BILLY BRAGG: BREWING UP WITH BILLY BRAGG (1984)
1) It Says Here; 2) Love Gets
Dangerous; 3) The Myth Of Trust; 4) From A Vauxhall Velox; 5) The Saturday Boy;
6) Island Of No Return; 7) St. Swithin's Day; 8) Like Soldiers Do; 9) This
Guitar Says Sorry; 10) Strange Things Happen; 11) A Lover Sings; 12*) Between
The Wars; 13*) The World Turned Upside Down; 14*) Which Side Are You On.
Compared with Life's A Riot, Billy's first full-length LP seems almost
orchestrated — not only are there a few extra players spicing up the songs
every now and then (Dave Woodhead on trumpet, or Van Morrison's keyboard
player Kenny Craddock on organ), but Billy's own guitar parts seem fuller, more
fleshed out, more in line with the traditional understanding of what a «punk /
garage rock song» should sound like. Still, I have to confess that, as much as
his lonesome busker approach might have seemed revolutionary at the time, it is
very hard for me to overcome the «rockist» attitude and appreciate these songs
— be they well written or not — on the same emotional level as if they were
full band productions.
Let's just face it, something like the bravado
guitar intro to ʽFrom A Vauxhall Veloxʼ, for instance, just begs for rhythm section support — it's one
thing just doing this on a street corner or in your living room, but in the
studio... well, on a purely intellectual-symbolic level, it's all understandable,
but on the level of pure instinct, it's all about «oh shit, too bad the guy was
on such a tight budget, couldn't even afford himself a bass player». It just
can't be helped, that's all, no matter how much intoxicating London charisma
he is sweating out while the tapes are running.
But yes, there are some dang good songs here —
not John Lennon level, I guess, but definitely at least Elvis Costello level.
Thematically, Billy goes on to develop his two major concerns: (a) fuck the
system that is ruining our lives and (b) fuck the bitch that is ruining my life — and the two are so tightly
intertwined that I can't help thinking, is it the system that is supposed to be
responsible for the breakdown of human relationships, or is it the breakdown of
human relationships that is responsible for the collapse of the system? One
thing's for sure: Billy allocates the exact same amount of passion for both
themes, which is ultimately good, I guess, because a two-track mind in art is
always preferable to a one-track one.
And here comes another confession: at this
point, I actually prefer Billy's love (or «anti-love») songs to his political
statements. The reason might be very simple: they work better as stripped-down
ballads, whereas the political songs are the ones that suffer the most from
lack of additional musicians. (Although even there, once Billy starts to croon
he begins to sound like Morrissey's ragged twin, and the songs start looking
like early demos for Smiths ballads. But this problem is notably easier to
overcome). ʽThe Myth Of Trustʼ, for instance, is not only lyrically smart
(offering its own interpretation of the allegory of Adam and Eve with the
serpent left completely out of the picture), but also has a creepy «dark folk»
twist to it — later on, Adam and Eve make a much happier comeback in the
organ-backed ʽA Lover Singsʼ serenade, but they have to pass through some
highly uncomfortable moments before they find out all about love.
Of course, though, the album will still be
generally remembered not through its ruminations on the nature of sexual
attraction, but through its political statements — the anti-Thatcherite ʽIt
Says Hereʼ and the anti-war anthems ʽLike Soldiers Doʼ and ʽIsland Of No
Returnʼ. Of these three, ʽIslandʼ packs the biggest punch and is probably the
single most underworked song here: the arrogant lyrics, the furiously strummed
power chords (with some funky syncopation thrown in for good measure), the way
he massacres his not-too-inherently-strong voice on the line "...in his
hand was a weapon that was made in Bir-ming-haaaaam!..."
— these are all hallmarks of a good song... but yes, it could have been better.
Still, all in all there is definitely some
progress. Billy's lyrics are thought-provoking both on the love front and on
the social struggle front; his guitar playing skills, if anything, are
demonstrated here even better; and the occasional guest instruments are
selected with loving care (did I yet get a chance to mention the cute ʽPenny
Laneʼ-like trumpet solos on ʽSaturday Boyʼ, placed there and nowhere else
because this is, like, the tenderest song on the album?). For all these
reasons, the thumbs
up rating should never be placed under doubt — even if the final
brew, alas, is just not strong enough for my tastes, and I cannot picture
myself voluntarily returning to this record whenever I want to hear a love
serenade (if we're talking about the same time period, I'll still predictably pick
The Smiths) or a fuck-the-establishment statement (if we're talking about the
same time period, I'll still predictably pick The Clash). Then again, who
knows? Maybe in a few years' time rhythm sessions will become so passé, your
spirit will realign to electric guitar busking without you knowing it, and
then...
...anyway, on a technical note, these days this
album also comes in a 2-CD edition with plenty of bonus tracks (including some
Smiths and Stones covers with Johnny Marr himself guest-starring on second
guitar), but I have only heard it as part of 1987's Back To Basics compilation, so my
bonus tracks are three more songs from the 1985 EP Between The Wars — one of them an old cover of a pro-union song,
and another one (ʽWorld Turned Upside Downʼ) is a Leon Rosselson song about the
Diggers' Commune of 1649. Well... the EP was just too short a format to make
space for any more love serenades, I guess.
"(a) fuck the system that is ruining our lives and (b) fuck the bitch that is ruining my life."
ReplyDeleteHow could they not be intertwined for a Briton anno 1984? Just look who was on top of the system: Iron Bitch Maggie.