Bragg space

[realthog]

The new Billy Bragg album, Mr Love & Justice, can be streamed for free at http://music.msn.com/music/ListeningBooth (it's about 4th on the list as you scroll down).

Fine stuff . . .

 

Comments

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Nice.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

First play, nice. Second play -- oh, yeah, I think I must buy this one . . .

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a nice CD. One of the songs opened with a Metallica-like riff.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"One of the songs opened with a Metallica-like riff."

It did? I have a Metallica CD or two somewhere, but don't play 'em that often.

I think the Bragg's kind of like Dylan with a cockney accent, sorta.

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can't remember which song started out with the Metallica sounding riff -- but milder than Metallica, more acoustic sounding.

Bragg is a Dylan of sorts, I'll agree. Though no one compares to Dylan, especially his older stuff. One of my faves is Blood on the Tracks.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"One of my faves is Blood on the Tracks."

I think that's a fave of just about all of us!

A few years back a girl-led band recorded a live performance of the whole album and stuck it up online for general free download. With the exception of one track, it's very, very good. Would you like me to do some brain-racking to dig out the details?

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

"Would you like me to do some brain-racking to dig out the details?"

Sure, Paul, if you have the time, I'd love to know who did it. Thanks!

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Your wish is my command, ma'am. The band's called Mary-Lee's Corvette (after a long memory-trawl I remembered the "Mary" and so could google it from there!). Clearly she's stopped the free download offer, but you can still listen to the album merrily at http://www.maryleescorvette.com/bottalbum.html.

The track I dislike is "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" (prolly my least favourite on the Dylan original, to be honest): not her fault that the two guys she asked up from the audience to augment the vocals proved to be assholes.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Wait a mo: I'm having trouble getting it to play. 'Scuse me while I fiddle around some more . . .

[realthog.livejournal.com]

If you have difficulties on ML's own site, try here: http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12147572. You get three plays of the album for free.

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Paul! You're a dear!

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

BTW, Paul, thanks for this link! MLC does a great job with Blood on the Tracks. I especially enjoyed Shelter From The Rain.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

My aim is but to please, ma'am. Glad you're enjoying it!

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Er...I meant "Shelter from the Storm." I'm having a senior moment masquerading as a blond.

[quilterbear.livejournal.com]

Very nice!! I like that. I'd love to download that into my iTunes but I don't know how. Or if it is even possible. I really like that style... mmmmm very very nice

[realthog.livejournal.com]

I think if you want yo download it you have to go to iTunes or Napster or Amazon or whoever. It used to be you could buy downloads from music.msn.com, but they gave that up a year or more ago.

[louismaistros.livejournal.com]

Typically brilliant, though he actually seems to be loosing his accent on this one.

My Bragg story:

It's Baltimore in 1986 or so and I've warn my copy of Talking With the Taxman About Poetry to a nub (the days of vinyl were holding), when someone tells me Billy Bragg is doing a last minute show at PT Flagg's at the Inner Harbor (PT Flagg's was a failed indoor amusement park that wound up a bizarre concert venue, very surreal). So I ask this cute little blonde I've just met if she wants to go, she says sure, though to my amazement she'd never heard of him.

So we're at the club, and Billy is doing his thing. His shows (at least then) were only about one half music, the rest being very funny and politically radical dialog. The blonde is looking very intense through it all, I figure she's digging it in her way.

Billy closes the show with a surprise; sweet rendition of "Ask" by The Smiths. He does this with his trademark (at the time) voice and electric guitar only, and it's just damn fine (I wish he'd recorded it).

On the ride home the blonde gets all edgy and reveals that she is conservative Republican to the core. She tells me how offensive all that socialist talk was. Being young, I'm regretting that the relationship with the cute blonde is over before it's begun, but it's not like we'd ever be able to have a political discussion without wanting to rip out and devour each other's hearts Aztec-style, so it's all good.

But to this day I look back fondly on the day that I accidentally subjected a "staunch" Republican to the work of a brilliant socialist pop star in the post-apocalyptic animatronic hellscape that was PT Flagg. I wonder if she even remembers it.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

That's very funny!