Album of the day (#3835): If I Should Fall From Grace With

[albummaster]

Today's album of the day

If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1988.
Country:
Overall rank: 1,024
Average rating: 78/100 (from 298 votes).

Tracks:
1. If I Should Fall From Grace With God
2. Turkish Song Of The Damned
3. Bottle Of Smoke
4. Fairytale Of New York (Feat. Kirsty MacColl)
5. Metropolis
6. Thousands Are Sailing
7. Fiesta
8. Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant/The Rocky Road To Dublin/The Galway Races
9. Streets Of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
10. Lullaby Of London
11. Sit Down By The Fire
12. The Broad Majestic Shannon
13. Worms

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.

[Skinny]

A significant step down from what came before, but still far superior to anything any of them managed after. Maybe the gimmick had worn thin, maybe the good ideas were starting to run dry, maybe the endless touring and incessant substance abuse finally caught up. A shame, because I genuinely think Shane may be the greatest lyricist these islands ever produced, but - a few memorable moments aside (‘Bottle of Smoke’ and its inspired sweariness; the glorious character-driven narrative of the admittedly overplayed ‘Fairytale’; Phil Chevron’s gorgeous ‘Thousands Are Sailing’, which doesn’t necessarily share Shane’s eye for detail but gets it point across nonetheless) - this album contains very little of the granular specificity, inspired literary allusions, and sheer joy that made his writing so special. Musically, we’re also hearing a more controlled, less ramshackle version of their snotty Irish folk rock here, taking in more traditional rock drums and a country twang that doesn’t quite sound natural, not to mention its overt references to Turkish and Spanish folk, and doing away with the sense of chaos and danger that was an inherent part of their previous charm. Maybe a mixture of all of these things made the album more palatable to a wider audience, but it’s hard for me to think that the heart of the band wasn’t beginning to get a little lost in the process. That isn’t to say that this album isn’t great, but it doesn’t give me that sense of searing, mercurial genius that I get from either of the first two LPs or 1986’s Poguetry in Motion EP.
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2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

[cestuneblague]

Rum, Sodomy and the lash when I feel 19, but this when I now feel like 40