- Audio CD (5 Sep 2003)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Import
- Label: Mushroom
- ASIN: B000059WQI
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 922,005 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
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Product Description
From Amazon.com
Billy Bragg's third full-length album, 1986's Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, is an uncompromised refinement of his brash, anti-Thatcher, busking-bloke persona. Bragg's palette stretches beyond the jagged-rhythmic-guitar-plus-curious-voice approach of the first two albums: "Ideology" and "Marriage" see the addition of horns and piano, "Train Train" adds violin, and singer Kirsty MacColl and guitarist Johnny Marr make guest appearances. The slashing, lovely "Levi Stubbs' Tears," a sad slice-of-life number told from a woman's perspective, showcases the singer-songwriter's ability to write well beyond protest songs. And only Bragg could pen a love song such as "Greetings to the New Brunette" and pull it off. In an off-key yet warm warble, he almost croons, "Shirley, your sexual politics have left me all of a muddle / Shirley, we are joined in the ideological cuddle," one of pop's most delightfully awkward rhymes. And then of course there are the protest songs, such as bracing, simple, Woody Guthrie-ish "There Is Power in a Union." The record's title is taken from a 1926 poem by the poet of the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Mayakovsky. --Mike McGonigal
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Back in 1985 Billy Bragg shook off his monotonic, acoustic routine and jazzed himself up a bit. The result is this enjoyable and powerful album that fuses both melody and fine lyrics. The fiery passion of Socialism soars from this landmark record in an explosion of musical merriment.
'Talking to the Taxman' begins with 'Greetings to the New Brunette', a song imbued with guitar and feeling. Not sure what's it's all about, but you can't argue with lines such as 'I'm celebrating my love for you / With a pint of beer and a new tattoo' and 'how can you lie there and think of England / when you don't even know who'se in the team?' Track three - "Marriage" - was my favourite song for many years: 'Marriage is when we admit our parents were right'.
Track four, the brilliantly and simply entitled 'Ideology', is also fantastic. It gets you all worked up. After twenty years we're still asking the same question - "Is there more to a seat in Parliament / than sitting, on your arse?". The song / battle cry 'Power in a Union' needs no explanation.
The album, however, is not all hammers and sickles. Billy isn't just an angry leftie. 'Levi Stubbs Tears' is a melancholic exploration of a caged woman - an Eleanor Rigby for the 1980's. Anger also turns to thoughtfulness in such songs as 'The Warmest Room' and 'The Home Front'.
My advice is this: buy the album, re-live those halcyon days and sing along to the sound of good old-fashioned Socialism.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This CD is the best of Billy Bragg for miles. Songs like Grettings to the new brunette, Ideology, There's power in a union, Levi stubb's tears are all classic that you can listen for years an always be shock with them. The lyrics of Billy are great and if you like the folk music you have to get this right now!!.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
18 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
must I also share my life
23 Oct 2003
Format:Audio CD
TALKING WITH THE TAXMAN ABOUT POETRY is my favorite of Billy Bragg's albums. All the songs are strong, especially "Greetings to the New Brunette," and Billy's passion for his subjects has never seemed so strong as it does on "Ideology" and "Help Save the Youth of America."
The lyrics are great too.
Here's a sample: "If I share my bed with you / Must I also share my life / Love is just a moment of giving / And marriage is when we admit our parents were right"
Bragg's political edge is only sharper on THE INTERNATIONALE. His personal songwriting excels on "The Marriage" and a few others, but it's no wonder why Billy lacks success on the USA pop charts. These intelligent, mature love songs and political anthems surely don't help to sell suntan lotion and diet colas, do they?
I first heard this in 1988 or 1989, most likely, and it just sounded true and authentic. It was sincere without being sappy. I realized I was listening to something great, and I became a fan of the album. Only later did I discover other albums by Billy Bragg.
If I could thank Billy Bragg for one thing, it would be TALKING WITH THE TAXMAN ABOUT POETRY. If you've enjoyed other albums by Bragg, I recommend this to you wholeheartedly.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Bragg In Top Form
8 Dec 2000
Format:Audio CD
"Taxman About Poetry" is absolutely one of Bragg's finest albums. This album also features a wider range of instruments other than just an electric guitar, though not a full backing band. Like its predecessor, "Brewing Up With Billy Bragg" (which can be found on "Back to Basics") many of the songs on this album sparsely arranged, the most prominent extra instruments being horns and percussion. Some of Bragg's best material can be found on this disc, most notably "Greetings To The New Brunette" - a beautiful acoustic love song featuring some impeccable guitar work from The Smiths' Johnny Marr, and "Levi Stubbs' Tears" - a bitter, yet catchy song about a battered woman. Some other goodies that aren't as well known include "Wishing The Days Away" - a jaunty country song, "The Warmest Room" - a mouthwateringly mellow rocker with funny lyrics, "The Passion" - a real tear-jerker of a song about a dysfunctional relationship (again featuring Marr on guitar) and "The Home Front" - a profoundly moving piece of social commentary on working-class family life in Britain. However, although there are some standouts, there is really not one bad song on the entire album.
So all in all, "Talking To The Taxman About Poetry" is an excellent album and a worthy addition to any fan of folk music, or music in general.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A good Socialist Folk CD
23 Jan 2003
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
There's a rawness and honesty to avowed Socialist Billy Bragg's lyrics in this, his "difficult third album," that works well with his not-ready-for-prime-time vocals and makes songs like the haunting "Levi Stubbs Tears" and the clever "Marriage" and playful "Greetings to the New Brunette" worth listening to again and again. But those are offset somewhat by the annoyingly anthemic "There Is Power in a Union" and "Help Save the Youth of America," which render the last half of the CD far less listenable than the first. Of course, you've got to be somewhat of a Billy Bragg fan to even know this CD exists, in which case you probably already own it... but on the off chance someone just turned you on to Bragg and you've only heard some of his newer stuff, I recommend you give this CD a chance. IMHO it's his best album, with "Levi Stubb's Tears" his best song.
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