Day 10: The Pogues: Hell’s Ditch This was the first Pogues album I heard- it’s not my favorite, and it’s not even one of their best. But If I hadn’t heard this album, I might never have bought their earlier albums… and everything that came after. See, here’s the thing… Most of the ‘Irish’ music I had been exposed to up to this point was either Danny Kaye lounge bullshit, or stuff that had come out of the folk revival on the American side, and thereby had been sucked dry of its vitality. There’s a reason no-one ever cites the Kingston Trio as a primary influence. The one exception this, really, had been Planxty’s work, which had great versions of a lot of trads, but was more often than not overproduced to the point where it sounded like mediocre acoustic-prog – in a way where the production aesthetically hurt the performance. I loved what Planxty had done, but there were industry expectations about how nearly every record should sound in the 1970s that sterilized it. However… the production and presentation of Hell’s Ditch, and really, most of the early Pogues material is more out the punk and rock tradition. This album showed me a mode of performance where battle hymns and fight songs felt like a fight, not some sterile lounge act unenthusiastically rehashing a standard. So, despite not being a favorite album, it *is* an album that stuck with me, and has had a huge and enduring impact on me – but as an entrypoint, rather than than masterwork. I’m not tagging anyone in on this – instead, I’m just tagging everyone. If you want to play along, post a record a day for 10 days that has stuck with you for a long time.