Billy Bragg - Volume 1 Album Review

Billy Bragg
Volume 1
Album Review

As a contemporary British social icon, Billy Bragg is up there with strong tea, miserable weather and queues in post offices. This retrospective boxed set covers some of his earliest work, together with rare and unreleased material. This will be one for the fans, as I guess Mr Bragg is not one to aggressively seek new converts. There's nothing unexpected here, with the focus mainly on Billy, his guitar and his unique voice and sentiments. The material on Talking to the Taxman About Poetry really stands out in terms of song writing, and it is this material, more so than any of the other tracks, that makes you forget the social and cultural background to Billy Bragg, and just listen to him for his great songs. Even taken out of time, this is truly magical stuff.

Richard Edge