THE POGUES: "Waiting For Herb" (WEA)

FOR THE past few years, The Pogues have been running around like an army of ants in search of a climax.

With Shane gone, and he had effectively departed long before he actually left the band, there was no doubt that they were holed beneath the water. The best days were behind them and the future appeared to hold nothing but endless encores in the fading spotlight of past glories.

Yes, as everybody said, they still had plenty of talent among their ranks but that phrase (plenty of talent among their ranks) always sounds to me like an excuse for something or other. Drafting Joe Strummer in on vocals was interesting and worthwhile but never anything more than a stopgap. The news that Spider Stacy was to take over as singer, on the other hand, seemed indistinguishable from the noise made by the bottom of a barrel being scraped.

And so, here comes Waiting For Herb. It's no masterpiece, but it's considerably better than we probably had a right to expect. The big surprise is Spider Stacy. His own song, the single, 'Tuesday Morning', is possibly the best track on the album and his singing is assured and suitably tough-but-tender throughout. If MacGowan's voice was a jackhammer, Stacy's is a pickaxe; slower and less, eh, pneumatic but it eventually gets round to doing the same job.

The tempo throughout Waiting For Herb is more foot-tapping than breakneck. This is a very restrained and steady-handed collection. Every single track is immediately recognisable as a Pogues song. The lilt, the swagger and the bleary-eyed worldview are all present and correct.

It is also an extremely democratic album. Virtually all the band members have a hand in at least some of the songwriting and the ensemble playing is never less than balanced.

Of the individual performances, Terry Woods' 'Haunting' is probably his most fully realised contribution to date and Jem Finer's tracks are still the ones that come closest to recapturing what it was that made this group great in the first place.

But therein lies the problem. Too much of Waiting For Herb sounds like Pogues- by-numbers. They may be exceptionally prime numbers but what's really needed is something like another Philip Chevron song of the calibre of 'Thousands are Sailing' (unfortunately, Chevron's name is completely absent from the writing credits). Otherwise, The Pogues sans Shane are going to be 'in transition' for some time yet.

Waiting For Herb is (inevitable Pogues drinking metaphor approaching) a stiff snorter the morning after the night before. Something to steady the nerves and stop the shakes. The real recovery comes later.

• Liam Fay