Here is a roundup of nice reviews of Jeff Roesgen's book on The Pogues' Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash...- “In this book by the same sordid name, Jeffrey T. Roesgen tells the story behind the album, interwoven with a tale of his own creation, a seafaring narrative starring the band and several of their lyrics’ characters. Roesgen … delivers a spirited novella along with vivid snippets of rowdy, romantic rock ’n’ roll history.”- Keith Goetzman, Utne Reader
- “Within the book’s sense of impending disaster is some sharp analysis of the characters, squalor and juxtaposing optimism inherent in the recordings.”- Ian Abrahams, Record Collector
- “Roesgen's work casts the album's individual songs in a different light, fleshing them out with his imaginative prose, prompting the reader to look at the life behind the words and music and interpret each song through their own prism. It's an approach that wouldn't have worked on most of the albums covered by the 33 1/3 series, but it works like a charm for Rum, Sodomy & The Lash. By the end of the book, you find yourself caring about the characters brought to life by Roesgen and wondering what will happen next. Kind of like a Pogues album....” - Keith A. Gordon, Blurt-Online
- “Roesgen’s overall thesis about the band in the non-fictional parts—that the Pogues were concerned here mostly with showing how the struggles and pains and joys of the downtrodden life are universal, not constrained by time or culture or language—is a convincing one, and he writes well on the sodden joie de vivre Shane McGowan and company bring to these songs.” – Ian Mathers, Pop Matters
- “This pocket sized, take-on-holiday, historical and musical mix of fact, fiction and nautical friction is well recommended. You can smell The Pogues through the writing…” – Stephen Kingston, Salford Star
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Reading through the always excellent Soul Sides this morning (one of my favorites), there were a number of familiar names in the EMP Pop Conference postmortem, including Daphne Brooks (wrote the 33.3 on Jeff Buckley, here interviewing Nona Hendryx), Michaelangelo Matos (Prince, here talking about "dance music's national anthem"), and Carl Wilson (Celine Dion, here discussing the use of Auto-Tune).
I just realized that Soul Sides is celebrating 5 years of existence this year. So is the 33 1/3 series, which brings me to the next item...
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We have teamed up with Paste Magazine for a contest to win the 10 most recent 33 1/3 titles. The luckly winner will get the following...
- Nas’s Illmatic by Matthew Gasteier
- Big Star’s Radio City by Bruce Eaton (should be here by the time the contest ends!)
- Elliott Smith’s XO by Matthew Lemay
- Wire’s Pink Flag by Wilson Neate
- The Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Guilded Palace of Sin by Bob Proehl
- The Pogues’ Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash by Jeffery T. Roesgen
- Afghan Whigs’ Gentlemen by Bob Gendron
- Richard and Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out the Lights by Hayden Childs
- Slayer’s Reign In Blood by D. X. Ferris
- Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality by John Darnielle
If you want in on that, CLICK HERE and follow the directions.
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One more for the road: I just remembered this interview with Carl Wilson on Ed Champion's Bat Segundo podcast. Enjoy!
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