Track Listing

1. Sickbed Of Cuchulainn
2. Old Main Drag
3. Wild Cats Of Kilkenny
4. I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day
5. Pair Of Brown Eyes
6. Sally MacLennane
7. Dirty Old Town
8. Jesse James
9. Navigator
10. Billy's Bones
11. Gentleman Soldier
12. Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14446 in Music
• Released on: 1994-03-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
One sad irony of Shane MacGowan's life is that by the time he was accepted into the pantheon of Irish poets, he'd already passed his peak. Back in 1985, he was reviled by his compatriots as a corrupter of the noble folk tradition--however, MacGowan knew that any tradition which valued Val Doonican as one of its upholders needed corrupting. All of which might help exlain just why Rum, Sodomy And The Lash was so important. Harder to put into words though, is its brilliance. Put simply, it beggars belief that MacGowan was getting drunk in order to spin tales as heartrending as "The Old Main Drag" and "A Pair Of Brown Eyes"--surely the lyrical equivalent of drinking ten pints to improve your driving. Yet it worked: allied to his colleagues' poignant accompaniments and Elvis Costello's masterful production, the result was an album that irrevocably transformed Irish folk. --Peter Paphides

CD Description
RUM, SODOMY & THE LASH delivers on the brash promise of itspredecessor, RED ROSES FOR ME, mixing the band's unique brand of traditional Irish instrumentation and composition withShane MacGowan's timeless poetry. As the mythic introduction of the album's opener, "The Sickbed Of Cuchulainn" crashesinto its heaving, breakneck-speed verse, RUM, SODOMY & THE LASH is a hurtling juggernaut of Celtic soul, fierce and unrelenting. Its lyrics are the very stuff of Irish song and story: cruelty, human suffering, poverty-- and more than a fewwhiskeys along the way.
Produced by none other than Elvis Costello (who here met his future wife, bassist Cait O'Riordan), this album boasts a feel that is close-up enough to be intimidating. Though on slower numbers such as O'Riordan'senchanting take on the traditional "I'm A Man You don't Meet Every Day", this closeness perfectly captures the vulnerability of both song and singer. With lyrical references to drug addiction, vagrancy and prostitution ("The Old Main Drag"), MacGowan touches on themes usually left out of the ClancyBrothers' songbook. This frank, realistic and ultimately reverent take on the Irish musical tradition lends the Pogues a refreshing modernity.

Customer Reviews

Classic Pogues
This album captures the Pogues at their most lyrical and their most musically potent. It is an album that sticks two fingers up at the Irish folk traditionalists and stakes a claim for Folk music in the modern era. It contains Pogues classics, Sally Macleanne and A Pair of Brown Eyes and also more thoughtful numbers such as Waltzing Matilda, which hinted at Shane Magowan's untapped genius for a killer lyric. Subsequent Pogues albums suffered from a polished maturity that didn't sit well with the music, but this is the sound of The Pogues as they should be, rough and ready.

The Pogues at their best!!
The very best of the Pogues, it was all down hill from here. If you want to saviour a foot tapping sing along album then this is it. As good as the previous album (Red Roses for Me) and a whole lot better than anything the Pogues produced after. A must buy for an introduction to the Pogues.

Rum Sodomy and the Lash
Probably worth the purchase price for the epic "The Band Played Maltzing Matilda" alone, this is a awesome recording and was maybe the highest height the Pogues ever reached.

Classic folk mixed with no-nonsense punk, the band show a youth and vigour that was never quite recaptured and McGowan is on top form with penned tracks like the sweet romantic "Pair of Brown Eyes" or the drunken riot of "Sick Bed of Cuchulainn". Add to this some traditional songs given the Pogues treatment (Navigator and Jesse James both stand out for attention) and you have the ingredients for a wonderful album.

Top Marks!