The Meanest of Times (2007)

These Boston punk-folksters owe a large musical debt to Irish punk-folksters the Pogues (payable, probably, in Guinness). But if that's not a problem for Pogues singer Spider Stacy, who guests on ''(F)lannigan's Ball,'' then it's fine by us, given the gloriously raucous, hook-heavy nature of that track. Indeed, the bulk of The Meanest of Times consists of frenetic toe-tappers, such as the opener, ''Famous for Nothing,'' which also showcases Dropkick Murphys' bagpiper Scruffy Wallace. And how can you dislike a band that has a bagpiper named Scruffy? B+
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+ More Bagpipe-Lovin' Rockers
AC/DC Late frontman Bon Scott manned the 'pipes in the 1976 exhortation "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)."
KORN Singer Jonathan Davis played the instrument on songs like 1995's "Shoots and Ladders."
THE WHITE STRIPES The duo tinkered with the woodwindish gizmo for a few tracks on their latest, Icky Thump.