Brewing Up With Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 21, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• ASIN: B000B5KRRU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,764 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #20 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Urban Folk
  • #74 in Music > Folk > British & Celtic Folk > British Folk
  • #93 in Music > Folk > Contemporary Folk > Alternative Folk

Editorial Reviews

Billy Bragg, once-described as a "one-man Clash," has spent the last two decades writing and performing passionate, witty, socially conscious music. On September 6, Yep Roc Records will re-issue "Brewing Up With Billy Bragg," Billy's 1984 sophomore effort, with the addition of 1985's "Between the Wars" EP. The album title comes from his brief stint on tank patrol in the British army, about which Billy says, "One guy would park the tank and another would throw the camouflage netting over it, while one of us inside would brew up a pot of tea. But the title could refer to brewing up trouble, as well." The album's grassroots-fueled success made good on an early publicity claim, "Billy Bragg has no band, no 'experimental' haircut, no gimmick, and no video. He has a couple of cheap electric guitars, enormous personality, courage, integrity, a repertoire of timeless songs and, very shortly, a second gold disc to give to his Mum." Six-Panel Mini-Jacket. Yep Records. 2006.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential, March 6, 2006

By 

Richard McGeough (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (Audio CD)

Fantastic to see this being reissued. Yes, some of the politics seem rather obvious now that I'm 37 and not 15, but what always made this album special in the first place wasn't the politics, but the mixture of impressively-observed detail in the plaintive love songs (The Saturday Boy, St Swinthin's Day, A Lover Sings) and lo-fi amphetamine thrill, not to mention occasional downright silliness (Strange Things Happen, From a Vauxhall Velox). It's deliberately raw and unadulterated, but every song is immediate and easily remembered after 23 years. While I'm not averse to his later 90s work, the bare but vibrant years of 83-85 were Billy Bragg's peak for me. If you're British, male and of a similar age or older, try listening to The Saturday Boy without a memory of unrequited love in your school days, and then wonder how you were ever so besotted with a 'girl not old enough to shave her legs', as Mr Bragg observes it. Minus a star for the more overtly political songs which although musically as good as anything else here, haven't aged so well. Otherwise this is a treat and a half...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Remasters and Expanded Versions, May 22, 2009

By 

Paul H. Siegmund (Banner Elk, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (Audio CD)

Loved the original Elektra release but this one far excels, awsome remastering, just blasts forth in all its glory.