If I Should Fall from Grace with God

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If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Studio album by The Pogues
Released	1988
Recorded	?
Genre	Rock
Length	51:43
Label	Island
Producer(s)	Steve Lillywhite
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
The Pogues chronology
Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)	If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988)	Peace and Love (1989)

If I Should Fall From Grace With God is a 1988 album by The Pogues. The album was a departure from previous Pogues albums, which had focused on an Irish folk/punk hybrid which had earned them both a reputation as music radicals and also as a commercial success. On If I Should Fall From Grace with God several more genres were added to this mixture, including Jazz, Spanish folk and Middle Eastern Folk. The adding of Spanish and Middle Eastern sounds was a sign of things to come; on later albums such as 1990's Hell's Ditch these would become the defining sound. However on this album it was very much Irish folk to the fore, especially on songs such as the title track, "Bottle of Smoke", "South Australia", "Lullaby of London" and "Sit Down By The Fire", and the rendition of the traditional jig "The Lark in the Morning" as the coda to "Turkish Song Of The Damned". These songs were more typical of the earlier Pogues albums, mostly fast and heavily textured.

Also prominent on the album were the ballads, "Thousands are Sailing", "The Broad Majestic Shannon" and especially, the Christmas hit, a duet with Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York". "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" showed a passionate and angry political side to their music, the first part being about the sorrow a person feels about the streets of Northern Ireland, and the second half about the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, two groups of people wrongly imprisoned for terrorism offences and held in gaol despite evidence showing they had not committed the crimes. The song also makes a passing reference to the Loughgall Martyrs with the line "while over in Ireland eight more men lay dead, kicked down and shot in the back of the head". If I Should Fall From Grace With God was named as one of the 1001 Albums to hear before you die.

[edit] Track listing

1. "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" (MacGowan)
2. "Turkish Song of the Damned" (MacGowan/Finer)
3. "Bottle of Smoke" (MacGowan/Finer)
4. "Fairytale of New York" (MacGowan/Finer)
5. "Metropolis"
6. "Thousands are Sailing" (Chevron)
7. "South Australia" (bonus track) (Traditional)
8. "Fiesta" (MacGowan/Finer)
9. "Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant/The Rocky Road to Dublin/The Galway Races" (Traditional)
10. "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" (MacGowan/Woods)
11. "Lullaby of London" (MacGowan)
12. "The Battle March Medley" (bonus track)
13. "Sit Down by the Fire" (MacGowan)
14. "The Broad Majestic Shannon" (MacGowan)
15. "Worms" (Traditional)

[edit] 2005 Reissue Track listing

1. "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" (MacGowan)
2. "Turkish Song of the Damned" (MacGowan/Finer)
3. "Bottle of Smoke" (MacGowan/Finer)
4. "Fairytale of New York" (MacGowan/Finer)
5. "Metropolis"
6. "Thousands are Sailing" (Chevron)
7. "Fiesta" (MacGowan/Finer)
8. "Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant/The Rocky Road to Dublin/The Galway Races" (Traditional)
9. "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" (MacGowan/Woods)
10. "Lullaby of London" (MacGowan)
11. "Sit Down by the Fire" (MacGowan)
12. "The Broad Majestic Shannon" (MacGowan)
13. "Worms" (Traditional)
14. "The Battle March Medley" (bonus track)
15. "The Irish Rover" (Bonus Track)
16. "Mountain Dew" (Bonus Track)
17. "Shanne Bradley" (Bonus Track)
18. "Sketches Of Spain" (Bonus Track)
19. "South Australia" (Bonus Track)