Billy BraggMr. Love and Justice | Anti-  May 6,
2008 3:29:37 PM
|
There is no irony in the title of Billy Bragg’s first album in six years. That’s who he’s always been, even if it’s taken him this long to understand that one half of that equation doesn’t exist without the other. Since arriving as a one-man, Clash-inspired firebrand, Bragg has gotten more props for his rallying cries than for his open-hearted examinations of romance. Yet his love songs have endured while many of the broadsides have become yellowed newspaper. Mr. Love & Justice’s more blatantly political songs are few and largely stripped of rhetoric; when Bragg addresses war (“Farm Boy,” “Sing Their Souls Back Home”), it’s not from a fist-thrusting, Bush-bashing platform but from one of empathy with those in harm’s way. And whereas “I Almost Killed You” might have taken an entirely different turn when Bragg was a self-appointed spokesman for socialism, here it’s a declaration of unchecked passion, the title’s words followed by “with my love.” Recorded with his working band the Blokes, the album isn’t without its misfires (the obvious “The Johnny Carcinogenic Show”), but it is Bragg’s most assured statement since hooking up with Wilco a decade ago to give life to lost Woody Guthrie lyrics.
|
 |
|
- Steampunk bursts through its subculture roots to challenge our musical, fashion, design, and even political sensibilities
- It’s time to cover John McCain again — and here are ten good places for the media to start.
- Reconciling the irreconcilable
- Never mind its tough-girl alt-porn feminism: SuicideGirls has already moved on to a new generation
- Interview: Mikko Nissinen and Boston Ballet
- Some Things at Trinity
- It’s time to cover John McCain again — and here are ten good places for the media to start.
- Steampunk bursts through its subculture roots to challenge our musical, fashion, design, and even political sensibilities
- Inmate rehabilitation served on a platter
- Do the Hate Laugh Shimmy | Fresh Sounds New Talent
- Brookline Music School at Northeastern's Blackman Theatre, May 11
- Priorities
|
-
Ishumar | Real World
-
Moonshine | www.greenleafmusic.com
-
Shout! Factory
-
Sanders' Truckstop | Collector's Choice
-
Watch the Sky | Vanguard
-
Catherine Russell’s rich musical path
-
Yep Roc
-
Cotton Eyed Joe | Delmore: 2CDs, 1 DVD
-
Last of the Breed | A+E
|
- You're No Dream | La Société Expéditionnaire
- Hold on Now, Youngster . . . | Wichita/Arts & Crafts
- Do the Hate Laugh Shimmy | Fresh Sounds New Talent
- NY's Finest | Nature Sounds
- Momofuku | Lost Highway
- Def Jam
- Downtown
- Lyric Street
- Becoming a Cliché/Dub Cliché | Real World
|
|
|
|