Billy Bragg - Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
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Free Music Notes for Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
Free Music Review: Bragg In Top Form
Hit: 5 Stars
"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.
Free Music Review: so nice, so familiar
Hit: 4 Stars
This CD grew on me really quickly, and it feels somehow very comforting and familiar to listen to. The combination of stickin'-it-to-the-man songs and love songs makes for an unexpected but very nice combination. Wonderful lyrics, and I'm glad about the contributions of Johnny Marr (of my favorite band, The Smiths). It's a nice, easy-to-digest CD, and you will enjoy it. My favorite tracks are Greetings to the New Brunette, Help Save the Youth of America, and The Warmest Room. Buy this.Free Music Review: The angry young folkie
Hit: 5 Stars
Billy Bragg is a hard one to pin down. A punk-rock Phil Ochs? Maybe. Bob Dylan filtered through The Clash? Perhaps. BB came onto the scene in the early eighties with an electric guitar and many axes to grind. His songs are usually overtly left-wing, but later in his career he began incorporating more and more romatic themes (in addition to more instrumentation). TWTTAP is the perfect transition album. The usual political rants are present and accounted for ("Ideology," "There is Powere in a Union"), in addition to tender valentines ("Greetings to the New Brunette," "The Warmest Room"). Billy almost never resorts to cliches. His songs make you think and make you feel. If you like this, check out "Don't Try This at Home."Free Music Review: Not exactly dulcet tones, but interesting lyrics...
Hit: 3 Stars
I'm not sure why the reviewer below was "worried that Billy Bragg might be a socialist." A song listed on the sleeve as "there is Power in a Union" should have given the game away. Personally I quite like this album, and I'm a conservative. I used to really be into this as a student a decade or so back, but more the love songs than the political ones. Bragg has a sure touch for awkward romance - eg 'Greetings to the New Brunette' 'The Passion' and 'Warmest Room'. The picture of a dysfunctional family in 'the Home Front' is also touching, as is the bewildered divorced man in 'Honey I'm a Big Boy Now' and the battered woman in 'Levi Stubbs Tears'. A recent relisten gave me one new insight, however - for all Bragg's considerable talents as a lyricist (and he got better than this album, which has a few howlers) he really can't sing very well. No, not as in Mick Jagger, (ie tolerable): more as in your best mates after a few beers. Vocally, a bit raw.Free Music Review: Love is dangerous
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is brilliant, as each song explodes out of the speakers with a passion that was and still is Mr. Bragg's trademark. It represents a logical growth in his career from a troubador ala Dylan to a fully realized song writer and musical expressionist. As for the "danger" in exposing the youth of America to socialism alluded to by another reviewer, anyone who is afraid of the mere expression of ideas in this context should be disreguarded, particularly in this case where nothing Mr. Bragg sings is cloaked. His opinions, reject them or not, are out in the open (as anyone who has seen him live will surely attest), and for that, we can thank him for adding a voice to landscape that should be considered, not rejected out of hand. I suggest the reviewer should also spare himself of the "danger" of listening to Woody Guthie, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Paul Robeson, the Clash, Robert Johnson, Miles Davis and other such subversives.