{"id":552,"date":"2013-11-20T15:36:30","date_gmt":"2013-11-20T15:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/?p=552"},"modified":"2014-03-26T21:38:34","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T21:38:34","slug":"rs-440-the-pogues-rum-sodomy-and-the-lash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/?p=552","title":{"rendered":"RS #440:  The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>#440<\/p>\n<h3>The Pogues,\u00a0<i>Rum, Sodomy and the Lash<\/i><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a01985<br \/>\n<strong style=\"line-height: 1.7;\">Previously Owned:<\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 1.7;\">\u00a0No<br \/>\n<\/span><strong style=\"line-height: 1.7;\">First Time Listen:<\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 1.7;\">\u00a0Yes<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"yiv8756997158yui_3_7_2_17_1358531694665_587\">\n<figure style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"  \" alt=\"The Pogues \u2013 Rum, Sodomy and the Lash\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/e\/eb\/Rum_sodomy_and_the_lash.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"238\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">I guess I&#8217;ll take rum&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Impressions:\u00a0<\/strong>Irish folk-punk rock. A very narrow little sub-genre, practically invented by The Pogues, that I enjoy in small doses, like a musical version of Jameson&#8217;s Whiskey. Definitely not for everyone, but if you are open to its aggressive fiddle\/banjo\/accordion\/mandolin\/whiskey driven sound, it can be quite bracing. Let&#8217;s have a shot\u2026 The first few songs get right to the point with Shane MacGowan spinning out some of his finest Irish yarns about drinking, illness, fighting, finding religion and other colorful downtrodden characters. He&#8217;s nobody&#8217;s idea of a great singer, but he&#8217;s got a certain drunken charm that fits the Celtic punk milieu perfectly. His shambolic voice is contrasted occasionally by female voices and crisp production. Producer Elvis Costello does a nice job of simply getting out of the way of these guys, let them do their thing, and putting it on record. Sometimes the &#8220;donananandonandodnaodoanna&#8221; rhythm gets a little repetitive, but the album contains a deft mix of traditional tunes that blend in seamlessly with McGowan&#8217;s storytelling. &#8220;The Band Played Waltzing Matilda&#8221; is devastating, a real punch in the gut (or, maybe more appropriately, a kick in the teeth) of an ending. Kind of an acquired taste, but if properly acquired: it&#8217;s a great shambling, mess of an album that can be equal parts sad, joyous, cutting, and even, fun.<strong>Starred Songs:\u00a0<\/strong>&#8220;Sally MacLannane,&#8221; &#8220;The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn,&#8221; &#8220;The Band Played Waltzing Matilda&#8221;<br \/>\n<strong>Sneaky Tracks:\u00a0<\/strong>&#8220;Billys Bones,&#8221; &#8220;Dirty Old Town&#8221;<br \/>\n<strong>Should this album be on the\u00a0list?<\/strong> Yes<br \/>\n<strong>Will you listen to this again?\u00a0<\/strong>Probably. But maybe just select\u00a0tracks.<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1381337312959_5425\">Verdict:\u00a0<\/b>Whiskey fueled, emotional Irish punk folk that is a glorious mess if you&#8217;re in the right mood.<br \/>\n<strong>Rating:\u00a0\u2605\u2605\u26053\/4<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GzHGTIPl310\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>#440 The Pogues,\u00a0Rum, Sodomy and the Lash Release Date:\u00a01985 Previously Owned:\u00a0No First Time Listen:\u00a0Yes Impressions:\u00a0Irish folk-punk rock. A very narrow little sub-genre, practically invented by The Pogues, that I enjoy in small doses, like a musical version of Jameson&#8217;s Whiskey. Definitely not for everyone, but if you are open to its aggressive fiddle\/banjo\/accordion\/mandolin\/whiskey driven sound, &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/?p=552\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">RS #440:  The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54,109,86,10,168,9],"class_list":["post-552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rolling-stone-top-500-albums","tag-54","tag-3-75-stars","tag-elvis-costello","tag-first-time-listen","tag-the-pogues","tag-unowned"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=552"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":763,"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552\/revisions\/763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/batterymedia.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}