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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