Oldtime.ca: The Acoustic Pages

Rum, Sodomy, & the Lash
The Pogues (WEA Records)

Although it might sound like the description of a decent night out, Rum, Sodomy, & the Lash takes its name from a Winston Churchill quip in which he summarized, with Oscar Wilde-like flair, that this is all there was to know about naval tradition. Listening to Shane MacGowan, the crooked-toothed uncle of alt-alt-punk music, one could easily imagine that Churchill might very well have promoted him to the rank of admiral of his fleet. I have weird but distinct memories of first hearing The Pogues swimming, half smashed, at a friend's house. A bad idea, yes, but it did make me the perfect receptacle for their music which, drunk or sober, will undoubtedly make you feel like you've had one too many.

The Pogues, with their who-gives-a-fuck brand of Irish traditional music, were a welcome break from the New Wave synthesizer excesses in and around 1985, the year when this album was released. In an era of often supremely impersonal or, alternately, dramatically overblown music, The Pogues stood out as the keepers of some old faith, and occupied a unique musical neverland where old songs sounded new and new songs sounded old. And it all sounded real. Although many core fans would later identify this as their greatest recording, it was only after their commercial dilution that The Pogues became widely known. It was this earlier, and more raw, incarnation that a younger Tom Waits identified as one of his inspirations, and which opened up a whole new avenue for traditionally-informed musicians sick of playing the old shit, but even more sick of hearing the new shit that was popular at the time.

With the exception of electric bass, Rum Sodomy has acoustic instrumentation throughout, including accordion, penny whistle, banjo, and the exhilaratingly beautiful uileann pipes. A scattering of original and traditional material, in the form of both songs and instrumentals, this recording truly does defy conventional classifications. Songs like "The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn", "Sally Mac Lennane", and "Billy's Bones" have the sound of traditional Irish drinking music, but are hard-as-nails and almost Joycean in their depictions of life, devoid of the irritating sentimentality which characterizes much of what is passed as traditional Irish music, yet full of humanity and humour. The Pogues represented contemporary experience warts and all, and listening to songs like "The Old Main Drag" or "A Pair of Brown Eyes" makes a lot of everything else sound like trite shite. And there will never be anything quite like Shane MacGowan's rendition of "The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda," which remains one of the best Pogues tracks ever.

The recently released import version of Rum Sodomy includes the complete Poguerty In Motion EP, and gems like "Body of an American" and The Pogue's version of the traditional "Parting Glass" make this release worth seeking out. Bob Geldoff commented in 2004: "The Pogues made great records and played great gigs but the glory are the songs. This is what will last. Old ones lovingly restored to their pristine attitudes, correctly interpreted to the now, and originals as timeless as if written in some smoky corner 300 years ago or a piss-stinking bus shelter in London last week." While elements of the production on a few songs sound a tad dated, for the most part Rum Sodomy still sounds fresh. If this recording doesn't knock you arse over tit on first hearing, have a few more, and listen to it again.

- Graham Blair