"I saw my task... was to capture them in their delapidated glory before some more professional producer f--ked them up," wrote of his role behind the controls for ' second album, . One spin of the album proves that accomplished his mission; this album captures all the sweat, fire, and angry joy that was lost in the thin, disembodied recording of the band's debut, and sound stronger and tighter without losing a bit of their edge in the process. also found growing steadily as a songwriter; while the debut had its moments, the blazing and bitter roar of the opening track, made it clear had fused the intelligent anger of punk and the sly storytelling of Irish folk as no one had before, and the rent boys' serenade of and the dazzling, drunken character sketch of proved there were plenty of directions where he could take his gifts. And like any good folk group, also had a great ear for other people's songs. Bassist 's haunting performance of is simply superb (it must have especially impressed , who would later marry her), and while may not have written or his wrought, emotionally compelling vocals made them his from then on. falls just a bit short of being ' best album, but was the first one to prove that they were a great band, and not just a great idea for a band. ~ Mark Deming