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| Billy Bragg - Mr Love & Justice | | (And Joining The Aristocracy) | | 01 April 2008 | | It must be over twenty years now since Billy Bragg admitted that he no longer wanted to plant bombs at the last night of the Proms - he is, after all, only human; and radicalism in most of us diminishes with age! But can it really be true that the Bard of Barking has joined the aristocracy?
In the interests of science, we scuttled off to www.billybragg.co.uk to find out. In true 21st Century style, Bragg has posted no less than FIVE tracks from the album - you can't download them (he isn't Tom Robinson, you know*) but you can take a listen and "try before you buy". And boy, we're glad we did - the production is awul, the tunes are weak, and the lyrics are uninspiring. We don't be buying this even if someone GIVES it to us.
However, you wouldn't know this from the album reviews in the music and general press seem to suggest it is a work close to genius - 4 stars in the Observer and Uncut; and Mojo trumpeting "a songsmith at the peak of his powers".
So it seems that, after years of class war, Billy Bragg has joined the rock aristocacy - to sit alongside the likes of U2 and Bruce Springsteen, in that musical House of Lords where you can release any old rubbish and STILL get fawned upon by Fleet Street. Anyone for Pimms?
* Most of TR's solo work is available for free on his web site www.tomrobinson.com |
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The point is we are all connected... through love... through loneliness... through one lamentable lapse in judgment!
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