Don't Try This at Home

Billy Bragg | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 17, 1991)
• Original Release Date: September 17, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002H9H
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,756 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #40 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Urban Folk

Editorial Reviews

This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1991 Elektra release. Catalog 9-61121-2. There is a punch hole through the UPC and booklet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most underrated cd of last 10 years!, January 28, 2000

By 

Vern Pascal (SLO, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Try This at Home (Audio CD)

I agree totally with the previous reviewer Tank Park Salute is worth the CD. I have heard mre than a 1000 cd's in my life and this song, as well as the Cranberries Dying In The Sun are the only 2 that are guaranteed to water the eyes. Sexuality is a great great song. One of Billy's best. God's Footballer is sad and Beautiful. Every song is either good or great. This is head and shoulders above any of the alternative bands. Bragg is a terrific songwriter ad I feel this is his best album.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bit of spit and polish brings up our Bill!, November 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Don't Try This at Home (Audio CD)

This is a brilliant album. Billy Bragg's talent for matching whistful poetry with melody was never greater. Far better produced than his earlier albums and less folksy and accoustic, "Don't try this at home" introduced Bragg to a (well deserved) wider audience. There are still some lovely folksy moments--"Everywhere" is a modern "Johnny, I hardly knew you", and "Tank Park Salute" always makes me cry. You would have had to have spent the past 8 years at the bottom of a cave not to know the self-parodying "Sexuality". Much of the rest of the album is musically upbeat early 90's jingle-jangle, with high points being The Few, North Sea Bubble and Body of Water. Cindy of a Thousand Lives buries some serious subversion (and very personal protest....) in an incredibly cryptic lyric (as you do).

It goes without saying that much Billy Bragg is left-wing political and/or social commentary. If you're conservative, Thatcherite or Reaganite (or for that matter, Howardite or Shipleyite), you will probably find him objectionable. But that's okay, the feeling is probably mutual. Billy Bragg is (IMHO) the greatest protest singer/songwriter working today.

It's a pity that the previous reviewer didn't like this album as much as Worker's Playtime. The criticisms in that review were a bit unfair. "God's Footballer" is a beautiful lilting waltz--if anyone considered him to be no more talented than a well crafted political slogan, this is disproof. Incidentally, Billy is much shyer than you might expect, & prefers not to be called "Mr Sexuality".....(if he's reading this, we're still embarrassed about that and hope he forgives us, he should know what I'm referring to.....)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved It Even If I Didn't Want To, September 26, 2006

By 

John R. Pomerville "Moose Guy" (Westland, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Try This at Home (Audio CD)

First of all, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm a Libertarian and probably disagree with 90% OF Bragg's Socialist Big Government solutions to all of the ills in this world. That being said, this album is 100% spectacular. I may argue politics with Billy but would never argue music. This is one of the finest collection of songs in the Folk/Rock genre of the last 50 years. Each song is tunefull in its own way. Even though some of the lyrics are banal (Sexuality comes immediately to mind) the power of the melodies and arrangements lift each selection. Tank Park Salute and Moving The Goalposts are simply beautiful and speak to human relationships that are common to all regardless of politics. North Sea Bubble is a flat out rocker that gives a small salute to Libertarian Thought. At least I'd like to think so. 5 Stars!!! Buy it and enjoy. In a world of tripe like Madonna and Britney, this is an all too rare gem. I can't reccomend it highly enough.