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The Pogues’ sophomore album turned 40 this week, and Rhino will celebrate later this year with a new deluxe edition on CD and LP.

Rum Sodomy & the Lash will be reissued as a 2CD and 2LP set (following a similar package for 1984’s Red Roses for Me, released last year) that’ll feature the original album alongside a baker’s dozen tracks of non-album studio and live material. Extras include two non-album B-sides, six live cuts (including a complete live session recorded for Janice Long’s BBC Radio 1 program) and the 1986 EP Poguetry in Motion, alongside a then-unissued cover of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic” from the same session. The 2CD set hits stores October 24 while the double LP, pressed on red marbled vinyl, follows on December 12.

The British-based Celtic punk troupe – at the time featuring vocalist Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy on tin whistle and occasional vocals, bassist Cait O’Riordan, banjo player Jem Finer, accordionist James Fearnley, drummer Andrew Ranken and new guitarist Philip Chevron – were already notorious for their unbridled live performances and one studio album. Their label, Stiff Records, paired them with a veteran of the roster as producer for their next session: Elvis Costello, who was about to enter a long relationship with O’Riordan. Costello had a pretty clear vision as to how he thought their next album should go. “I saw my task was to capture them in their dilapidated glory before some more professional producer fucked them up,” he later said. Chevron concurred: “The Pogues needed, more than anything…to be not so much produced as facilitated.” The freewheeling songs on the album – including MacGowan’s originals “A Pair of Brown Eyes” and “The Sick Bud of Cúchulainn” along with a cover of the Ewan MacColl-penned “Dirty Old Town” – captured what fans loved about the group and piqued the curiosity of new listeners. Rum Sodomy & the Lash would peak at No. 13 on the British charts, only a sign of things to come for the group as the decade wore on.

The full track list plus pre-order links for both formats are below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Rum Sodomy & the Lash (40th Anniversary Edition) (Pogue Mahone/Rhino, 2025)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD/LP 1: Original album (released as Stiff SEEZ 58 (U.K.), 1985)

1. The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn
2. The Old Main Drag
3. Wild Cats of Kilkenny
4. I’m a Man You Don’t Meet Every Day
5. A Pair of Brown Eyes
6. Sally MacLennane
7. Dirty Old Town
8. Jesse James
9. Navigator
10. Billy’s Bones
11. The Gentleman Soldier
12. And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

CD/LP 2: Bonus material

1. The Parting Glass
2. A Pistol for Paddy Garcia
3. London Girl
4. A Rainy Night in Soho
5. The Body of An American
6. Planxty Noel Hill
7. Wild Cats of Kilkenny (Janice Long Session, BBC Radio 1 – rec. 7/3/1985, transmitted 7/11/1985)
8. Billy’s Bones (Janice Long Session, BBC Radio 1 – rec. 7/3/1985, transmitted 7/11/1985)
9. The Old Main Drag (Janice Long Session, BBC Radio 1 – rec. 7/3/1985, transmitted 7/11/1985)
10. Dirty Old Town (Janice Long Session, BBC Radio 1 – rec. 7/3/1985, transmitted 7/11/1985)
11. A Pair of Brown Eyes (Live at Barrowland, Glasgow, Scotland – 12/17/1987)
12. Sally MacLennane (Live at Barrowland, Glasgow, Scotland – 12/17/1987)
13. Do You Believe in Magic (Rough Mix)

Tracks 1-2 released on “Dirty Old Town” U.K. 12″ – Stiff BUYIT 229, 1985
Tracks 3-6 released as Poguetry in Motion EP – Stiff BUY 243 (U.K.), 1986
Tracks 7 and 10 released on BBC Sessions 1984-1985 – Pogue Mahone 0190295299491, 2020
Tracks 8-9 and 11-13 released on Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say…Poguemahone!!! The Pogues Box Set – Rhino 5144281352, 2008