RECORDS
On this, their first new album since 1985’s terrific Rum, Sodomy And The Lash, the Pogues prove rather convincingly that growing up doesn’t necessarily mean a loss of spirit, or nerve, or ideals. Not that they’re not still the same gang of rabble-rousing, whiskey-stained bums whose when-worlds-collide sour mash of traditional Irish folk music and nihilistic English punk thrashings made them the talk of the barstools on both sides of the Atlantic just a few years ago.
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If I Should Fall From Grace With God (Island)
On this, their first new album since 1985’s terrific Rum, Sodomy And The Lash, the Pogues prove rather convincingly that growing up doesn’t necessarily mean a loss of spirit, or nerve, or ideals. Not that they’re not still the same gang of rabblerousing, whiskey-stained bums whose when-woridscollide sour mash of traditional Irish folk music and nihilistic English punk thrashings made them the talk of the barstools on both sides of the Atlantic just a few years ago. You may still feel the urge to get out an umbrella to protect yourself from the spit, sweat and bile of Shane MacGowan’s lead vocals and, just as before, nary a tune goes by without at least one less than respectful reference to either God (organized religion), country (the British government) or the law (judges, cops and jailers). The difference is that If I Should Fall From Grace With God carries itself with a pride equal to its swagger. The Pogues aren’t simply coming out of any old traditions or new movements anymore. With this record, they have succeeded in becoming a viable part of both.