Sorry I wasn’t able to get this up earlier. I had to finish up the last little bit at work today.
The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God
1. If I Should Fall From Grace With God -2:20
2.Turkish Song of the Damned - 3:27
3. Bottle of Smoke - 2:47
4. Fairytale of New York - 4:36
5. Metropolis - 2:50
6. Thousands Are Sailing - 5:28
7. South Australia - 3:27
8. Fiesta - 4:13
9. Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant/The Rocky Road to Dublin/The Galway Races 4:03
10. Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six - 4:39
11. Lullaby of London - 3:32
12. Sit Down by the Fire - 4:10
13. The Broad Majestic Shannon - 2:55
14. Worms - 1:01
To start this off, I should mention the only other Pogues album I’ve ever heard is Rum, Sodomy, and The Lash, so everyone knows where I’m coming from. The Pogues were the creators of the Celtic Punk genre, fusing the fury of punk with Celtic music influenced by the Irish past time of getting drunk. And by the way, they do it better than anyone that followed them. This album goes a step further in terms of folk, combining the Pogues’ sound with folk music from around the world. It flows perfectly together as well, never straying too far into the various other folk sounds. And they use just the right combination of story telling songs and drunken anthems to create a classic that could never possibly get boring. The diversity on this album just makes it so much fun to listen to. I’m not going to do a full track by track because there are too many songs, so I’ll just do a few of my favorites.
2. Turkish Song of the Damned
This song is really cool; McGowan and the gang take an Eastern stance on their music. But they blend it in with their sound perfectly. There’s no questioning that it is the sound of the Pogues, but they go from an Eastern sounding chorus to a typical Poguesy Celtic punk chorus without missing a beat.
3. Bottle of Smoke
Bottle of Smoke is very punk, a song about winning a bet on a horse with 25 to 1 odds. They’re offensive, don’t give a **** attitude in this song epitomizes the drunken Irish punk perfectly, if you ask me.
6. Thousands Are Sailing
One of the slower songs on the album, Thousands Are Sailing is an immigrant song about sailing to the United States. Possibly the best song on the album, this one stands out to me as being the perfect fusion of traditional Irish music with the upbeat, aggressive sound of punk that the Pogues embraced. The melody is hopeful and nostalgic all at once, placing the listener right there on the boat leaving their home country and everything they know in search of a better life. The standout track overall from the whole album for me.
7. South Australia
The last track on this album is one final hoorah from the Pogues, and another gem from the album. It’s a drunken, upbeat (complete with crowd vocals) anthem with just the right addition of enjoyable ferocity to end the album leaving any one that listens to it in a great mood.
8. Fiesta
I remember listening to this album for the first time, and having no idea what was going on when this song came on. It starts off with a saxophone and a bluesy bass line. But about half a minute in, there’s a whistle, and soundly it devolves into a chaotic, Spanish influenced, punk mess. Imagine The Pogues going to Spain, getting drunk with a mariachi band, and then teaming up to create a song. That’s pretty much what you have here. Is it just me, or is McGowan’s Spanish accent hilarious?
12. Sit Down By the Fire
A fun to listen to song about a nightmare of sorts, I guess. I suspect the lyrics might have something to do with some sort of Irish folk tail, but that’s just my best guess. It’s a perfect fusion of punk and Celtic music, basically more of the great sound that we all know and love. Sort of feels like an Irish jig around a fire at night when the air is cool.
13. The Broad Majestic Shannon
A fantastic Pogues song, I really enjoyed the music on this one. The melody is just so catchy and fantastic. The song is about young love, I think. It’s a fantastic song to be the last, well, real Pogues song on the album. Worms isn’t quite like the other tracks.
14. Worms
Err… what?
The thing that I can’t stress enough about this album, which you’ve probably realized by now, is just how much fun it is to listen to. Never a dull moment, and it never drags you down too much to get you feeling depressed. It’s the perfect soundtrack to an evening drinking with friends, but is just as great when you listen to it by yourself. What made the Pogues so much better than later more current punk bands like The Flogging Mollys, The Dropkick Murphys, or The Street Dogs is the artistic, creative side that they seem to possess. While many bands in the genre focus solely on songs one might enjoy in a pub after a hard day at a typical working class job, the Pogues manage to do this while also writing creative songs that reward careful listeners. This is an absolute must for anyone that enjoys punk.