ALBUM REVIEW: THE POGUES – ‘BBC SESSIONS 1984 – 1986 (2020)

The first ‘new’ release from The Pogues for quite a while compiles all their various BBC Sessions between April 1984 and July 1985. This CD/ digital release includes two sessions not included on the recent vinyl version of this album.

The Pogues – BBC Sessions is the definitive complete collection that The Pogues recorded for the BBC during that era. All the tracks date between 1984 and 1986 and thirteen of the recordings are previously unreleased. That is not to say they are unheard as apart from their initial airing they have long been available on bootleg tapes back in the day and CD’s plus most can be heard on You Tube too. The album is available on CD, digital and streaming platforms and will be released on October 30. If you have already heard of it then that is because a special vinyl only version was released for Record Store Day on Saturday 29th August. That release was limited to 5000 copies and only includes sixteen songs which begs the question why not make it a double album and include all the songs that would be on the CD/ digital release? The vinyl version was available for Record Store Day only but is still readily available around the net but shop around as it varies in price quite considerably.

Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2008 and held on one Saturday every April and every Black Friday in November to celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store. The day brings together fans, artists, and thousands of independent record stores across the world.

This twenty-three track album features a collection of songs from six separate live sessions from BBC radio shows: The John Peel Show (April 1984), The David ‘Kid’ Jensen Show (July 1984), The John Peel Show (December 1984), The Phil Kennedy Show (March 1985), The Janice Long Show (July 1985) and The Janice Long Show (November 1986). The album groups each session together in chronological order from their first session recorded in April, 1984 when they were still called Pogue Mahone.

TRACKS

Broadcast April 17th 1984 (as Pogue Mahone) on The John Peel Show

1) Streams Of Whiskey*

2) Greenland Whale Fisheries*

3) Boys From The County Hell*

4) The Auld Triangle

Broadcast July 9th 1984 on the David ‘Kid’ Jensen Show

5) Dingle Regatta*

6) Poor Paddy On The Railway

7) Boys From The County Hell

8) Connemara, Let’s Go*

Broadcast December 4th 1984 on the John Peel Show

9) Whiskey You’re The Devil*

10) Navigator*

11) Sally MacLennane

16) Danny Boy

Broadcast March 2nd 1985 on The Phil Kennedy Show

13) A Pair Of Brown Eyes ***

14) Muirshin Durkin ***

15) Sally MacLennane ***

Broadcast July 11th 1985 on the Janice Long Show

16) Wild Cats Of Kilkenny*

17) Billy’s Bones

18) The Old Main Drag

19) Dirty Old Town*

Broadcast November 5th 1986 on the Janice Long Show

20) If I Should Fall From Grace With God ***

21) Lullaby Of London ***

22) The Rake At The Gates Of Hell ***

23) Turkish Song Of The Damned ***

*** Not featured on RSD vinyl release * Previously unreleased

The collection captures The Pogues sound as heard through their first three albums: 1984’s Red Roses For Me, 1985’s Elvis Costello-produced Rum, Sodomy & The Lash, and 1986’s If I Should Fall From Grace With God along with a handful of single B-sides and novelties like the immortal ‘Danny Boy’. Ten of the album’s twenty-three tracks were previously collected on the career-spanning box set Just Look Them Straight In The Eye and Say…Pogue Mahone!! released in 2008. From the first chords of ‘Streams Of Whiskey’ when they were still going by the Pogue Mahone moniker. They were fresh from a tour supporting The Clash and had recently signed to Stiff Records but the BBC were reluctant to play their debut single due to their name. Being a rough Irish translation of ‘Kiss My Arse’ had the BBC clutching their handbags and so the band reluctantly changed their name to The Pogues. Throughout the controversy John Peel was the only one to use their original name. The album covers The Pogues great range from moving ballads all the way to the raucous punk they were more than capable of and ends with a selection of songs that would appear on If I Should Fall From Grace With God released two years after the session they appear on here.

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