The Meanest of Times CD

There's something almost perverse about a Boston band's sixth album turning to centuries-old Irish melodies to write about neighborhoods a few miles from Fenway, but The Meanest of Times pulls it off anyway, landing in the Billboard 200 top 20 and later on Rolling Stone's year end list. The real coup is “(F)lannigan's Ball,” which pairs The Dubliners' Ronnie Drew with The Pogues' Spider Stacy in what turned out to be one of Drew's last recordings before he died. Born & Bred Records put it out.