Great Debut Albums....Part 3

Appearing during a low point in UK music history, Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy took the music back to basics - just Billy Bragg and an electric guitar. Life’s a Riot presented Bragg as an unlikely cross between Woody Guthrie and Joe Strummer — one guy with a handful of songs, a powerful belief in the common people, and a big distorted electric guitar, blasting out songs about love and politics.Play it today and it still crackles with an immediate, righteous energy.

Life's a Riot played a huge part in forging my worldview and sadly so little of what he was singing about back in 1983 has changed. Seething with anger and sexual frustration, Billy's songs spoke to the young and alienated for whom the Thatcher revolution meant nothing. The songs still stand up today particularly the classic New England, The Busy Girl Buys Beauty, Lovers Town Revisited and To Have and To Have Not which is unfortunately as relevant now as it was twenty five years ago.

At a mere seven songs and 16 minutes, Life's a Riot is a short release but somehow seems just right. His broad Essex accent increases the coarse appeal, accentuating the reality of the songs and providing the perfect conduit for a suite of lyrics that matched polemic with romantic observation. If you like your music cut back to the raw and full of emotion this is the Bragg album to have.

Billy Bragg - To Have And To Have Not

I Had An Uncle Who Once Played For Red Star Belgrade....

Quite often you go along to a gig these days and there is very little in the way of banter between band and audience ....which is absolutely fine as most of them probably would not have much worthwhile to say.... however the same could not be said of Billy Bragg and right now is almost the perfect time for Bragg to get everything off his chest as the ConLib coalition start the process of dismantling the very fabric of our society bit by bit....it really is a pleasure and privilege to spend a couple of hours being entertained by Bragg....

There is an honesty and decency about Bragg that is so refreshing and so needed today...he quite openly apologises for tactically voting Liberal at the election...I have a feeling there may have been quite a few others in the audience who did likewise...but the main focus of Bragg's words tonight was on trying to get us to shake off our cynicism and reflect on how we can as individuals fight for a better world and how with the best will in the world singer song-writers cannot change the world....all Bragg's arguments were presented with his customary wit and intelligence as if we would expect anything less from the great man....including a great story about how activists campaigned to get rid of the B.N.P. from Barking council and succeeded and his pride in what they had achieved was rightly justified....

And yes in case you were wondering he did play some music as well....highlights for me were Greetings to The New Brunette,The Saturday Boy, Sexuality and the song of the evening,Tank Park Salute....all reminding us,as if we needed reminding,that Billy Bragg is a brilliant songwriter and a thoroughly decent man....

The show finished with an Arches singalong to A New England that included one of the verses from the wonderful and very much missed Kirsty MacColl....hard to believe that it was almost 30 years ago that I bought my "Pay No More Than £2.99" copy of Life's A Riot...time to dust down my vinyl copy and take myself back to '83....

Merry Christmas....

My first Christmas as a blogger.....just want to wish a Merry Christmas to one and all...a big thank you to all those who have viewed the blog in its short existence and especially to those who have left behind comments...very much appreciated when you are just starting out...

Hope you all have a great Christmas....

I Saw Two Shooting Stars Last Night....

Today's posting was supposed to be a review of Billy Bragg's gig at The Arches last night. However along with thousands of others I endured an 11 hour journey home from work so did not make the gig. The only positive was that I had a message left on my phone when I did get back letting me know that the gig had been canceled anyway so Billy will just have to wait for another day.

For some unknown reason I have not seen Billy Bragg perform live for about 20 years or so. I saw him a few times in the late 80's and always enjoyed seeing him perform his tunes and the between song banter that was a major point in going to see him. So for that reason and  with the current CONLib "government" in the process of continuing Thatcher's programme of dismantling the country step by step I was very much looking forward to seeing him.

We need artists like Billy Bragg probably more than at any time in the last 30 years, not necessarily aligning themselves with any one political party - like all the fools that were taken in by Blair - and although pop stars cannot change the world they can bring information to the attention of the masses through their support of worthy causes such as student tuition fees.

Roll on next year when Bragg returns....

Some Culture Some City...

Sunday June 3rd 1990, European City Of Culture, 4 open air stages around Glasgow, 50 artists, 11 hours of music including Nanci Griffith, Goodbye Mr Mckenzie, Big Country and of course the highlight of a very special day - Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe and Billy Bragg on the Riverside stage. Beautiful song, exquisite vocal from the 10,000 Maniacs vocalist. This was a very special day for Glasgow attracting by some estimates almost half a million people to the city. It is a day I will never forgot. How often in a lifetime would you get the chance to see Merchant, Stipe and Bragg perform together on the banks of The Clyde. I have a feeling that all those at Customhouse Quay that day will remember it for a very long time yet....