Volume 2 [Box set, Original recording remastered]

Billy Bragg | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 17, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 9
• Format: Box set, Original recording remastered
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• ASIN: B000I2J7CW
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,392 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

English singer/songwriter Billy Bragg's Volume 2 box set picks up where Volume 1 left off, but most of the four albums covering 14 years chronicled here involve alterations in the Bragg repertoire: more love songs to balance his social and political rants, and a full band playing behind him. Bragg is nothing if he isn't revolutionary. He mixes adoration ("She's Got a New Spell") and angst ("Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards") on Workers Playtime (1988); covers Fred Neil ("Dolphins") on Don't Try This at Home (1991); puts music to a Rudyard Kipling poem à la Mermaid Avenue ("A Pict Song") on William Bloke (1996); and takes his home country to the woodshed ("Take Down the Union Jack") on England, Half English (2002). The nine-CD package is jammed with demos, alternate versions, and covers (such as a splendid version of the Faces' "Glad and Sorry"), and a bonus DVD provides a look at Bragg in his most comfortable element: on stage at concerts recorded in 1991 and 2006. --Scott Holter

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Billy Bragg, Volume 2 box set, January 19, 2011

By 

Mario - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Volume 2 (Audio CD)

I bought this (along with Volume 1) for my wife, who's a big Billy Bragg fan. The set includes 4 studio albums--they each come with an additional CD of demos and outtakes--plus a DVD featuring a 1991 and a 2006 concert. There's also a nice booklet with song lyrics. If you're looking for a quick way to get most of Billy Bragg's material, these two sets might be the way to go.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good collection - but not much extras for a box set, September 20, 2009

By 

KM (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Volume 2 (Audio CD)

The box contains expanded 2-disc versions of Bragg's 4 studio albums from 1988-1994: Workers' playtime; Don't try this at home; William Bloke; and England half english.

Though there are a lot of bonus materials (offtakes, demos), the missing of the orginal album artworks/liner notes is a big disappointment. For example, the highly characterized graphic depictions in the original CD booklet for each individual tracks of "Don't try this at home" are all but gone.

The 5 stars are for the excellent music here. But as all of them are available separately, one might as well pick up individual packs instead of the whole box. The real bonus material here is the live DVD and the lyrics booklet. The live DVD, which plays for almost 2 hours, captured very well his earlier days (1991) and more recent performance (2002?).