Product Info
"I saw my task... was to capture them in their delapidated glory before some more professional producer f--ked them up," Elvis Costello wrote of his role behind the controls for the Pogues' second album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash. One spin of the album proves that Costello accomplished his mission; this album captures all the sweat, fire, and angry joy that was lost in the thin, disembodied recording of the band's debut, and the Pogues sound stronger and tighter without losing a bit of their edge in the process.
Rum Sodomy & the Lash also found Shane MacGowan growing steadily as a songwriter; while the debut had its moments, the blazing and bitter roar of the opening track, "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn," made it clear MacGowan had fused the intelligent anger of punk and the sly storytelling of Irish folk as no one had before, and the rent boys' serenade of "The Old Main Drag" and the dazzling, drunken character sketch of "A Pair of Brown Eyes" proved there were plenty of directions where he could take his gifts.
And like any good folk group, the Pogues also had a great ear for other people's songs. Bassist Cait O'Riordan's haunting performance of "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" is simply superb (it must have especially impressed Costello, who would later marry her), and while Shane MacGowan may not have written "Dirty Old Town" or "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," his wrought, emotionally compelling vocals made them his from then on.
Tracklist
A1 The Sick Bed Of Cúchulainn
A2 The Old Main Drag
A3 Wild Cats Of Kilkenny
A4 I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day
A5 A Pair Of Brown Eyes
A6 Sally MacLennane
B1 Dirty Old Town
B2 Jesse James
B3 Navigator
B4 Billy's Bones
B5 The Gentleman Soldier
B6 And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Soundwave
https://youtu.be/CAKZ9eyuhiY?feature=shared