Everything great about The Pogues is realized on their Elvis Costello-helmed second album. From the rapid-fire rumble of “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn” to the beautifully shambolic “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” the group’s Celtic spirit is captured in anarchic glee. Atop mandolins and banjos, fiddles and accordions, main singer/songwriter Shane MacGowan mixes barstool sadness and sharp-tongued wit like a seasoned raconteur. Killer covers like Ewan MacColl’s “Dirty Old Town” prove that The Pogues were acutely aware of their English and Irish folk-music history.
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