Monday, February 22, 2016

CD Odyssey Disc 835: The Pogues

I’m feeling a little worn out, which isn’t a good sign given that it’s Monday. This too, shall pass. In the meantime there’s music!

Disc 835 is….Red Roses for Me
Artist: The Pogues

Year of Release: 1984

What’s up with the Cover? All the Pogues gathered around the portrait of John F. Kennedy. It is unclear what instrument Kennedy played in the band, but given when this album came out I’m going to assume it was the harp.

How I Came To Know It: I love the Pogues. I’ve delved into all their albums that feature original lead singer Shane MacGowan since my friend Anthony put me onto them over two decades ago. “Red Roses for Me” is just me digging through their collection.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Pogues albums and they are all good. So good in fact that the amazing “Red Roses for Me” managed to displace “Hell’s Ditch” for third place, only three months after I reviewed it.

Ratings: 4 stars

More than any other Pogues album “Red Roses for Me” is full-on folk music, yet because of the ferocity in which these guys lay down a song you can’t help but feel it is a bit punk as well.

What isn’t punk about the Pogues is their musical precision. For music that so perfectly evokes drunken Irish louts, the timing is exceptional. Rolling songs that barely leave time to take a breath,  like “Down in the Ground Where the Deadmen Go,” still stay perfectly in the pocket from beginning to end. Even the screams and moans come in and out of the arrangement at just the right time.

I love the rolling rhythms of all the songs on this album. They make you feel like you are standing on the pitching deck of a ship, feeling every roll of the waves, and yet the swing of music keeps you on your feet, confident and loose.

Despite all this timing perfection, the Pogues never feel stale or overly rehearsed. If it is a furiously fast song like “Down in the Ground…” or “Waxie’s Dargle” or slow and mournful ballads like “The Auld Triangle” and “Kitty” these guys infuse every note with meaning. Sometimes that meaning is the raving of a drunken bawling lowlife, and other times it is the melancholy air of regret (often by the same lowlife: one imagines in the sober morning after).

These are songs about the down and out, often involving trying to scrape together enough money to afford a pint or (better yet) a whiskey. In the case of “Boys From County Hell” it is about not being able to even afford your rent, and instead giving the stingy landlord a vengeful beating:

“I recall we took care of him one Sunday
We got him out the back and we broke his fucking balls
And maybe that was dreaming and maybe that was real
But all I know is I left that place without a penny or fuck all”

My favourite song on the album is “The Auld Triangle.” Even though it is a song that dates back to the fifties, this timeless tale of incarceration and longing never gets old, and I’ve never heard anyone do it better than the Pogues do it here.

The album has thirteen tracks, and half of them are covers or traditional folk songs, but just like “The Auld Triangle” the Pogues infuse them with a modern punk energy. More impressive, the original compositions (all written by singer Shane MacGowan) feel as timeless and classic as any of the standards.

Old songs and new alike, MacGowan’s voice drips with the aimless fury of misspent youth and broken dreams. He steps with equal grace into the shoes of whalers on the high seas, fugitives bidding farewell to their lovers and drunks wandering penniless through the streets of London. At every step he and the band are in perfect sync; even when they’re loose in their stays, they’re loose to the same degree.

Despite only giving this album 4 stars, I don’t have anything bad to say about “Red Roses for Me.” This is a classic record that thirty years after it was released sounds as fresh and easy as the day it came out.


Best tracks:  The Auld Triangle, Waxie’s Dargle, Boys From the County Hell, Sea Shanty, Dark Streets of London, Streams of Whiskey, Kitty

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