Last fall Yep Roc reissued several Billy Bragg albums, including 1991's Don't Try This at Home .
Everybody knows The Clash, and everybody smart loves The Clash. Smart punk. Power chords and attitude, complete with a fully realized ethos. The closest comparison in the modern generation is probably Pearl Jam. And I do love Pearl Jam, but I just don't think they compare. PJ's songs are great, but I can't imagine them being performed by anyone other than Pearl Jam. The Clash, on the other hand, were great songwriters. Case(s) in point to follow . . . A is for Arcade Fire-Guns of Brixton (live) [...]
A few hundred thousand of these are going to be passing my way over the next 24 hours, and it's not gonna be a bundle of fun. For those of you who haven't picked up some threads here and elsewhere, I've a job that currently involves me being heavily involved in the management and administration of the elections which on Thursday 3rd May will possibly result in a new government for Scotland and a
Nichts klingt 2007 so dermaßen 1987 wie der 1. Mai. Arbeiterkampftag , irgendjemand? Noch schlimmer, dieser Tag riecht muffig, nach gestern, vergessen wir eine alte Kiste voller Erinnerungen im klammen Keller. Gerade eben noch gut genug, um sich mit Maibock zu befeuern, anschließend um den Maibaum zu schwanken und den Rest den Tages auf sauer zu liegen. Nicht so für Billy Bragg, der alte Haudegen. Dieser ich-möchte-alleine-so-klingen -wie-the Clash-zusammen. Mit dem einzigen Unterschied, dass er 2007 "the progressive patriot" heißt, und die Gewerkschaften schon lange zu Staub und Asche verkommen sind. Und er die Antwort nicht geben [...]
While perusing Mini-Obs , I noticed that Dearest Natsthename had a chain interview going. You know, someone sends you a few questions, then you answer them on your blog or else you and your descendants will have four millennia of bad luck, your dog will get scrofula , and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will move into your living room. Anyway, I felt game for a bit of an inquisition, so I asked Nats craft five questions for me. Thanks Nats! And here they are: [...]
I got an excellent sampler in the mail the other day from my good friend Mark at Smithsonian Folkways. You might remember another quality compilation by those diligent folks at Folkways from " Folkin' A Week " back in September, the 3 disc set of roots music called, "Friends of Old Time Music." This track comes from a CD called, "Don't Mourn - Organize!" about Joe Hill , a hero of the worker's movement from the pre-depression era west. Apparently, he was wrongfully convicted of a murder and therefore executed to much controversy. Billy Bragg [...]
To me, coming from you, friend is a four letter word. Cheney's wicked mad at me this week and refuses to talk about it. He doesn't turn in his post and he doesn't return phone calls. Finally last night he called me. " Lost made me a little hot under the collar," he said. "I hate that fucking creep, what's his name. That bastard." "Jack?" I said. "Yes," Cheney said. "And Desmond...puh-leeeease!" "I know," I said. "Totally." He doesn't even hear you. Nothing has really amused [...]
I have to keep it short today, as I'm running out the door for a long weekend in Indiana. I hope you all have a good weekend, and hopefully come Monday, I'll have a few "Indianer" stories. In keeping with Ronnie Lane month here at "Ain't Superstitious, But These Things I've Seen...," here are a couple of heartwarming covers of Lane originals. Billy Bragg - Debris Recorded with the Blokes (featuring Ian McLagan on piano and backing [...]
I've been awfully neglectful recently....not so much about putting postings up here, but getting round all my favourite blogs and discusssion boards to see what everyone's been getting up to. I promise that I'll make some time over the next couple of days. mp3 : Billy Bragg - This Guitar Says Sorry (Peel Session)
Red Six. Who was he? What was his like motivation , hm? Who really cares? Well today Song, by Toad cares. Today it is all about Red Six, or that poor anonymous Lieutenant in Star Trek - the one you can be absolutely certain isn't going to survive the episode. Does anyone else remember Porkins from Star Wars with such affection as Mr Toad? This haven for losers, wastrels and ne'erdowells embraces Porkins, the only fat, bearded star fighter pilot in the universe, and today we dedicate some tunes to him. [...]
WOLF Nash The Slash Children of the Night Dindisc : 1981 [Buy it] PEOPLE WHO DIED The Jim Carroll Band Catholic Boy Atco : 1981 [Buy it] A NEW ENGLAND Billy Bragg Back to Basics Elektra : 1987 [Buy it] CEREMONY New Order Substance Factory : 1987 (1981) [Buy it] [...]
In haste...I heard this song at 5am this morning, and nothing could have sounded better , you know? I was working on a conference presentation, cursing myself for wasting nine years of my life in the pursuit of bits of paper and letters. Everything outside was flat and and grey and sleepy, and then....that opening guitar fuzz. Followed by a massive smile, from me, and then the day began. Luv u, Billy. Mp3: A New England - Billy Bragg [Buy it on Back to Basics, amongst others.] Take good care this [...]
As far as Song, by Toad is concerned, there is only one Hot Babe Emily Scott and that is the lovely purveyor of gentle folk tunes found here . However, according to the vast tribe of Hot Babe Action Internet Perverts, one of whose number I am usually proud to confess to being, there is another Hot Babe Emily Scott and she is an Australian tits-oot-fae-the-lads 'glamour' model. (For glamour, of course, read mildly titillating and somehow able to make the subtle distinction between hand-shandy grot rag material with a little bit of thong bikini on and [...]
This little gem is another of the reasons I have been so pleased with the world of music recently. It's another brief one - only six songs long - but it's nonetheless thick with atmosphere and effortlessly seductive in style. Paris Motel are a London based group, obsessed with a sort of smoky Vaudeville melancholy, all sung in Amy May's plaintive and classically English voice. Vocally, May is an absolute dead ringer for Sarah Blackwood of the late Dubstar , one of the groups most responsible for getting me into electronic music [...]
Christ almighty you lot are a bloody merciless bunch. It's easy to be Mr Bounteous Blogger of Beneficience when there are lovely tunes to share and we can all hold hands and love one another and be one big happy internetty family. But the second there's some hard work to be done, a bit of graft to be put into the relationship you shower of fuckers are nowhere to be seen. So who gets stuck with the mp3 blog equivalent of changing the shitty nappies, doing the washing up, making the kids their packed lunches, sucking off [...]
THE LAST DAY OF OUR ACQUAINTANCE Sinead O'Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got Chrysalis : 1990 [Buy It] GO WHERE YOU WANNA GO The Mamas and the Papas If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears Dunhill : 1966 [Buy It] A NEW ENGLAND Billy Bragg Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy Charisma : 1983 [Buy It] [...]
Really tired and an early start tomorrow. So the Wednesday posting is going out on Tuesday night. No need to say anything either. Great song. Great version of the song. And a great photo that I found over at flickr.com - Billy is reading an Edinburgh community newspaper - The Craigmillar Festival News - and I would reckon it was taken sometime around 83/84. mp3 : Billy Bragg - That's
Week Two! We've rounded the corner into the second half of our mightiest two weeks of programming all year -- the WFMU 2007 Marathon ! We need to raise $900,000 by this Sunday at midnight in order to ensure another 365 days of the kind of spontaneous, artistic, and meaningful broadcasting that WFMU is known across the globe for delivering. We desperately need your help to make that goal a reality, so please make a pledge of support so we know you've got our backs as we further our mission to [...]
Ethical officers in mega-corps these days are all the rage. I have lost count of the number of times I have been told by cretinous free market fundamentalists that big business will all act in a morally upstanding manner because consumer pressure will force them to and that is the beauty of capitalism, my friend. Even the sight of the smug smile fading as I ominously raise my shovel, malicious smile on face, isn't enough to eradicate the fury that sort of obvious denial of reality stirs deep down in my little red soul. Despite wearing the [...]
On the breakfast news this morning I was forced to choke back the nauseating sight of John Reid, our current Home Secretary under, let's remind ourselves, a Labour fucking government. The party that only recently discarded The Red Flag as its anthem. What Reid said, and I don't quote directly here and it is from memory, so please feel free to correct me, was: 'I think it's unfair that foreigners come to this country and steal our services. That includes benefits, unemployment and the NHS' He went on to say that 'we [...]
Timedoor
Berkeley Place
THE VINYL VILLAIN
itstoolong
pogo a go-go
ThaBombShelter
This Recording
Ain't superstitious, but these things I've seen...
Song, by Toad
Moistworks
The Roaring Machine
WFMU's Beware of the Blog
Friday Remixes
Princeton – Grand Rapids (RAC Remix)
summer camp//always
The National - The Rains Of Castamere [Game of Thrones Soundtrack]
