A Great Big Bundle Of Culture

A debut Dubhed selection for Billy Bragg today, two sides, thirteen songs, forty-four minutes and fifty-nine seconds of music.

On Thursday, I posted the above photo on BlueSky with the comment 

"Compared to the cost of reality, this is starting to look like a bargain…"

Billy is someone who's always provided value for money when it comes to a dose of reality, whether his own songs or covers of other politically-motivated artists. As such, this selection includes Billy's takes on Woody Guthrie (twice, one with Wilco, the other with The Blokes) and Bruce Springsteen.

I've included two of Billy's best known songs, Levi Stubbs' Tears and A New England, as well as a clutch of songs from this century. For some, Bragg went downhill the minute he started adding other musicians and instruments, experimenting with different styles ('baggy' remixes of Sexuality in the 1990s, adopting an American accent in the 2010s) and, well, getting older. Not me.

Whilst I haven't been a committed fan, I remember those appearances on The Tube in the 1980s with fondness and my intermittent and infrequent dips into Billy's catalogue more often than not uncovers gold.

Side One

1) A13, Trunk Road To The Sea (1983)

2) Run Out Of Reasons (1997)

3) Mansion On The Hill (Cover of Bruce Springsteen) (2003)

4) Ingrid Bergman (Cover of Woody Guthrie): Billy Bragg & Wilco (1998)

5) The Marching Song Of The Covert Battalions (1990)

6) Cindy Of A Thousand Lives (1991)

7) A New England (1983)

Side Two

1) England, Half English (7" Remix By The Lobster Boys): Billy Bragg & The Blokes (2002)

2) Levi Stubbs' Tears (1986)

3) Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto (Live) (Cover of Sweet Honey In The Rock) (1988)

4) All You Fascists Bound To Lose (Cover of Woody Guthrie): Billy Bragg & The Blokes (1999)

5) No One Knows Nothing Any More (2013)

6) The Saturday Boy (1984)

1983: Life's A Riot With Spy vs. Spy EP: A7

1984: Brewing Up With Billy Bragg: B6

1986: Talking With The Taxman About Poetry: B2

1988: Help Save The Youth Of America EP: Live & Dubious: B3

1990: The Internationale EP: A5

1991: Don't Try This At Home: A6

1997: The Boy Done Good / Sugar Daddy EP: A2

1998: Mermaid Avenue: A4

1999: Mermaid Avenue Tour / You Can Call Me Cupcake: B4

2002: Take Down The Union Jack EP: B1

2003: Born To Run 2003, Volume 2 (Uncut magazine promo CD): A3

2003: Must I Paint You A Picture?: A1

2013: Tooth & Nail: B5

Side One (22:17) (GD) (M)

Side Two (22:42) (GD) (M)