Rum Sodomy & The Lash
The Pogues
1985
Album Summary
Rum Sodomy & the Lash is the second studio album by the London-based folk punk band The Pogues, released on 5 August 1985. The album reached number 13 in the UK charts. The track "A Pair of Brown Eyes", based on an older Irish tune, reached number 72 in the UK singles chart. "The Old Main Drag" later appeared on the soundtrack to the film My Own Private Idaho.
WikipediaWouldn't be surprised if this was made 'Thanks to a grant from the Irish in Britain Heritage Fund', so well does it document the horrors visited on the Irish by our multiply disgraced nation. As for historicity, I imagine some is fact and some is myth and jolly good too because history can't be understood without both. At the same time, McGowan and his troop make you feel the spirital effects of all this turbulence. It's pretty obvious how this is done lyrically. These are fabulous stories bleeding with colour. But it's the inclusion and ocassional reworking of traditional songs among the originals that elevates this to heritage status. Capping it all off with Waltzing Matilda -- about similar awfulness in Australia -- is a masterstroke that makes the album universal. What struck me anew this time were the sparing and gentle arrangements, which belie my assumption that this is mostly punk and puckish fare.
What is music for? What is art for? Part of what it’s for is creating little windows into other worlds, and letting others peer into those worlds. And when it works, we peer into marvellous, fully constructed worlds that adhere to their own internal logic - that build something from nothing. That transmit the world you see directly into my head. Point being, this album creates such a world better than most any album I’ve heard in a long time. A totally internally consistent world of heroic boozehounds and defeated champions, spinning yarns and raising glasses. I was transported.
Look, it's the Pogues. I love this band and their albums are, to a one, pure fun to listen to. But I can't, for the life of me, understand why they're on this list. I don't see how anyone could say that this is an influential band with a straight face. Anyway, it's a ton of fun and that's worth some stars.
Not many albums can make you dance, sway and cry all within the hour. 'Rum, Sodomy and the Lash' is The Pogues' finest work, although some prefer the almost as good follow up 'If I Should Fall From Grace With God'. The album is packed with an impressive amount of variety, original material blending seamlessly with covers and instrumental numbers. The last thing MacGowan or his band could ever be accused of is being boring, and the almost complete absence of bad songs on this album is a testament to that. It goes down rightly as the album that captured the band at their emotional, intoxicated and brilliant best. 5/5
The title pretty much sums it up. A feast of whisky, penny whistle, folk and punk spirit. A classic example of a band at the peak of their powers.
I have to say the title of this made me a little nervous that it would be a metal band, but I actually quite enjoyed this one. It was really good.
Concede there’s a couple of dud tracks but there’s very few that can keep the live energy bottled into recordings like this.
Welp, here's another album that hits all the right spots for me. Irish band playing Irish and spaghetti western-style music. To be honest, today wasn't the right day to listen to it, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I might've done. However, I recognize that fact, and this album's greatness. Five stars!
Great album, lots of nice bar songs. I think i like this one better than the other Pogues album.
Der Sänger ist zwar die hässlichste Sau, die je das Pech gehabt hat geboren zu werden, er hat sich es sich trotzdem nicht nehmen lassen, jegliche Hirnfunktion aus seiner verformten Matschbirne zu saufen. Beeindruckend! Musikalisch zwar grade mal über Grundschulniveau, dafür aber mit ganz viel Gefühl bei der Sache, also alles gut (und traurig meistens). Möchte im Pub so viele Snakebites saufen bis ich mich anfühle, wie der Mongo aussieht. Nur geil. Dirty Old Town absolutes GOLD! 5*, wer war was anderes sagt, hats nicht verstanden. Eigentlich müsste man 1* abziehen, weil die wohl bei der hälfte der Aufnahme gepennt haben. Dirty old Town - Gute Qualität. Jesse James - hört sich an wie durch ne Wand aufgenommen. Hätten die mal weniger gesoffen.
Erster Song direkt Bock auf n pint black adder, poor mans black velvet oder ein chilliges snakebite. Holt mich sauftechnisch enorm ab. Instrumental tracks kicken mich weniger, vernebeln mir aber schön den Geist mit Hobbit-vibes und bock auf'n kühles Kilkenny. Zwischenzeitlich auf nice "fields of Athenry" Vibes die mich die grünen saftigen Wiesen samt eines Eimers des wohlduftenden Gesöffs direkt vom St. James Gate in Dublin schmecken lassen. Je länger der bumms dauert desto mehr wünsche ich mich in mein 4 uhr morgens Irish Pub ich hinein das rücksicktslos weiter bestellt. Na klar darfs noch n whisky dazu sein. Hab zwar fast kotzen müssen aber der muss noch sein. Als ob ich noch was schmecke lol. Bei the parting glass kommt mir der absolute tullamore dew Rausch in die Birne, absolut krank. Insgesamt einfach ein einwandfreises Irish Folk Album. Meiner meinung nach sind auch nur Spider Stacy, Jem Finer und Andrew Ranken echte Pogues, da der Rest früher oder später weg war (alle drei an diesem album beteiligt). Sei es drum. Schenk mir ein du grüne Muse und hör nicht auf bis mir schwindelig wird. Cheers! 5*
Dirty Old Town always gets me. Honestly I didn't have time to relisten to this, so perhaps it doesn't hold up, but old me will fight new me if I end up thinking so. Once saw Shane McGowan in concert after the Pogues, as you might expect, drinking in excess for decades doesn't does one well.
I've always loved this album - kept finding myself humming or whistling along. Just brilliant
So much fuckin energy here, it's impossible to dislike in any way. It sounds dumb to write it but Shane McGowan's alcoholism was something I thought was really cool in my 20s. I always thought the ultimate rock star would be a cross between him and David Lee Roth. Punk rock energy, arena rock antics, incredible substance abuse problem haha. 5/5.
This album is dynamite, and the Pogues have such a unique sound. Pair of Brown Eyes, Rainy Night in Soho, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda are all five star songs.
I goddamn love the goddamn Pogues. This is my absolute Jam. What a cracking album.
Hah hah, a raucous rocking time! I was introduced to this album during my "only metal" phase, and even though it's plainly not metal, I had to admire the level of punk wrapped up in this folk! Fave track - "Sally MacLennane" maybe? A lot of good songs to choose from, though...
“Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash” by The Pogues (1985) Are you into sailing? Serious listeners who don’t immediately recognize the reference in the title will be behind the curve, but this album is very good—sailor songs, mate, in the finest traditions of the British navy—rum, sodomy, and the lash. Songs that tell a story—sometimes coarse, sometimes passionate, sometimes horribly abrasive, but always ballsy and always entertaining. With lyrics that are somewhere in the broad sea between doggerel and epic (it ain’t Kipling), the music is in the folk Irish style, meant to be sung and heard while inebriated, pounding pewter mugs on the nearest horizontal piece of oak. Lead singer Shane McGowan has a voice like your average drunk boatswain’s apprentice, but with soul. Everyone should listen to at least one track of this (I recommend "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn") to get the flavor. Musically, these performances feature a heavy dose of accordion, tin whistle, and banjo, with standard chord structures and conventional melodies. And it’s so well done. Picture yourself on a British man o’ war in 1870, gathered with your shipmates on the fo’c’sle before the third watch after your issue of grog. Obviously, this isn’t for everybody, but within its very narrow genre, it excels. 4/5
I like the song Dirty Old Town very much, but 18 songs of The Pogues is a bit much.
nice cover art. album started, dont know if ill make it through an hour of this voice. second song: i can hear him 'singing' against the mic? its unplesant. cant imagine this possibly taking a turn i like, awful music and voice. curious now if there might be 1 singular song in this album i might like. theres 18 freaking songs. okay a woman singing now. interesting lyrics there. back to the man. i dont hate a pair of brown eyes! i think i got used to his voice and its no longer quite so unpleasant. music reminds me of the sponge bob theme song haha. i can take a guess what the genre is but i wont embarass myself. but they have to be irish right haha. different male singer now i think. idk. the sound effects lol. so unnecessary to do the girls voice in the gentleman soldier xd okay im stopping at london girl, i got the gist of it i think. cant say i loved or even liked this but it ended up being not as awful as i initially thought it might be.
Bloody love the Pogues, such a great band. I has such nostalgia for this album, my parents playing it a lot when I was young.
Absolutely great album - fantastic mix of songs, given a unique twist.
I am a big fan of Celtic punk and the Pogues are largely responsible for popularizing it. This album is at times angry, political, and endearingly reflective. Shane MacGowan’s distinctive delivery can be heard in later bands such as Flogging Molly, and serves to highlight his influence. The music itself is brilliant. Combining punk forms with traditional Irish instrumentation is a unique and effective hybrid and one that allows for the expression of a cultural identity within a popular genre.
Oh, how I wish I'd seen them live. Preferably in a pub with a dance floor. I love the little touches that elevate it above folk (I love good Celtic folk BTW). My favourite is the surf guitar solo on, "A Pistol For Paddy Garcia." I was expecting to mark this down because of repetition, but this glorious LP is packed with variety, fun, skill, and that spark of anger and rebellion that turns good into great.
Well for one thing, this popped up a day after St Patrick's Day - feels like a missed trick. It's one of my Dad's favourite albums too (the last one to come up was Take Five, and it got five stars just like that... I feel like this might have the same treatment. And you may need to add an additional star option when Graceland arrives). A perfect mix of sentimental, offensive, raucous and fun.
Doesn't disappoint on any level - Bill (5/5) Reminds me of the UK, makes me happy - Shannah (5/5) Better than anticipated, more measured and musical than expected - Conor (4/5) (4.7/5)
The Pogues! Not expecting to see them here, but I'm pleasantly surprised. It's not my favorite album by them, but it's still really good. While I think the bands they influenced aren't bad, you really don't need Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys albums when you can just listen to The Pogues instead.
Actually pretty great. Energetic, folky with all the charm you'd expect.
An Irish classic from an iconic group from the region. This album is simply so fun and entertaining and enjoyable. Classic Celtic flutes, accordions, rhythms and humorous and honest lyricism.
Als ik ooit een jaar verdwijn weet dan dat ik dit album bij me heb. Instant reisklassieker
this is exactly why i wanted to do this a pair of brown eyes, dirty old town, navigator fills beautifully between, starts strong with ‘sick beds’
The unruliness, the vigor, the wit, the sentiment, the absolute joy of the Irish soul is in The Pogues, as it is in Brendan Behan and Seamus Heaney and James Joyce. Here that soul has been brought into the twentieth century (the rapidfire drums and howling vocals on The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn) but it's still essentially nostalgic -- about green lands, slower time, a community based on old custom (A Pair of Brown Eyes). Maybe traditional music played like this isn't for everyone, but I think it's so original, so unmistakably the music of a place. A Dirty Old Town so deeply beloved.
I would put this album along side Dexy’s Searching or the first Specials album - genre-bending and game changing. I don’t listen to a lot of Pogues these days, but I love d the rebel spirit of this at the time. There are some absolute classics on here, not least The Old Main Drag, along with a couple of duffers (Jesse James, for one). But they save the best for last here. And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda is one of about 3 songs I can name off the top of my head that makes me teary every time that I hear it. I am not a folk fan - far from it - but I absolutely love this.
Just a solid set of bangers in here. Irish Punk Shanties are definitely underrepresented in music.
I thought The Pogues were some kind of indie, maybe punk music when this came up. Why? I have no idea. Turns out I had no idea what The Pogues were all about. I certainly did not expect that Irish folk with a little country thrown in. Nor a disturbing anti-war anthem based on “Waltzing Matilda.” I did not realize that would be the perfect soundtrack for my day. Amazing storytelling. Amazing music. I love it! Rum Sodomy & the Lash was never so great!
To me this album means home. It is heartbreaking but gorgeous and exhilarating. I love every moment.
I enjoyed this album quite a bit. As soon as I finished my first listen, I immediately wanted to listen again...and I did. It was amazing!
Put together a tin whistle, banjo, and accordion and I'm in. Add some powerful stories and it's perfect. Lovely.
This album was a breath of fresh air after a string of albums I did not like. I am a sucker for Irish punk rock and sea shanty vibes so this album made me very happy to listen to it (3 times in 2 days.)
Excellent album, probably my favourite by The Pogues Each track is superb
Some of the best shit out there. Grew up with this and it will never get old.
You either like the Pogues or you don’t. I’m a fan. Giving it five stars because I could reposted many more times.
I listened to this in the truck at work today. Twice. I very rarely listen to the same album back to back and it's even more rare for me to do so at work, but this was another one of those "what the fuck have I been doing with my life?!" moments! Certainly, I've long been aware of The Pogues legacy and them being loved by many musicians and friends that I dig, but I've never done the dive before today. Foolishness! This is my second favourite discovery of the project so far. "The Wild Cats of Kilkenny" is stone-cold brilliant. A 6 out of 5 surrounded by 4s and 5s. Their covers of "Dirty Old Town" and "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" are equally incredible, but truly there's nary a misstep on this album. The A-Side is staked with MacGowan originals while the B-Side is just stacked! Turns out the version I played twice is the extended 2005 reissue, which included a pair of "Dirty Old Town" B-Sides bookending the four songs released on the wonderfully titled Poguetry in Motion EP - even these were strong songs with "Body of an American" and "Rainy Night in Soho" being particular standouts. This one will be getting lots of play for a while now, and is going on my vinyl wantlist pronto!
You might expect the Celtic style to get old after an hour, but they change things up enough that it's not a problem.
What's not to like? Hay gaitas, guitarras, brincos, letras desmadrosas… Desde que descubrí a los Pogues hace años me han gustado mucho pero no me los imaginaba en esta lista. De cualquier manera, creo que tienen el mérito de traer cosas de su folk y mezclarlas en una escena punk que quizá no era la más receptiva para eso.
J'ai bien aimé. Je m'attendais a du gros punk ou quelque chose près de The Clash, mais j'ai été surpris de voir que tout les instruments était ''accoustic'' et que les mélodies étaient très douces. J'aime bien ce genre de musique Irlandaise, cela me fait penser a Flogging Molly un peu et le temps que j'écoutais ca quand j'étais jeune. 4.15
Irish folk with an urgent and chaotic punk energy but also some tender moments. Really like the social commentary through story telling and evocative imagery in the songs. Dirty Old Town in particular is whistfully wonderful.
"In blood and death neath a screaming sky I lay down on the ground And the arms and legs of other men Were scattered all around Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed Then prayed and bled some more And the only thing that I could see Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me But when we got back, labeled parts one to three There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me" (A pair of brown eyes) "They died in their hundreds with no sign to mark where Save the brass in the pocket of the entrepreneur. By landslide and rockblast they got buried so deep That in death if not life they'll have peace while they sleep." (Navigator) Pero esto es BASTANTE FANTASÍA TODO.
A fuckin banger, although sometimes the subject matter (if I even understood it) was totally wild
Really good album, danceable and the Irish songs never disappoint. Also some ballads that easen the mood. Solid 8/10
Bereits beim ersten Lied den Malleolus durch euphorisiertes stampfen verstaucht, Displayschaden durch fliegenden Krug sowie unerwarteter Zahnverlust. Mom, am I a pirate now?
This was super different and really interesting to listen to. I caught some Western influences in a few songs, and liked the Irish folk of many of the others. Sally McLennane is a surprising banger, album cover is pretty cool as well. It was a little long, though two of the songs I saved were from that expanded edition so it evens out. Saved: Sally McLennane, Dirty Old Town, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, A Rainy Night in Soho, The Body of an American
Something about angry Irish music first thing on Monday morning hit me just right....