Product Description

Through four years of remarkable, frank and intimate conversations, this is the acclaimed, bestselling first-person history of the anarchic rock legend Shane MacGowan, and of his long-standing relationship with the writer, Victoria Mary Clarke. As A Drink with Shane MacGowan shows, the inspiration for his artistry and beliefs is as varied as his range of mindembracing Ireland, religion, his family, esoteric philosophy and history. A Drink with Shane MacGowan also features rare photographs and original lyrics and artwork.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #238017 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-08
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.03 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Let this be a forewarning to all self-respecting pop pinups and rock stars pondering penning an autobiography or memoir: do not, as former Pogues singer and lyricist MacGowan and his writer-wife Clarke did, use a question-and-answer format. This collaboration, the couple's first, is an especially unfortunate publishing fatality because MacGowan's life is such a juicy subject, and its exaggerated, grandiosely booze- and drug-littered escapades and cameos by Sid Vicious, Johnny Rotten and Elvis Costello are worthy of a second look. After drinking his first stout at the tender age of five with the milkman, MacGowan went on to play a major role in London's punk scene in the mid- and late 1970s. Later, he founded the Irish band The Pogues, which merged Irish folk styles with rock and roll. (MacGowan has also recorded with the Popes and on his own.) However, the book's Q&A format blends these and other adventures with inane revelations ("I've been a lover and a hater of beetroot all my life"), petty spats, ridiculous questions ("Tell me more about Matt Dillon") and contrived, self-flattering stage directions ("Victoria, radiant as ever, in pale green silk which becomes her consumes a plate of chips, hungrily"). 16 b&w photos not seen by PW. (June)Forecast: Booksellers shouldn't expect rocking numbers, for it's doubtful that even most diehard fans will find this unedited banter between MacGowan and his missus stimulating.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
An irreverent look into the colorful convictions of Irish cult hero MacGowan, this book occasionally entertains but ultimately suffers from MacGowan's persistent self-aggrandizement. Presented in a messy question-and-answer format, with Clarke (MacGowan's wife) in the interviewer's seat, this collaboration exploits MacGowan's success as one of the founding members of the Irish rock band, the Pogues. The authors assume that this past musical achievement renders him a worthy critic of politics, literature, and religious practices. Unfounded rants abound, unfortunately overshadowing the book's intriguing coverage of MacGowan's intimate ties to London's 1970s punk and 1980s post-punk scenes. The former Pogues singer/songwriter was revealed to greater effect in Niall Stanage's Down All the Days: The Life and Music of Shane MacGowan (o.p.). Not recommended. Caroline Dadas, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Saivetz, Deborah. An Event in Space: JoAnne Akalaitis in Rehersal.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.