Track Listing

1. The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn
2. The Old Main Drag
3. Wild Cats Of Kilkenny
4. I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day
5. A Pair Of Brown Eyes
6. Sally Mac Lennane
7. A Pistol For Paddy Garcia
8. Dirty Old Town
9. Jesse James
10. Navigator
11. Billy's Bones
12. The Gentleman Soldier
13. The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53421 in Music
• Released on: 1998-09-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Amazon.com
Produced by Elvis Costello, the Pogues' second album brilliantly courted Irish drinking music with the thornier aspects of punk. Cait O' Riordan would eventually marry the producer and leave the band, but Shane MacGowan always made it his show and here he exploits his barfly voice to full effect. "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is worthy of Tom Waits, while "A Pair of Brown Eyes" is as sentimental as he gets. The addition of Uillean pipes, fiddle, and horns make this a grand statement about how all music can be filtered down to blood and guts and made to rock. --Rob O'Connor

Album Description
Produced by Elvis Costello, this is the second album by the Pogues, first released in 1985 on MCA in the U.S. on LP and cassette, but never on CD. This WEA/ Stiff edition features all 13 of the tracks found on the American release,including 'Sally MacLennane', 'A Pair Of Brown Eyes', 'The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn', 'Dirty Old Town', 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda', 'I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day' and 'Wild Cats Of Kilkenny'.

Album Details
The Second Shot Heard Round the World, Produced by Elvis Costello. Includes the Sick Bed of Cuchulainn / the Old Main Drag / Wild Cats of Kikenny / I'm a Man You Don't Meet Everyday / a Pair of Brown Eyes / Saly Maclennane and More.

Customer Reviews

Rum and other beverages
Ah the Thatcher years! Ah, The Pogues, and to think they've reunited, and even more implausible, that Shane is not only alive but still performing. When I last saw him a few years ago on a telly doc. his incoherence shockingly expressed a man in tragic disarray. He defies Rock's archetypal mythology of doomed premature deaths of its incandescent heores. As a friend, known to me for his Punk affiliations rather than his sobriety, confided, The Pogues were a group he avoided at the height of their powers in the London pub scene. They were just too loud. Songs from 'Rum, Sodomy and the Lash' are what he would have heard. Even in the sanctity of your home, its raucous, committed sound, its unique blend of existential angst and Folkish romance, will shake the fabric of walls and ear skins alike. It's just dripping with pathos. And for all the power the band brings to the party, you're left in no doubt about the verve of MacGowan's charasmatic leadership. His writing is superlative and the delivery is straight from the heart, rendering Ewen McColl or Eric Bogle's tearful,'Waltzing Matilda' with the same gritty conviction and eloquence of his own material. Elvis Costello was on board to produce and put his bourgeoning reputation on the line by taking The Pogues on as his supporting band. The result is an unadulterated masterpiece. Costello, who was to marry the female voice you hear singing ,A Man You Don't Meet any day', also wrote and produced that other memorable anti-war song of the Thatcher decade, 'Shipbuilding' which turns up on Rob. Wyatt's,'Nothing Can Stop Us'.

How to sway, mosh, drink, sing and stay happy
Years after its release, it still remains one of my favorite discs. The songs are filled with classic, curious, poignant, silly, heart-felt, and bloody jolly lyrics. Dirges, reels, chants, and poems - all of the music that the Pogues could perform well. The songs differ greatly except in that they have some tradition behind them - whether it lie in some bar somewhere, in the history of Ireland or Australia, or just in the love of another.
A great disc worthy of many listenings.

ARRRR. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT. YE IRISH DRINKERS....
I myself was raised on Irish drinking music from a very small age. Being a large percent of Irish myself, it has never been uncommon for some of the elder relatives to get smashed, and role out the drinkin' songs, for some large, sloppy group sing-a-longs.
Personally, I like the style. Especially when it gets loud and rowdy, and chaotic. When you assemble a small group at the bars, that manages to scare the rest of the bar, just a little. There is a somewhat popular breed of this music these days ala Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. But these bands did not create this style on their own. They sang along with their elders too, who likely may have been singing along to THE POGUES.
This album was released in 1985, and was back when the band had not completely become a rock and roll band. In later years they would sort of drift away from the solid Irish sound. This album is a lot of traditional style Irish drinkin' music. With all the drunken rage and intensity you should expect. Look at Shane McGowan. He's a filthy bastaaaad. Keeps it real all the way. Songs about fightin' the good fight called life, and sometimes even love and other things. DIRTY OLD TOWN is the one that stands to be the most well known, but just about every song is worthy.
Also as a treat is Cait O' Riordan, who wouldn't stay in the band very long, but was on ship for this voyage. She sings the killer MAN YOU DON'T MEET EVERYDAY, which you may catch me being completely mesmorized by after a few stiff drinks.
The Pougues may not be as heavy as todays popular Irish/punk rock, but you should be sure to realize that they pretty much started the trend, long before it was a trend. Making those rowdy old Irish songs, a little more rowdy, so we can all get down to fightin'.
This pre-dates the POGUES more rockin' stuff, but it has enough fire in it to be a worthy addition to any drinkin' mans collection.