The Pogues

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Pogues career, Rhino are releasing a limited edition double red Vinyl version of the London show from December 1991 when Joe Strummer was fronting the group. The legendary performance showcases Strummer’s vocals and guitar in perfect harmony with the musical prowess of the Pogues 7 piece. At just short of 80 minutes, the electric set contains all the Pogues biggest hits like ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God,’ ‘Dirty Old Town’ and ‘Fiesta’ alongside classic Clash tracks such as ‘London Calling,’ ‘I Fought The Law’ and ‘Straight To Hell.’

If Rum Sodomy & the Lash captured the Pogues on plastic in all their rough-and-tumble glory, If I Should Fall from Grace with God proved they could learn the rudiments of proper record making and still come up with an album that captured all the sharp edges of their musical personality. Producer Steve Lillywhite imposed a more disciplined approach in the studio than Elvis Costello had, but he had the good sense not to squeeze the life out of the band in the process; as a result, the Pogues sound tighter and more precise than ever, while still summoning up the glorious howling fury that made Rum Sodomy & the Lash so powerful.

"I saw my task… was to capture them in their delapidated glory before some more professional producer f–ked them up," Elvis Costello wrote of his role behind the controls for the Pogues' second album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash. One spin of the album proves that Costello accomplished his mission; this album captures all the sweat, fire, and angry joy that was lost in the thin, disembodied recording of the band's debut, and the Pogues sound stronger and tighter without losing a bit of their edge in the process.

What set the Pogues apart from any number of other energetic Irish traditional bands was the sheer physical force of their performances, the punky swagger of their personalities, and Shane MacGowan's considerable gifts as a songwriter. Unfortunately, none of these qualities comes through very clearly on their first album, Red Roses for Me. While the Pogues are in good form here, the production (by Stan Brennan) is thin and lacks the body or nuance to capture the finer details of the performances, robbing this recording of the fire the group would display on their later albums.

     Последний из имеющихся у меня альбомов.
     Но это ещё не всё…