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The first time I heard Billy Bragg sing was on breakfast TV. He
ripped through a rousing version of It's Say Here and I dropped my school
bag in shock: I had never witnessed anything like it. Punk rock folk
music if you please.
The sound of a cheap untreated electric guitar, a
pin sharp eye for details and the spirit of The Clash without
the rock 'n' roll posing. The self confessed big nosed bard of Barking
shredding the idea of press freedom, the royal family and tabloid
double standards in under three minutes. I had never realised that
music could jab like that, carry real meaning and be delivered with
such white knuckle conviction. I was hooked.
Listening to Billy Bragg's work in a block like this I am struck by
how consistent, strong and passionate his song writing is. Vol 1
contains seven CDs: the first three studio LPs plus the International
mini LP and various EPs, live tracks and B-sides. There are also two
DVDs of live material. It's a testament to Billy Bragg's ability that
there is no filler on here at all.
I have always felt that to define or stereotype him simply as
jukebox for the likes of Arthur Scargill is to miss the point. There's
no denying that he is a political songwriter, and a brilliant one at
that, but there is so much more to this Karl Marx set to music. Much
later in his career he sung of having "a socialism of the heart", and from
the opening bars of his debut LP you are in little doubt that this is
true. On the songs on these CDs - be they protest songs, love songs or a
genre breaking mix of both - it is the humanity, warmth and empathy that
shines through.
The songs on Life's A Riot With Spy vs Spy and Brewing Up With Billy
Bragg still sound raw, vital and basic. You get Billy, his gruff vocals
and the sound of a budget guitar plugged into a practice amp. The music
here makes the The White Stripes sound like ELO. In an age
when someone like Tears For Fears would spend two months on a
drum sound the rawness of these recording was startling and
revolutionary. It was a conscious attempt to distil music back to its
very core.
If you compare Man In The Iron Mask from the first LP and Myth of
Trust from the second you get a clear example of his skill as a wordsmith and writer. Both are tales of affairs, the first told from the
point of view of the injured party, the second from someone who is
cheating on their partner. Man In The Iron Mask is pure pain loneliness
and defeat. It's a love song of sorts that subverts the macho swagger
of rock music with something more human and truthful. On Myth Of Trust
Bragg peels away the bravado of the love affair and exposes the rotten,
self-serving disgust at the centre. This ability to cut through to the
core is something that places him above the vast majority of his
peers.
The songs come thick and fast, the love songs Saturday Boy, St
Swithin's Day, A Lover Sings; the politics, Island of No Return,
Ideology, To Have And Have Not. When the political meets the personal
on tracks like Levi Stubbs' Tears, Between The Wars and Home Front,
Bragg was forging a new type of soulful folk music, a blend of left
wing politics and warm heartfelt observation. In a post Blair world
where socialism has become a four-letter word, we need the likes of
Billy Bragg more than ever. It's shameful that in days like these
no-one has taken up the torch.
The rare tracks are a treat for any long term fan: A13 Trunk Road To
The Sea spins Route 66 through Essex to Southend. Back To The Old
House is a glorious cover of The Smiths track, the live version
of A Lover Sings has Johnny Marr throwing in the riff from This
Charming Man.
It always made me chuckle that Bragg managed to fuse, soul, Woody Guthrie-styled politics and killer tunes to a degree that Paul Weller never managed after The Jam. Soul music doesn't live in
stylised backing tracks or the clothes that you wear but in the heart
and soul of the performer. This is soul music and Billy Bragg is a soul
singer. You need to hear these songs: they will make you life better.
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