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 uilleann 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.
