THE POGUES Fairytale of New York LP Warners mint & sealed

After two releases that fused Clash-like punk and Celtic folk, the Pogues stretch their boundaries with If I Should Fall From Grace With God from 1988.

Produced by Steve Lillywhite, the album flirts with jazz, world music and even norteno - the gloriously romp-y "Fiesta" sounds as if whiskey-parched vocalist Shane MacGowan hooked up with east LA's Los Lobos. Nonetheless, this is still the Pogues, meaning that when the day is done, If I Should Fall From Grace With God still feels as if it was born out of the bottom of a pint of Guinness.

It's gritty, wildly spirited and, in the case of the ballad "Fairytale In New York" (a duet featuring Kirsty MacColl), heartbreakingly beautiful.

Another great record by one of the '80's more iconoclastic bands.