The move away from their punk roots here is not for the better, imo. Fairytale IS a great song, if rather overplayed these days, and the title track isn't bad, but there is little else here of much note. It feels like they could only get Shane to function in front of a mic for a certain amount of time, and so there is a lot of 'trad' filler here, with other vocalists. The whole thing feels rather front-loaded, and soon starts to wear thin.
I had to give this a second listen. I admit to allowing it to wash over me first time round - which is quite an achievement for a Pogues album. I guess I just wasn't in the mood. And you need to be in the mood for a Pogues album. This isn't easy listening. There's much more depth than I was expecting. The Eastern influences add more light to the simple piss up Pogues' persona. I had to skip THAT song, even in deep December. Sure, it's magical. But you can only take so much of it, especially so at this time of the year.