By Mike Farragher

IN the spirit of honesty in journalism, I want to state for the record that I am a huge fan of Rhino Records.

Records. Remember them? They were the large vinyl discs that looked like licorice pizzas.

Containing the licorice pizza would be a cardboard envelope jam packed with pictures, liner notes and lyrics whose artwork blended seamlessly with the art of sound.

In an age of tightly managed demographics guiding what you hear on the radio and digital music delivering sounds without the pictures onto your iPod, Rhino Records makes a stand for old school music distribution with an innovative twist.

Like fussy librarians in a music room, the folks at Rhino lovingly restore the back catalogues of former hitmakers. The sound quality is dragged into the digital age, and to entice the music lover to buy these catalogues all over again, Rhino packages the albums you know and love with bonus tracks that are previously released.

With the release of all five of The Pogues’ studio albums, Rhino is doing the Lord’s work, indeed! Red Roses for Me, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Peace & Love and Hell’s Ditch are chock full of special goodies that no self respecting Pogues fan should be without. And who among us is not a Pogues fan?

I got Red Roses for Me as a sample of their handiwork, and if that disc is any indication I am quite sure that I will be running to the record shop to buy the rest of them as soon as I email this piece off to my editor.

This 1984 release introduced the Pogues’ furious punk frame that protected its poetic heart. It also features “Transmetropolitan,” “Streams of Whiskey” and “Down In the Ground.”

Six rare bonus tracks include essential Pogues versions of “Muirshin Durkin” and the classic Dubliners foot-stomper “The Wild Rover.”

No one paints the image of being drunk in a bar quite like Shane MacGowan, and he is perfectly suited to that song and “Whiskey You’re the Devil.” I can’t say the digital remastering makes his slurred words any clearer, but it is great fun all the same.

Rum, Sodomy & the Lash bonus tracks include “A Pistol for Paddy Garcia,” “London Girl” and “The Parting Glass.” An expanded booklet contains poetic opening words by none other than Tom Waits!

If I Should Fall From Grace With God includes rarities like the traditional “Mountain Dew” and “South Australia” and MacGowan’s “Shanne Bradley.” An expanded booklet contains opening recollections by Steve Earle.

Peace & Love is when I started to get off the Pogues train a bit, but I’m going to have to pick this disc up for the bonuses such as “Star of the County Down,” and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women.” Hell’s Ditch includes a killer run through of “Whiskey In the Jar.”

Rather than rip the fans off with another trip down Memory Lane, Rhino and the Pogues deliver killer tunes and even better value!