What set
the Pogues apart from any number of other energetic Irish traditional bands was the sheer physical force of their performances, the punky swagger of their personalities, and
Shane MacGowan's considerable gifts as a songwriter. Unfortunately, none of these qualities comes through very clearly on their first album,
Red Roses for Me. While
the Pogues are in good form here, the production (by
Stan Brennan) is thin and lacks the body or nuance to capture the finer details of the performances, robbing this recording of the fire the group would display on their later albums. And it's clear that
MacGowan had not yet fully matured as a songwriter; there are a handful of superb songs here, such as "Transmetropolitan," "Streams of Whiskey," and "Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go," but some of the others suggest
MacGowan was still learning how to fit all his ideas into his songs.
Red Roses for Me is good and rowdy fun, but on
Rum Sodomy & the Lash and If I Should Fall from Grace with God,
the Pogues would prove they were capable of a lot more than that. ~ Mark Deming