1991)
This album = "Waiting for Herb"
(1993)
Next album = "Pogue Mahone
(1996)

"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, and head 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

#Tuesday Morning ("Stacy")
#"Smell of Petroleum" ("Finer")
#"Haunting" ("Woods")
#"Once Upon a Time" ("Finer")
#"Sitting on Top of the World" ("Finer/Fearnley/Woods")
#"Drunken Boat" ("Fearnley")
#"Big City" ("Finer")
#"Girl from the Wadi Hammamat" ("Ranken/Finer")
#"Modern World" ("Hunt")
#"Pachinko" ("Finer")
#"My Baby's Gone" ("Ranken")
#"Small Hours" ("Finer")

External links

* [http://www.pogues.com/Print/BostonIrishReporter/BoIrRe93.html "Boston Irish Reporter" on the Pogues after Shane]