| Red Roses for Me | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 15 October 1984 | |||
| Studio | Elephant Studios, Wapping, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 40:12 | |||
| Label | Stiff | |||
| Producer | Stan Brennan | |||
| The Pogues chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Red Roses for Me | ||||
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Red Roses for Me is the debut studio album by the London-based band the Pogues, released on 15 October 1984. [3] It was produced by Stan Brennan, who had managed the Nipple Erectors/The Nips and Rocks Off Records shop in London.
Red Roses for Me is filled with traditional Irish music performed with punk influences. The Mancunion saw the "creativity of post-punk" as being "evident throughout the record", while Muso's Guide described much of Red Roses for Me as "a whirlwind of revved-up folk punk". [2] [1] The band's approach of mixing traditional songs and ballads with frontman Shane MacGowan's "gutter hymns" about drinking, fighting and sex was innovative at the time. The album reached number 89 in the UK album charts.
The front of the album shows the band with the exception of drummer Andrew Ranken (pictured in inset) sitting in front of a picture of US President John F. Kennedy. On the back cover, accordion player James Fearnley has a bottle sticking out of his coat, while bass player Cait O'Riordan is seen holding a can of beer. Shane MacGowan is pictured with his foot in a cast.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [4] |
| Mojo | (2004 reissue) [5] |
| Q | (2004 reissue) [6] |
| Record Mirror | [7] |
The UK music press hailed the Pogues' début album as a breath of fresh air, with positive reviews. Melody Maker felt that "the quality of their music, even the very nature of it, is strangely irrelevant. What's important is their existence at all. For The Pogues are a gesture – a particularly bloody two-fingered one – aimed at all things considered current and fashionable in 1984... Theirs is a gut reaction to traditional music – and with it comes all the motion, intensity and vigour that has largely been lost to these songs since the early days of the folk revival in the Sixties." [8] NME stated, "From the strummed banjo and lilting accordion that preface a roaring singalong 'Transmetropolitan' to the final unidentified voice offering an unaccompanied 'diddly I di di' refrain, there exists a wealth of evidence that Shane MacGowan's faith in the power of positive drinking-music has paid premiums. The raucous surge and evocative noise that has filled the capital's pubs and clubs has come through the stark sobriety of the studio set-up to arrive intact in all its sweat-soaked beer-stained glory... If you think they've rehabilitated a music that's been asleep for a while you're dead wrong – on both counts. The music has never been away, and The Pogues in all their irreverent 'seriousness' have taken it out on a limb, where it all started, where it belongs." [9] Awarding the album 3¾ stars out of five, Sounds said, "Red Roses for Me is a satisfyingly impure, purposefully imperfect and totally irresistible collection of lasting resentment, rebellious roars, watery-eyed romance and uproarious jigs... Surprisingly, this record works. It manages to convey the sullied, brazen and raucous spirit of their live set very effectively." [10] Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ and proclaimed "tepid it ain't". [11]
For the 1994 reissue of the album Q observed that the album "rushes along at an unholy amphetamine gallop... they sound utterly intoxicated both with their own enthusiasm and the spirit of the jig and the reel". [12]
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Mark Deming calls the album "good and rowdy fun", but feels that "on Rum Sodomy & the Lash and If I Should Fall from Grace with God , the Pogues would prove that they were capable of a lot more than that". [4]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Transmetropolitan" | Shane MacGowan | 4:15 |
| 2. | "The Battle of Brisbane" | MacGowan | 1:49 |
| 3. | "The Auld Triangle" | Dick Shannon; credited on the album to Brendan Behan | 4:20 |
| 4. | "Waxie's Dargle" | Traditional; arranged by the Pogues | 1:53 |
| 5. | "Boys from the County Hell" | MacGowan | 2:56 |
| 6. | "Sea Shanty" | MacGowan | 2:24 |
| 7. | "Dark Streets of London" | MacGowan | 3:33 |
| 8. | "Streams of Whiskey" | MacGowan | 2:32 |
| 9. | "Poor Paddy" | Traditional; arranged by the Pogues | 3:09 |
| 10. | "Dingle Regatta" | Traditional; arranged by Jem Finer | 2:52 |
| 11. | "Greenland Whale Fisheries" | Traditional; arranged by the Pogues | 2:36 |
| 12. | "Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go" | MacGowan | 3:30 |
| 13. | "Kitty" | Traditional; arranged by the Pogues | 4:23 |
Bonus tracks (2004 reissue)
In 2004, a remastered CD was issued adding a total of 6 bonus tracks to the original UK album listing. "Repeal of the Licensing Laws" was the B-side of "The Boys from the County Hell" their second single. "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" was the B-side of their first single, "Dark Streets of London". "Whiskey You're the Devil" and "Mursheen Durkin" were the B-sides of their third single, "A Pair of Brown Eyes". "The Wild Rover" and "The Leaving of Liverpool" were the B-sides of their fourth single, "Sally Maclennane".
Bonus tracks (2024 reissue)
In 2024, a 40th anniversary edition was released, featuring a 2013 remix of the tracks on the original album, the bonus tracks from the 2004 release, and a further 12 tracks, all taken from sessions recorded for BBC radio.
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC) [13] | 89 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI) [14] | Silver | 60,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
The Pogues
Additional personnel on bonus tracks
Technical
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, as Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". Fusing punk influences with instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo, Irish bouzouki, cittern, mandolin and accordion, the Pogues were initially poorly received in traditional Irish music circles—the noted musician Tommy Makem called them "the greatest disaster ever to hit Irish music"—but were subsequently credited with reinvigorating the genre. The band later incorporated influences from other musical traditions, including jazz, flamenco, and Middle Eastern music.
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan was a British-born Irish singer-songwriter, musician and poet best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He also produced solo material and collaborated with artists including Joe Strummer, Nick Cave, Sinéad O'Connor, and Cruachan. Known for his exceptional songwriting ability and his heavy alcohol and drug use, MacGowan was described by The New York Times as "a titanically destructive personality and a master songsmith whose lyrics painted vivid portraits of the underbelly of Irish immigrant life".
The Popes are a band originally formed by Shane MacGowan and Paul "Mad Dog" McGuinness, who play a blend of rock, Irish folk and Americana.
Rum Sodomy & the Lash is the second studio album by the London-based, Irish folk punk band the Pogues, released on 5 August 1985. The album reached number 13 on the UK charts. The track "A Pair of Brown Eyes", based on an older Irish tune, reached number 72 on the UK singles chart. "The Old Main Drag" later appeared on the soundtrack to the film My Own Private Idaho.
If I Should Fall from Grace with God is the third studio album by Celtic folk-punk band the Pogues, released on 18 January 1988. Released in the wake of their biggest hit single, "Fairytale of New York", If I Should Fall from Grace with God also became the band's best-selling album, peaking at number three on the UK Albums Chart and reaching the top ten in several other countries.
Philip Ryan, professionally known as Philip Chevron, was an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist and record producer. He was best known as the lead guitarist for the celtic punk band the Pogues and as the frontman for the 1970s punk rock band The Radiators from Space. Upon his death in 2013, Chevron was regarded as one of the most influential figures in Irish punk music.
Caitlín O'Riordan is a British musician. She played bass guitar for the Pogues from 1983 to 1986. She later played with Elvis Costello as well as Bush Tetras and several other projects. She uses the name Rocky O'Riordan on social media and for her Sirius-XM radio show, The Rocky O'Riordan Show.
Hell's Ditch is the fifth studio album by the Pogues, released on 1 October 1990, and the last to feature frontman Shane MacGowan as a member.
B-Sides & Rarities is a compilation album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in March 2005. It features over 20 years of the band's B-sides and previously unreleased tracks. It is also the first recording to include all members of the Bad Seeds, past and present up to the time of its release: current members Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, Thomas Wydler, Martyn P. Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, and Warren Ellis, and former members Barry Adamson, Hugo Race, Kid Congo Powers, Roland Wolf, and James Johnston. A second volume, B-Sides & Rarities Part II, was released in October 2021.
Waiting for Herb is the sixth studio album by the Pogues, released in 1993, and their first without lead singer Shane MacGowan.
Peace and Love is the fourth studio album by the Pogues, released in July 1989.
The Nips are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 as the Nipple Erectors by punk artist Shanne Bradley. They were Shane MacGowan's first musical group.
The Snake is the first album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes, released in 1994 by ZTT Records. It peaked at No. 37 on the UK Albums Chart. The band supported the album with a North American tour.
The Men They Couldn't Hang (TMTCH) are a British folk punk group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush, Paul Simmonds, Philip "Swill" Odgers, Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley.
The Best of the Pogues is a greatest hits album by the Pogues, released in September 1991.
The Crock of Gold was the second and final full-length album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes and was released in November 1997 on ZTT Records. The Crock of Gold followed The Snake, MacGowan's first solo album after the breakup of The Pogues, and was less critically acclaimed than its predecessor. The album is named for the novel by Irish writer James Stephens. It is the last full studio album MacGowan recorded before his passing in November 2023.
Poguetry in Motion is an EP by the Pogues, released on Stiff Records in the UK on 24 February 1986, and in the US & Canada on MCA Records. It was the band's first single to make the UK Top 40, peaking at number 29 and the first Pogues recording to feature Philip Chevron and Terry Woods.
"Dark Streets of London" is the debut single by the London-based Celtic punk band The Pogues, released in 1984. The song was written by Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan and is featured on the band's 1984 debut album Red Roses for Me. The B-side is "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda".
The Very Best of the Pogues is a greatest hits album by The Pogues, released in April 2001.
Essential Pogues is a greatest hits album by The Pogues, released in November 1991.
