Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski hatched the idea for Rogue's Gallery while filming "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"--that idea being to cast genteel rock superstars like Bono, Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry, Andre Corr, and Sting to reinterpret gritty seafaring standards for an exhaustive 43-track double-disc set produced by Hal Wilner. Throw in a bunch of credible folk stars (Loudon Wainwright III, Richard Thompson), their offspring (Rufus, Teddy) and a string of other curious characters (Jarvis Cocker, Antony) and what results is one of the strangest compilations in recent memory, if not exactly the most historically authentic or, well, digestible. Nick Cave embraces the role just a little too hard on "Fire Down Below," while Ferry can't help but sound like he's singing for the cast of "The Love Boat," but cut through the chaff and there is some real bootie here: Bono's "Dying Sailor to His Shipmates," Jolie Holland's "The Grey Funnel Line" and "Boney" by a mysterious tramp called Jack Sh**, which must be some kind of anagram for Johnny Depp. --Aidin Vaziri

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-11-01 rating:
Not too shabby
I can understand some folk purists wanting to hate this before they've even heard it, and it could have ended up as a complete dogs breakfast. Yes if they'd given the whole undertaking to Bellowhead it might have been a classic, but on the whole it's not turned out too bad, and there's something to be said for the eclectic nature of the thing.

I'll have nothing said against Baby Gramps, he's a fine guitarist and that's no affectation, he really does sound like Popeye's drunken brother. Surprisingly of the "Big Names" Sting makes the best fist of his effort. I say surprising because he strikes me as the most unlikeable of people. Unsurprisingly Bono misses the point completely, and confirms that he is now completely and utterly up himself.

The most authentic voice however comes from the incomparable Richard Thompson, but there are quite a few enjoyable tracks on here, CD1 needing a lot less skipping than CD2.

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review by: date: 2007-10-01 rating:
A Hearrrrrrrrty Thumbs up for this Beauty
Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed, Jarvis Cocker, Antony Hegarty and Loudon Wainwright - all on two fantastic discs - what could be better (even Sting and Bono are bearable) - add to the mix some of the most lurid, dirty, pox-ridden, scum-sucking, keelhauling, timber-shivering songs of the last two hundred years and top off with John C Reilly and Ralph Steadman to have the perfect barrel of salty seadog entertainment this side of the Sargasso. Johnny Depp can now be forgiven for Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

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review by: date: 2007-09-07 rating:
Put it in a sack and throw it over the side...
How typical of 'The Big Names' to ruin some great and traditional songs. With the exception of a very few tracks this compilation is awful. Nick Cave croaks along in 'Fire Down Below', Baby Gramps does not seem to understand the concept of 'tune' when singing 'Cape Cod Girls', And Sting is trying too hard to be a seventeenth century pirate! What a shame... These songs are sung a great deal better by artists from the folk scene... Start with Kate Rusby and some Bellowhead for modern folk including shanteys, not this utter rubbish! If you're already a folkie then don't bother with this... you ears will curl up and drop off!

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review by: date: 2007-08-23 rating:
Don't let the cover and title fool ya'
The first two tunes give you an idea of the musical gamet being covered here, Baby Gramps ("I gargled with battery acid before I sang this song") followed by Richard Thompson's appealing and ever reliable folk charm. Most of the time, the performances track the former of these paths, with music evocative of the old "Rough Trade" record label. Barbed wire guitars and such; artists like Tom Waits, The Pogues and Tom Russell would have been welcomed in this compilation. I suppose few have ever tried to romanticize the buccaneer life, and surely this material doesn't. The most base and debauched of what one usually associates with pirating is often the focus. Rum and the lash. Not for the faint of heart, and worthy of a warning label about the lyrics which, in places (i. e. the Loudon Wainright tune), are bawdy limeriks set to music. The package is especially misleading to those looking for a "Smithsonian Institute" recording of traditional seafaring material, especially with the cover art, Howard Pyle's "Marooned," one of the most famous paintings on the subject of pirate life, which has graced a fine book or two. Some good tunes in here, to be sure, which may grow on you as an acquired taste. For example, Van Dyke Parks wry "Greenland Whale Fisheries," with the underpinning baritone sax and darkly humorous analysis of the sea captain's value system. Just know what you are getting.



review by: Brian date: 2007-05-27 rating:
Good stuff
I thought this was great. I found it extremely interesting to listen to songs I have never heard, some of which that were 400 years old and sounded as fresh as some punk songs today. There were a few I could have done without the modern versions, but still fun to hear. I think at its best are the acoustic versions, and might have benefited from a bit more angst in the songs that seemed to be the "hoisting" etc songs, but still great additions to a music collection for land lubers. I think Grey Funnel Line is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard in recent years, and Cape Cod Girls seems to capture the spirit of the entire album in the first few seconds..

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