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| cd version |
release date: Aug. 1985
format: cd
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,33]
producer: Elvis Costello
label: Stiff Records - nationality: England, UK
Tracklist: 1. "The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn" (5 / 5) - 2. "The Old Main Drag" (4 / 5) - 3. "Wild Cats of Kilkenny" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Everyday" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "A Pair of Brown Eyes" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "Sally MacLennane" (5 / 5) - 7. "Dirty Old Town" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Jesse James" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Navigator" (3,5 / 5) - 10. "Billy's Bones" (4 / 5) - 11. "The Gentleman Soldier" (3 / 5) - 12. "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (4,5 / 5)
2nd studio album by The Pogues. This is the best combination of folk(lore), celtic rock and punk rock I have ever come across. If many artists find the follow-up album to a debut a hard and difficult one, The Pogues got everything right here, as I think it's simply their best ever album. Elvis Costello produced the album and I think, he succeeded pretty good in finding the right combo of Celtic folk tradition and folk punk energy. The debut Red Roses for Me (1984) was interesting and is by no means a bad album but on this one they simply turned up the punk rock element, which was more suppressed on the debut and had more focus on folk and celtic rock in a traditional perspective. Shane MacGowan was on top and wrote and sang at the peak of his career also distinguishing this from the debut by having less traditional songs and more tracks composed by MacGowan. Like their music is filled with references to life on the edge, in the shadows, with streams of beer and a life at an everlasting party, Shane lived his life in the fast lane and became notorious for his alcohol abuse and a lifestyle with no regrets, or so it seemed. This album remains their manifest and legacy, I think, and it's enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". A 2004 cd-reissue of the album also contains the 4-track ep Poguetry in Motion (1986) as bonus tracks.
[ allmusic.com, Sounds 4,5 / 5, Mojo, Q Magazine 5 / 5 stars ]
1985 Favourite releases: 1. Ry Cooder Paris, Texas (OST) - 2. The Smiths Meat Is Murder - 3. The Pogues Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
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| org. album cover |
