With his band The Blokes, Billy Bragg comes out of ‘recording retirement’ after 6 years in the wilderness.
Bragg and musical buddies Ian McLagan, Ben Mandelson, Lu Edmonds, Martyn Barker,
Simon Edwards follow their inimitable raw and ready approach once again. He’s
also joined by guest vocalist Robert Wyatt for one song, opener Keep The Faith
which sounds like something out of a Van Morrison songbook. The soulful country
tinged formula is raining down all over this release.
Bragg isn’t one for the big impression musically, and the overall feel is a
rather uncomfortable marriage with his band, to the extent, that on the limited
edition issue, he’s release the same tracklisting as a solo effort, which Bragg
devotees will probably prefer.
For me Bragg has always been a solo performer, and always will be. On I Almost Killed You
there’s a strong Irish musical connection, nice splashes of harmonica, accordion
and echoed handclaps aplenty punctuated by edgy guitar solos. M for Me is
a gentle acoustic lead ballad which is a typical Bragg composition that is sharply
contrasted by the rough - edged bar band sound on the R’n’B shuffle of The Beach Is Free.
On You Make Me Brave and If You Ever Leave he’s reflecting on relationships,
though they’re limp ballads, like a man resigned to accepting how they are, or
should be. Above all, there’s no indication of any heartfelt emotion, instead a
kind of middle aged acceptance. The last three song sound like a man who hasn’t
thought through the fact he’s confronted with making an entire album, which
after half a decade, isn’t a good creative sign.
Knowing Bragg’s passion for having a pop at what he considers to be an injustice,
it’s surprising the lack of real conviction and his forte, passion. Maybe, as he
approaches the big 50, he’s mellowing after all, and it’s a great shame because
this doesn’t match anything from his effusive past. There’s too much of a
sing-along quality like Sing Their Souls Back Home and I Keep Faith In You.
1. I Keep Faith
2. I Almost Killed You
3. M For Me
4. The Beach Is Free
5. Sing Their souls Back Home
6. You Make Me Brave
7. Something Happened
8. Mr. Love & Justice
9. If You Ever Leave
10. O Freedom
11. The Johnny Carcinogenic Show
12. Farm Boy
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
