BILLY BRAGG Life's A Riot with Spy Vs. Spy LP

BILLY BRAGG
Life's A Riot with Spy vs. Spy LP
Go Discs, released 1983

Out of print, gently used copy of Billy Bragg's solid Life's A Riot LP featuring some of his best early work.  Long out of print and reissued elsewhere, however, this is definitely worth owning if you're a fan or just starting out.  Bragg (formerly of punk band Riff Raff) was referenced in Rancid's "The Wars End" and has also appeared with Less Than Jake on one of the Rock Against Bush releases on Fat Wreck Chords.  Vinyl and jacket are in very good condition.

It is likely that non-fans will have encountered the tracks on Life's a Riot on the re-packaged Back to Basics CD (which also included 1984's Brewing Up With Billy Bragg EP). However, it is useful to discuss this debut in its historical context, for on release in 1983 nobody had encountered anyone like Billy Bragg before. A gruff Woody Guthrie for the post-punk generation, Bragg's heavy Essex accent moderated a singing voice that was anything but operatic. Yet the singer's strident, passionate non-singing provided the perfect conduit for a suite of lyrics that matched polemic with romantic observation. Another important factor in that equation was his technique as a guitarist -- both extraordinarily resourceful and highly rhythmic. Bragg's underrated musicianship was perfect for songs such as "A New England," the album's cornerstone lovelorn track (and Bragg's calling card for many years to come). Sometimes, as on "The Milkman of Human Kindness," the artist succumbs to mawkish sentimentality, but his sheer conviction and empathy with his characters (who seem to be self-analogous) wins through, particularly on the affecting "The Man in the Iron Mask." ~ Alex Ogg, All Music Guide


TRACKS:

The Milkman of Human Kindness
To Have and To Have Not
Richard
A New England
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Busy Girl Buys Beauty
Lovers Town Revisited


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