Rum Sodomy & the Lash
by The Pogues
- Type: Album
- Released: 5 August 1985
- Label: Stiff (UK, MCA (US, Stiff
- Country: Ireland
- Length: 45:35
- Community rating: 4/5 from 10 ratings
Artists on this release: Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, Andrew Ranken, Philip Chevron, Shane MacGowan, Cait O'Riordan, James Fearnley
Album Notes & Community Reviews
Produced by Elvis Costello, 'Rum Sodomy & the Lash' captures the band's raw, folk-punk energy with a live-in-the-studio feel intended to preserve their "dilapidated glory." The album marks a significant ascent in Shane MacGowan's songwriting, which blends original narrative-driven lyrics full of bleak romanticism with renditions of traditional ballads. Balancing raucous, celebratory anthems against somber stories of war and emigration, the record uses primarily acoustic instrumentation to create a sound that is both chaotic and poignant, cementing its place as a landmark of the 1980s.
Genres
Descriptors: traditional, storytelling, folk, literate, alcohol, male-vocals, gang-vocals
Tracklist
- The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn (03:00)
- The Old Main Drag (03:19)
- Wild Cats of Kilkenny (02:48)
- I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day (02:54)
- A Pair of Brown Eyes (05:01)
- Sally MacLennane (02:45)
- A Pistol for Paddy Garcia (02:32)
- Dirty Old Town (03:45)
- Jesse James (02:59)
- Navigator (04:13)
- Billy's Bones (02:02)
- The Gentleman Soldier (02:03)
- And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (08:14)
Credits
- Shane MacGowan - vocals, lead vocals, background vocals
- Spider Stacy - tin whistle, vocals on "jesse james", background vocals
- James Fearnley - accordion
- Jem Finer - banjo, background vocals
- Cait O'Riordan - bass, vocals on "i'm a man you don't meet every day", background vocals
- Andrew Ranken - drums
- Philip Chevron - guitar, mandolin on "the parting glass", producer on "a pistol for paddy garcia" and "the parting glass", background vocals
- Tommy Keane - uilleann pipes
- Henry Benagh - fiddle
- Dick Cuthell - horns, french horn, cornet
- Elvis Costello - producer, acoustic guitar on "dirty old town", background vocal on "jesse james"
- Nick Robbins - engineer, engineer (2005 reissue remastering), remastered by
- Paul Scully - engineer
- Dave Jordan - engineer on poguetry in motion
- Bob Kraushaar - engineer on poguetry in motion
- Nick Davis - engineer on poguetry in motion
- Peter Mennim - cover art (heads), artwork [heads], paintings
- Th茅odore G茅ricault - original painting
- Frank Murray - sleeve concept
- Cindy Palmano - photography
- Lilly Lee - hand lettering
- The Pogues - arranged by
- Graeme Durham - lacquer cut by
- Andrew Catlin - photography
- Barry Marsden - photography
- Marcia Farquhar - original lp sleeve concept
- Phil Smee - cd package design