Back to Basics

• Artist: Billy Bragg
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1987
• Total Time: 57:53
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Rock

Review

After Elektra signed Billy Bragg to his first major-label deal and released Talking With the Taxman About Poetry in 1986, the label decided to do a clean-up job on his back catalog and compiled Back to Basics, which combined the material from Bragg's first three records -- Life's a Riot With Spy vs Spy, Brewing Up With Billy Bragg, and Between the Wars -- into one two-record set (now available on a single CD). The first seven cuts, from the Life's a Riot EP, are Billy Bragg at his most basic; recorded in an afternoon with no overdubs, the audio is rough and Billy's electric guitar often threatens to drown out his voice, but the performances are game, and Bragg was already writing top-notch songs like "A New England" and "The Milkman of Human Kindness." The next 11 songs were originally released on Bragg's first LP, Brewing Up With Billy Bragg; while the sound is still spare and stark, the engineering is a good bit cleaner than on Life's a Riot, and Billy fleshed out his one-man-with-a-guitar approach to include the occasional vocal and/or guitar overdub, and even guest musicians on two tracks (though the trumpet on "The Saturday Boy" and the organ on "A Lover Sings" hardly count as orchestration). Bragg's performances are even stronger, displaying a charm that didn't quite make it through the sloppy sound of his debut, and his love songs resonated more strongly while his political numbers cut deep (especially "It Says Here" and the harrowing "Island of No Return"). Back to Basics closes with three somber political numbers that first surfaced on Bragg's Between the Wars EP, released when tensions over trade union strikes in the U.K. were at their height -- one original ("Between the Wars") and two vintage labor anthems. While the tone is downbeat, the performances are strong and compassionate. While Back to Basics fudges a bit with the sequence of the original material, and there's no reason why both of Bragg's recordings of "It Says Here" couldn't have been included, it's still a strong collection of some of Billy Bragg's most engaging work. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
The Milkman of Human Kindness	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:47)
To Have and to Have Not (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:32)
Richard (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:49)
Lovers Town Revisited (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(1:17)
A New England (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:13)
The Man in the Iron Mask	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:13)
The Busy Girl Buys Beauty	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(1:57)
It Says Here (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(4:15)
Love Gets Dangerous (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:23)
From a Vauxhall Velox (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:30)
The Myth of Trust	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:53)
The Saturday Boy	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(3:28)
Island of No Return (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(3:34)
This Guitar Says Sorry (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:29)
Like Soldiers Do (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:38)
St. Swithin's Day (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(3:52)
Strange Things Happen (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:38)
A Lover Sings	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(3:51)
Between the Wars (Lyrics)	Billy Bragg	Billy Bragg	(2:27)
The World Turned Upside Down	Leon Rosselson	Billy Bragg	(2:34)
Which Side Are You On?	Florence Reece	Billy Bragg	(2:33)

Credits

Edward DeBono (Producer), Jayne Creamer (Photography), Billy Bragg (Guitar), Ken Jones (Compilation), Dave Woodhead (Trumpet), Bob Bromide (Photography), Ken Jones (Engineer), Ken Jones (Mastering), Billy Bragg (Vocals), Ken Jones (Producer), Ken Craddock (Organ)

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