I told my brother Seamus I'd go off and become famous

Continuing my trip back through the 1968 album charts.

14/01/68 : More Of The Hard Stuff - The Dubliners

I'm expecting some 60s Pogues here - I'll be most surprised if it's anything else.

No danger of any surprise there - it's very 60s Pogues.  It's all fine, but feels like it would be much better live than sat on the sofa - the musical skill on display is unquestionable though.  It was nice to hear their version of "Whiskey In The Jar" and "A Pub With No Beer" is actually pretty funny - people are forced to do things like drink wine and, horror of horrors, go home to their wife.  It was getting a bit samey by the end of the album for me, but if you like this sort of thing then I feel you're going to like this.

We're at #23 in the charts this week on their sixteenth week of an eighteen week run, with it having peaked at #8 in its sixth week.  The top five this week were Val Doonican (his only UK #1 album), TSOM, Sgt Pepper, British Motown Chartbusters and The Rolling Stones - an eclectic mix and no mistake.  The highest new entry was The Four Tops best-of (#26) and there are no new women in the charts - I suspect we're done for the year on that front!

Wikipedia doesn't have an awful lot on the album - "true to its title, five of the songs concern hard drinking" made me chuckle though.  One of the songs was written by Brendan Behan and another by his brother Dominic, who I've never heard of but has an impressive Wikipedia entry.  The album cover photo was taken inside Kelly's Cellar Bar in Belfast (which is still around and, shockingly, I don't believe I've been inside) and, somewhat unsurprisingly, the album got to #1 in Ireland.

Customers also listened to Ronnie Drew and Luke Kelly (both of whom were in The Dubliners), The Fureys and Silly Wizard (who I've never heard of, but it's a great name).  I like this kind of music and there's a lot of skill involved, but I didn't really love this as an album - it feels like it needs a dark bar and a few pints of the black stuff to really get into it properly.

07/01/68 - A swift repeat visit
21/01/68 - Another third visit

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