"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.
Rum Sodomy & the Lash also found
Shane MacGowan growing steadily as a songwriter; while the debut had its moments, the blazing and bitter roar of the opening track, "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn," made it clear
MacGowan had fused the intelligent anger of punk and the sly storytelling of Irish folk as no one had before, and the rent boys' serenade of "The Old Main Drag" and the dazzling, drunken character sketch of "A Pair of Brown Eyes" proved there were plenty of directions where he could take his gifts. And like any good folk group,
the Pogues also had a great ear for other people's songs. Bassist
Cait O'Riordan's haunting performance of "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" is simply superb (it must have especially impressed
Costello, who would later marry her), and while
Shane MacGowan may not have written "Dirty Old Town" or "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," his wrought, emotionally compelling vocals made them his from then on.
Rum Sodomy & the Lash falls just a bit short of being
the Pogues' best album, but was the first one to prove that they were a great band, and not just a great idea for a band. ~ Mark Deming