4 The Pogues Rum Sodomy & The Lash

You say: “Shane’s finest work – and an Elvis Costello production, don’t forget.” Rory Fitzpatrick, via e-mail

Punk scenester Shane MacGowan, a poet manqué with an alcohol problem and an obsession with his Irish ancestry, was, in retrospect, always a potential Stiff hero, but his flowering into a folk songwriter of uncommon genius was yet to be proven when The Pogues signed to Stiff in 1984. But by this second LP, released in ’85, MacGowan’s compositions A Pair Of Brown Eyes and Sally MacLennane dwarfed pretty much anything in the trad canon the group deigned to cover. Add a powerful reading of Eric Bogle’s And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and bassist Cait O’Riordan – a future Mrs Costello – singing I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day, and what’s not to love?