Rum Sodomy & The Lash

I liked the album quite a bit. It feels like an album made for sitting in a pub with your friends, a freezing cold pint in front of you and foam spilling over the edge. My favourite song was “London Girl.” It’s nice and catchy. I found “Wild Cats of Kilkenny” and “Planxty Noel Hill” a bit boring, but that’s because I’m not really into instrumental tracks. They didn’t hold my attention as much as the songs with vocals. It has a good mix of happy and sad songs, and if you like Irish folk music, it’s definitely worth a listen.

Perfect fucking album no notes. It's not as varied in sound as their later album If I Should Fall From Grace With God, which we got over a year ago in this challenge(!), but god damn, the pure rollicking good time that is its consistent Irish sound still gets me going.

This isn’t a daily driver for me, but if I were in Ireland, lounging in a restaurant/pub, this album would be ideal. I would sing the lyrics wrong, and I would be happy!

I don't know man, if I lived in an Irish bar I might be into this, but I mostly just found it pretty annoying. Ended up bailing after a few songs because I just didn't care about it.

Highlights: The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn, Wild Cats of Kilkenny, A Pair of Brown Eyes, Navigator, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda I'm usually not the biggest fan of this Celtic music style, but I didn't find this to be that bad. Still, it didn't blow me away, and it became a bit of a drag in the second half. I think it's mainly due to the vocal style. I'm split on whether it's a pro or a con. He fits the folk aesthetic nicely, but he is also sooo monotonous once you're a few tracks in. Lyrically it was interesting, though I feel like that is to be expected form this genre. I liked the closing WW1 song. The theme stroke me as an original one to pick, but I'm not sure if it really is or isn't.

Wasn’t sure what to think before going into this, but it never let go from the moment it began it was also a very nostalgic experience as there were a handful of songs that my parents would play. A very wonderful time throughout

I think I would like it if I were in the mood but I’m busy rush hour it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to start my day. Totally see the value you in it tho and they obviously have some classics!!!

You know I can appreciate it for what it is and I guess if I'm in the right mood I could listen to some of these songs so I'm going to go three but not because I don't think it's well done just because I'm not going to be listening to this on the reg

Best album name possibly ever. And the music is fun too. Inspiration for Flogging Molly or the Dropkick Murphys and the like, I suppose.

Good stuff. Irish pub punk, who knew? Beware of And the band played Waltzing Matilda, I cried like a baby.

This is good - but I am rarely in a British pub where this music fits best

If you listen to this in the morning you will probably want a pint of Guinness for breakfast. 5 stars or A.

Fun

Man, I love Shane. And The Pogues. Such a rollicking good time.

Fun!

If you think this album is better than If I Should Fall From Grace With God I'd like to interview you. It's very good but I think the best parts are when they dip into other genres to show their range and instrumental skill and there isn't as much of that here. Their version of Waltzing Matilda is stunning and will put a tear in your eye. Just think the album sags in the middle.

Delightfully niche album. And I'm here for all the flak that comes with it. I've been down with the pogues since I was 14 years old so I am not going to entertain the delirium of internet strangers. Its a good thing to appreciate music from all over the world. Irish folk punk included. Lively, rich and full of history and culture as well as the drunken ramblings of a madman. But thats all fair in this genre. Shane is a whole lot more authentic than the Dropdick Murphys.

Bad cover, ugly and boring. This album is not great, it has so many unmemorable tracks, and it genuinely gave me a headache. This album is very irish, which I was not the biggest fan of. Dragged on somehow even though it was only 45mins. Best Song: The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn. Worst Song: And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

I think I just listened to the Irish National Album. This record is packed full of quick, fun songs with those classic Celtic instruments and raspy voice. In between each rapid track is a slower or instrumental composition, which emphasizes the sheer speed of what I would call the “main” songs. I could also hear some voice experimentation on songs like “The Gentleman Soldier,” which I thought was funny and added to my enjoyment. However, whoever is singing on “Jesse James” needs to stop, and if it’s just voice manipulation, please don’t do that one again.

Great album. It’s good to know that Flogging Molly has been ripping off of The Pogues for this long

I enjoyed the pogues

Nice sea shantys. Not a big fan, but sounds great.

Very good

I really like the idea of the Pogues, and this was pretty good. I'm not sure I'd ever choose to listen to this though.

Overall: 7/10 If you like celtic music, you'll probably love this. I don't like it as much as the last Pogues album I got, but it's still really good. I would have liked it to be a bit harsher if I'm being honest. Fav Song: The Gentleman Soldier

Favorite Track: Wild Cats of Kilkenny

Giving this a four-just fantastic fun

ppeeps that made that one Christmas song I quite like their voices

I dont like this

irish pirate

Never again

Cerramos la semana con esta banda que es medio "meh". Tiene algunas cosas divertidas pero no mucho más. Hasta la semana que viene, gente

Really enjoyed this. So upbeat and fun (until the last song). Ready to be in a pub in Ireland. Sally the quintessential pub song.

I liked this the more I listened to it. Fave was I’m the man you don’t meet everyday

I can't explain why I liked it, but I really, really did.

Not a huge Pogues fan but thus I know was the breakthrough album.

Shane MacGowan attempting to sing high notes is always an adventure. This album still slaps. 11 keepers in 13 (85%). 85

When Shane shuts his gob this is the best Irish band ever to have been. They don't quite compare to the Dubliners but this is proper good craic. Don't get me wrong Shane is an icon, but the instrumentals on this album speak directly to my heart

Very very Irish. God damn. Takes me back to those teenage years working at an Irish pub. Listening to my 7 budweisers deep boss tweedle on his little Irish flute with his buddies. Obviously this is more cool than that shit but its in the same vein for sure. I like the more punk vocal stylings. Aggressive and harsh. Reminds me of later stuff I grew up with like flogging molly or dropkick murphys. This is for sure cooler still. That's what id day most about this. As ive said twice now its just cool. They take something super regional and passed it around. Im only 5k miles away from Ireland. Maybe less but about the others side of the world. Also using miles probably outs me quick. But I was very happy to find out i liked this as much as I did. I was a little lukewarm on the last record I listened to by them and this is better for sure. Its a sick record that shows off this type of folky music better than almost anuthing ive ever seen. Kicks ass

Honestly, I really didn't know what to expect from this album. I had never heard of the artist or this record before, and this is a completely different kind of music than what I normally listen to. It wasn't totally bad at all—it was surprisingly interesting. I actually enjoyed the Irish folk-punk style, and I even caught myself dancing along at first. The lyrics are actually brilliant, and I think for me that is the absolute best part of the record. The downside is that as much as the songs are fun, listening to the album straight through gets pretty tiring. There isn't much variety when it comes to the melody and instrumentation, so by halfway through the album it becomes predictable. It doesn't help that the runtime feels longer than normal—it starts to feel like one hour-long song that you just want to finish when you're only halfway through. And in addition to that the singer sounds like a drunk; tolerable at first, but gets annoying as it goes on. All in all, it feels like a marathon runner running out of breath before even reaching the halfway mark. This would be amazing music for a room full of people getting slammed drunk, dancing together, having fun, and clapping their hands in the air. But if you're listening to it alone, it's probably better not to take it all at once, but rather in a few smaller doses. Would I listen to the album again? Yes, definitely. I would probably play a couple of tracks at a time rather than sitting through the whole thing in one session. Would I recommend this album? Of course. I think it's a great, fun album that everyone can enjoy once in a while. So despite its shortcomings, it's still an incredible work of art! 5 out of 5 stars. Favorite Songs: The Old Main Drag Dirty Old Town Jesse James The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

The only enjoyable song is the instrumental song

It’s OK some good tunes in there. I can take so much Celtic punk a lot start sounding the same. Solve it overall.

went into this one fully prepared to shit on it given the other, but they managed to actually make an ok album. still dont understand why they’re considered punk. they are clearly not.

no banco mucho el celtic rock, y eso que no me parece mal álbum, pero no es para mí, quizás en otro momento lo sea

The Pogues are pretty awesome, one of the best surprises from the list I'd say. It's not the kind of music that I would like to listen to most of the time, but when the time hits it is great. One song will make you want to dance and sing, and the next will make you cry. Favourites: The Old Main Drag Sally MacLenanne A Rainy Night in Soho

Another one I hadn’t heard before and absolutely loved

The Pogues may be best known for The Tale of New York City, but Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash proves they're far more than one song casual fans belt every Christmas. It's a record rich in storytelling, both original and covers of contemporaries and traditional Celtic music. Their bawdy style blends the pub with the sea, keeping one foot firmly in their London Irish roots and the other in a devil may care punk attitude. This is all captured brilliantly by Elvis Costello, who produced the album. Instead of wrangling the band into a perfectly captured sound, Costello recorded as much as he could live in the studio, imperfections and all (which was pretty revolutionary at the time). He later said he wanted to capture them in all their dilapidated glory. This may sound like a lot to take in but the music is instantly familiar thanks to the broad influence The Pogues have had. From the rowdy music of Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys to the intricate storytelling of The Decemberists, Shane MacGowan and Co. have had a major impact since their early 80s beginnings.

The problem with a band that makes a very specific type of music, especially a type that has been imitated for decades, is that it comes on and you (or I, at least) go “oh, it’s that type of music” and then your brain turns off. I’m like that with techno. It’s not good or bad techno, it’s just techno. It comes on, I listen long enough to identify it as being techno, and then wait for it to be over. The oh-it’s-that-type-of-music trap is especially easy to fall into with the Pouges, because it’s not just a distinctive style of music, it’s a distinctive style of music based on an instantly identifiable musical tradition. So I go, “oh it’s traditional Irish folk music, oh wait, it’s like a punk take on traditional Irish folk music” and my brain tries to turn off. But the Pouges are good enough to get me to push past that instinct and stay engaged long enough to appreciate how good this album is. It is impressive how varied the band is, given that punk rock and Irish folk music are basically the exact same song done slightly differently an infinite number of times. But the Pouges are musically interesting and their lyrics are incredible and so they make the melding of the two styles work in ways the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, and the Real McKenzies, and the Rumjacks, and all the other Pouges imitators don’t. This is an extremely good album by a very good band.

Getting a singer that can actually sing would be a great help.

Another lush, soulful entry from this Celtic band. And though it's less obviously "punk" than the follow-up, the imagery, storytelling, vocals, and unbelievably layered instrumentals are still top-notch. It's admittedly sort of streamlined, and exactly how you'd expect a Celtic folk-rock to sound like - especially 'Sally Maclennane,' which is maybe my favourite song here; it feels like something you'd hear at some worse-for-wear sing-along Irish pub. It's also far less varied than their follow-up, but you still get the sort of slow, marching longing of a song like 'A Pair of Brown Eyes' or the sort of sorrowful dirge of the closing 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda', another undeniable highlight. Good stuff; always enjoy a good Pogues record.

Number: 267 Familiarity: Moderate (3) Rating: 3 Before: ======= Again? I just had them 13 days ago. OK, well let's get this over with... After : ======= It's quite enjoyable if one is in the mood for this sort of thing. My rating would be somewhere between 3 and 4 but I'll go with 3 for this one, since I gave their other album a 4.

You really can't escape Elvis Costello in this list, he's back as producer here! I saw the Pogues live a few years ago, albeit it was supporting the Libertines in Hyde Park. Perhaps not quite the right setting to enjoy their distinctive celtic folk/ punk music which would probably better suit being heard in the pub, but it was fun nonetheless I enjoyed the album, Shane McGowan really was a force of nature. There's some great writing here and fun music which you could dance to. Nice takes on some folk classics too I don't think it's quite 5* because after Dirty Old Town, the last few tracks wane in quality a bit.

Good album. Not at all what I was expecting and really liked it

The Pogues are fun. The last song on the album went on a little long but the music itself was good and you can hear the influence these guys had on later bands like the Dropkick Murphies.

Im a free born man of the USA baby!

It's a fun theme. I enjoyed it, but doubt I'll be putting this on again.

2.2/5

great very good

there is something infectious about the way they play. The vocals are still a bit grating, but also adds to the charm

Ok

I know The Pogues are a well-known band, but I wasn't familiar with their music before today. The opening track made me feel like I was being yelled at by a drunk pirate who had cornered me at a pub. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it did put me on edge. Then there's a silly song about Jesse James that feels like it wandered in from an entirely different album. But by far the star of the show is this slow little banger called "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day," which, in a stunning case of false advertising, is not sung by a man at all. I had to look up who was singing because I hadn't heard another female voice on the album. Turns out it's their bassist, Cait O'Riordan. I could listen to her velvety Irish voice sing the phone book. Easy 10/10 track and one I'm genuinely glad this album introduced me to. 4 stars baby

Traditional meets punk versions of some great sond

This was ???? I truly don’t know what to say. Just no.

Evergreen. The Pogues are the heros we need.

nah

Loved this one, whole album felt like a mix between an Irish jig and a sea shanty

Rum Sodomy & The Lash was an album that i was kinda bouncing back and forth on whether i should give it a 3 or a 4 but after much consideration, i went with the latter. I don't remember much about this band if i've ever even heard of them at all, but they sound like they would definitely go on to influence bands like The Dropkick Murphys due to their Celtic sound. The songs here are definitely very fun sounding and while they sounded a bit samey after a while, it still had enough of an interesting sound to keep me hooked no matter what. This band was definitely a really nice surprise and this album proved it. Best Song: The Old Main Drag Worst Song: A Pistol for Paddy Garcia

(Strong 7/10) I liked "If I should Fall" better than this one overall, but this record ain't half bad either. The album flow doesn't work as well as I would like, but really there's no shortage of good songs in this batch. It just needs a bit of a track shuffling I think.

Carino ma non lo andrei a ricercare

music is love

Pretty good irish tunes

3 sterne

Aggressively Irish, modestly punk.

Still not really my thing. The rough folky sound and the vocals are a bit much together.

Melodico y alegre, capaz no entiendo el contexto pero llegaba a sonar un poco tonto. Igual me gustó. Lo volvería a escuchar? Tal vez

Didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Fantastic piece of work.

Damn good songwriting and Shane has a fair set of pipes on him. Not a bad track on here.

I think a lot of people are likely to disregard the influence of The Pogues, but they reinvigorated not only the folk scene, but punk as well. I'm also of the belief that Shane MacGowan doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves for his songwriting ability, often being overshadowed by his particular vocal stylings. This album is a great mix of original songs and recognized classics. If you're not a fan of the music or genre, this is an easy album to dismiss. But if you actually pay attention to the lyrics, you'd quickly realize how widely read MacGowan is, and how modern their original songs are, while still pairing nicely with the classic songs. Their musical arrangements are fresh takes on traditional reels and jigs. This has been a great pull.

This gives me a real insight to why folk is where it is now. I liked this a lot, full of energy and rum (hehe) and I can imagine it being the "not your ma and da's folk" in the 80s. Nice one! The Pogues is one of the best gigs I have ever been to and I hadn't listened to their music at all, and that is testament to the energy they have, truly infectious.

I remember growing up on this when I was like 7 in the car and thinking it was very transgressive (tbh probably is a bit much for a small child to hear all these songs about death, drinking and underage gay prostitution), and then returning to it over and over again through my life and never ever getting bored. I associate it with loads and loads of different memories good and bad (a lot of which involve getting v drunk). I think Shane McGowan was probably the best songwriter in the world at this point, the lyrics are just amazing, sometimes incredibly charged with pathos and sometimes just nihilistic and ridiculous. the music is controlled chaos. a hundred stars out of five, contender for my favourite album ever.

Such a cool album. I’d heard these guys before but this is a great record.

This was ok. I like the Pogues in theory

A festive end to the list

If I gave up 10 years up sobriety and was driving the west coast loop from Dublin and staying in a tiny village such as Clare or Doolin and this was on the at the local pub, well then it would be an easy 5. As it is I'm planning to stay sober and so the best I can muster is a 4. Even then it's kinda mid but I'll round it up.

As a born and bred Irish person I've mixed feelings on Celtic punk. Mostly because it give me images of yanks claiming to be Irish because their great great great grandmother was fingered by a potato farmer. In terms of music, it's super fun, pity a Rainy Night in Soho isnt on the original release, probably hadn't been written. Shane MacGowan is a genius but his alcoholism being glossed over is wild to look back on. There's a 1994 version of Spancil Hill with Christy Moore on the late late show and he is ossified drunk but Jesus he's still magic. Worth a watch. Anyway, 3.5/5. Raising to 4. Up the RA.

Det bliver lidt ensformigt i længden, men folkemusik-delen trækker op. Det har der ikke været meget af.

The run on bad albums continues, this has been a rough week and a half. The Pogues are all but unknown in the US, people over 50 might remember their name but couldn't name a song or even what they sounded like. The Brit slant on this T1001 has become comical. The song titles alone tell me this ain't for me ("Sick Bed of Cuchulainn", "Wild Cats of Kilkenny", "Sally MacLannane", "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"(at 8 mins), "A Pistol for Paddy Garcia", etc. I knew 5 seconds in that I was gonna hate this from start to finish. Not into sea shanties, the cadence, his abrasive voice, the incessant accordion, the 1800's musicianship or any of this schtick. The clever album cover is the best thing about this record. Hated every bit of it. Every song made me think of Sponge Bob Squarepants. Not for Americans! No hits (here at least, but "Dirty Old Town" has 88M listens?!), no impact/no longevity on this side of the ocean, nothing groundbreaking (in fact it's the complete opposite). 2 stars cause there's worse stuff on this list. I'd rather listen to nothing and I'm a bonafide music junkie.

This is a record that I have been listening to for decades at this point. For the most part, its really fantastic. It's a distinct step up in terms of song arrangement and how well the band can play their instruments. The first album is also very good, but you can tell that the band is getting used to playing with each other, and possibly playing their instruments at times. There's a lot more confidence here. McGowan's songwriting is stronger as well. With the exception of the so-so Billy's Bones, his songs are really spectacular. I think you can hear a lot of the Joyce of Dubliners in his writing. We're getting a lot of slice of life stuff about being a part of the diaspora and a sense of the abject (Genet). The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn intersects that material with a surreal mixture of Irish history and mythology. The two ballads, "The Old Main Drag" and "A Pair of Brown Eyes" are probably my favorite songs on the album and no one can really sing like McGowan sings. At his best, his vocals are distinctively non-conventional, but emotionally rich. However, there are a few moments that aren't really that great. I really don't think we needed the Jesse James cover and Philip Gaston's Navigator... is fine. I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day is pretty enjoyable and its an interesting vocal take by O'Riordan, but it clashes with the rest of the album, Billy's Bones introduces material that will be better covered in later albums. There's a noveltyish quality that really clashes with the substantial material that makes the bulk of the album. On the other hand, two of the covers go against that trend. "Dirty Old Town" is a very solid cover and fits really well within the aesthetics of the Pogues. The last track, And the Band Played Marching Matilda is a great song and the performance is fantastic. Elvis Costello said that his goal was to capture the power of this band, warts and all, and this really does that.

Not poorly executed, just not for me

This is pretty much an album of traditional irish music, which is great because I enjoy that. Dirty old town is basically a national anthem here. I did enjoy this. The three standout songs were: I'm a man you don't meet every day, Sally MacLennane, Dirty Old Town. 3.5 stars

I'm sitting on the fence this time. I can't decide if I like it or not.

p536. 1985. 5 stars. One of the great songwriters and the one of the greatest live bands ever on top form. Practically faultless.

Love the Pogues. This was a great album, only a couple tracks that didn’t really work for me but still didn’t mind them. Have to be in the mood to listen to the full album.

Not for me unfortunately

Meh, didn't excite me and dragged.

With a few drinks this would have been more fun

ai että näin pari kuukautta sitten pyörineenä irkku pubeissa itse irlannissa, tää albumi vei mut suorinta reittiä takasin niihin. Mutta jos nyt ihan musikiillisesti ilman tunnearvoa mietitään, ei tää semmosta jytää oo, mitä kuuntelisin ihan noin vain

45 minutes of drinking songs. Almost certainly better in context

First listen. Loved the themes. Leaving this album depressed, not in a bad way.

This isn't really for me, but I liked the last song plenty. Shoutout to the horribly racist Northern Irish guy I met once who recommended me these lads. Paddy's Pub - it's alright (6/10, 2/5 on this scale)