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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
A must for any Billy Bragg fan! I've bought this material on the original vinyl, then on CD and now, for a third time, on this superb box set! The sound quality and bonus material make this well worth the very reasonable asking price, and it makes a fine collection and tribute to a great body of work. A note to the reviewer from Wales who missed the track "scholarship is the enemy of romance" - the track can be found on the earlier collection "Reaching to the Converted", which is readily available from Amazon!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
In an era of political (and social) apathy, where the skinny-trousered new princes of pop, like the Duran's and Spandau's at the time when Billy first got going, are really only in it for the fame and fortune, it's good to be reminded of the harsh yet melodic 'pop protest' that could be heard during the grey 'n' gritty days of the 1980s. Thus, with this about-time lavish repackaging of Bragg's earlier offerings we are now able to reappraise his music whilst simultaneously revisiting an 80s that was bookended by the Falklands War and the fall of the Wall. He's been described, rather famously (and in a rather shallow manner), as 'a one-man Clash', but - it has to be remembered - that there are, indeed, "two sides to every story" (to quote the Bard from Barking himself). Thus, quite often on the same slab of vinyl, we have the two voices of Bragg: the angry young social commentator alongside the patriotic Romantic. Take, for instance, the clanging political wake up call that is 'Ideology' and the forlornly beautiful - at once both despairing and inspiring - 'The Home Front'; and that's just the musical polar opposites to be found on 'Talking With The Taxman About Poetry' alone! As for his cover of 'The World Turned Upside Down' (from the 'Between The Wars' EP, also included here - Bragg's version, of course, owing more to Dick Gaughan's own rendition rather than Leon Rosselson's original), well, it's enough to make you put on your old CND pin badge, join a picket line and go on a march against New Labour! Let's here it for our very own Blakean William Bloke then. Up the workers!!!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This box set gathers together the first three albums `Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy', `Brewing up with Billy Bragg' and `Talking with the Taxman about Poetry' and also the fifth `The Internationale'. `The Internationale' has been swapped with the fourth album `Workers Playtime' as this fits more with the `Pop' styling's on Volume II rather than the urgent urban folk collected here.
As well as the four classic albums and the obligatory bonus disks of demo's, b-sides and outtakes it also includes the unique DVD `From the West Down to the East'. This is a DVD of two halves the first of which is from `The South Band Show' ITV's flagship arts programme from 1985. It is quite unusual for an artist to be profiled by `The South Bank Show' so early in their career but Billy Bragg has had a career less ordinary. His involvement with the labour party and the miners strike is showcased here as well as his own past and that of Barking for which the geography of Bragg's take on `Route 66', the fantastic `A13', is examined.
The second part of the DVD is a concert recorded in the then communist East Berlin showing how one man and a guitar can connect across all divides. There are no victims of geography on show here. Although this is quite a lively set it pales compared to the DVD contained with `The International' which by virtue of some accompaniment makes it better to suited to watching in a living room as does a set list that includes Bowie's `Star', Van Morrison's `Tupelo Honey', Curtis Mayfield's `People Get Ready' and the Motown classic `Heard it through the Grapevine'. Help Save the Youth of the East and the West.
As well as the four classic albums and the obligatory bonus disks of demo's, b-sides and outtakes it also includes the unique DVD `From the West Down to the East'. This is a DVD of two halves the first of which is from `The South Band Show' ITV's flagship arts programme from 1985. It is quite unusual for an artist to be profiled by `The South Bank Show' so early in their career but Billy Bragg has had a career less ordinary. His involvement with the labour party and the miners strike is showcased here as well as his own past and that of Barking for which the geography of Bragg's take on `Route 66', the fantastic `A13', is examined.
The second part of the DVD is a concert recorded in the then communist East Berlin showing how one man and a guitar can connect across all divides. There are no victims of geography on show here. Although this is quite a lively set it pales compared to the DVD contained with `The International' which by virtue of some accompaniment makes it better to suited to watching in a living room as does a set list that includes Bowie's `Star', Van Morrison's `Tupelo Honey', Curtis Mayfield's `People Get Ready' and the Motown classic `Heard it through the Grapevine'. Help Save the Youth of the East and the West.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Never more relevant - just as poignant
It's hard now to remember what it felt like to live in the Thatcher-Reagan
era, when everyone expected nuclear war any day, and when a miner's
strike divided the UK in a... Read more
era, when everyone expected nuclear war any day, and when a miner's
strike divided the UK in a... Read more
Published on 30 Mar 2006 by mikewooldridge
Really Should Be Six Stars or More!!
I can't say much that the others reviewers haven't already said - what a bargain box. Yes, I've bought the albums before but can't argue with the extra expense to own all the extra... Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2006 by Kevan James
Great music but not a perfect package.
The music is naturally fantastic and the mastering is pretty good.
However I have four complaints
- The booklet is very bland. We don't need lyrics. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2006 by Mr. Paul English
Pay No More Than.......
What can you say? The only disappointment for me is that "Scholarship is the Enemy of Romance" from the b-side of "Days Like These" is missing but then I'm being picky... Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2006 by M. J. Williams
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