Release Date: 25 October, 1990
Audio CD
Tracks
- Milkman of Human Kindness
- To Have and to Have Not
- Richard
- Lovers Town Revisited
- New England
- Man in the Iron Mask
- Busy Girl Buys Beauty
- It Says Here
- Love Gets Dangerous
- From a Vauxhall Velox
- Myth of Trust
- Saturday Boy
- Island of No Return
- This Guitar Says Sorry
- Like Soldiers Do
- St. Swithin's Day
- Strange Things Happen
- Lover Sings
- Between the Wars
- World Turned Upside Down
- Which Side Are You On
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Rating 5.0
Understated Musical Genius...This album is possibly one of my favourite albums ever. Most of the plus points about this album have already been covered, in the previous reviews; so read through them (the positive ones) and take their points onboard.
I think, if you like folky guitar music and are prepared to put a bit of effort into this album (i.e. Give it a few careful listens) then I am sure you will benefit greatly from it.
If you want a couple of standout tracks to listen to before you make the purchase, try 'St. Swithin's Day' - a song of greaty beauty and poetic ideals; and 'Between The Wars' - a song of pure emotion and a fantastic guitar arrangement.
This album is a definite grower, and I'm sure after a few listens you will think the same thing.great cdthis is a really good cd i like the fact there is only a guitar yet the whole album is never boring. the standouts are new england, to have to have not and others but the whole cd is great this is a must buy for a fan of musicThe Milkman of Human KindnessA lot of music is fairly culture- and even period- specific. Billy Bragg?????™s debut release is a prime example. For those sitting in damp, chilly bedsits in England in 1983, Spy vs. Spy will always have a special significance. Workers?????™ rights were being systematically dismantled by Margaret Thatcher?????™s Conservative government and soaring unemployment meant little or non-existent job prospects even for college graduates. A powerful new political voice was emerging. With the immediacy of Springsteen, the passion of the Jam, and a knack for heartwrenching melodies. Billy Bragg?????™s charm, of course, lay in his unpolished, cockney delivery and low-budget production values ????" just him and his cheap-sounding electric guitar. But what he played was gold. And we all shut up and listened. A New England is perhaps his most famous tune; the flagship, if you will, of a set of songs that depicted love lost or disillusionment against a backdrop of real-life, unromanticised situations ("I loved you then and I love you still/Though I put you on a pedestal I put you on the pill"). Springsteen is the only other artist who has managed this. To Have And To Have Not is a belting indictment of social inequality and the celebration of personal integrity underpinned by a beautiful melody. "Just because you?????™re better then me/Doesn?????™t mean I?????™m lazy...". Busy Girl Buys Beauty tackles the dreams and needs created by the consumer industry, "A busy girl buys beauty/ A pretty girl buys style/ A simple girl buys what she?????™s told to buy...". A great song but punctuated with UK-specific cultural references. Man in the Iron Mask is a delicate ballad about unrequited love ("For you I will be/ the man in the iron mask...") while Milkman of Human Kindness is Billy Bragg?????™s Bridge Over Troubled Water but with more down-to-earth imagery. Also check out Between the Wars and Richard. A word of warning: this is very rough and ready ????" guitar virtuosity and a mannered vocal delivery are not part of this man?????™s agenda. But good tunes, great lyrics and a big heart are.?‹?‡ |
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