Hello, Zippyshare seems to be quarantined by the UK or the other way around. As always there is a way to get around it, one of the easier ways is using the Tor Browser 8.5 (54 mb) and it can get you on the darkweb as well, furthermore it guarantees anonymity. Anyway before you install, there's an excellent review by PC Mag of which i included the link.
Today's artists is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centred on bringing about change and involving the younger generation in activist causes. ......N-Joy
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Finding inspiration in the righteous anger of punk rock and the socially conscious folk tradition of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg was the leading figure of the anti-folk movement of the '80s. For most of the decade, Bragg bashed out songs alone on his electric guitar, singing about politics and love. While his lyrics were bitingly intelligent and clever, they were also warm and humane, filled with detail and wit. Even though his lyrics were carefully considered, Bragg never neglected to write melodies for songs that were strong and memorable. Throughout the '80s, he managed to chart consistently in Britain, yet he only gathered a cult following in America, which could be due to the fact that he sang about distinctly British subject matter, both politically and socially.
Bragg began performing in the late '70s with the punk group Riff Raff, which lasted only a matter of months. He then joined the British Army, yet he quickly bought himself out of his sojourn with £175. After leaving the Army, he began working at a record store; while he was working, he was writing songs that were firmly in the folk and punk protest tradition. Bragg began a British tour, playing whenever he had the chance to perform. Frequently he would open for bands with only a moment's notice; soon, he had built a sizable following, as evidenced by his first EP, Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (1983), hitting number 30 on the U.K. independent charts. Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984), his first full-length album, climbed to number 16 in the charts.
During 1984, Bragg became a minor celebrity in Britain, as he appeared at leftist political rallies, strikes, and benefits across the country; he also helped form the "Red Wedge," a socialist musicians' collective that also featured Paul Weller. In 1985, Kirsty MacColl took one of his songs, "New England," to number seven on the British singles chart. Featuring some subtle instrumental additions of piano and horns, 1986's Talking with the Taxman About Poetry reached the U.K. Top Ten.
Bragg's version of the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home," taken from the Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father tribute album, became his only number one single in 1988 -- as the double A-side with Wet Wet Wet's "With a Little Help from My Friends." That year, he also released the EP Help Save the Youth of America and the full-length Workers Playtime, which was produced by Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, R.E.M.). Boyd helped expand Bragg's sound, as the singer recorded with a full band for the first time. The following year, Bragg restarted the Utility record label as a way of featuring non-commercial new artists. The Internationale, released in 1990, was a collection of left-wing anthems, including a handful of Bragg originals. On 1991's Don't Try This at Home, he again worked with a full band, recording his most pop-oriented and accessible set of songs; the album featured the hit single, "Sexuality." Bragg took several years off after Don't Try This at Home, choosing to concentrate on fatherhood. He returned in 1996 with William Bloke.
In 1998, he teamed with the American alternative country band Wilco to record Mermaid Avenue, a collection of performances based on unreleased songs originally written by Woody Guthrie. Reaching to the Converted, a collection of rarities, followed a year later, and in mid-2000 Bragg and Wilco reunited for a second Mermaid Avenue set. While touring in support of Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2, Bragg formed the Blokes in 1999 with Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan. Lu Edmonds (guitar), Ben Mandelson (lap steel guitar), Martyn Barker (drums), and Simon Edwards (bass) solidified the group while Bragg moved from London to rural Dorset in early 2001. One year later, the Blokes joined Bragg for England, Half English, his first solo effort since William Bloke.
In 2004, Bragg collaborated with Less Than Jake for "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out," a track included on the Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 compilation. The two-CD Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg appeared in 2003 with initial copies featuring a third bonus CD of collectibles and rarities. The Yep Roc label released the box set Volume 1 in 2006. The set included seven CDs and two DVDs of previously unavailable live footage, and the label simultaneously reissued four titles from Bragg's early back catalog in expanded editions. Billy Bragg spent the next year recording in London, Devon, and Lincolnshire, and 2008 saw the release of Mr. Love & Justice, his first solo effort in six years. Although the Blokes served as Bragg's backing band on the album, a limited-edition package also included a second disc comprised of intimate solo recordings. The bare-bones Woody Guthrie-inspired Tooth & Nail arrived in early 2013 and the following year brought the DVD & CD set, Live at the Union Chapel, which included an encore performance of Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy in its entirety as a bonus feature.
In the spring of 2016, Bragg teamed up with American singer, songwriter, and producer Joe Henry to make an album of folk songs inspired by the legacy of the American railroad system. Recorded with a portable recording rig while Bragg and Henry rode an Amtrak line from Chicago to Los Angeles, Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad was released in September 2016, and followed by a joint concert tour. In November 2017, in the wake of the political upheavals brought on by Brexit in the U.K. and the election of Donald Trump in the United States, Bragg released a six-song EP of topical material, Bridges Not Walls.
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When Billy Bragg struck out on his own after mustering out of the British Army (and his short-lived punk band Riff Raff), he set out to be a one-man version of the Clash, and his first recorded salvo is nearly as strong a statement of purpose as the Clash's self-titled debut. Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy captured Bragg in rough but indelible form: the passionate bray of his voice, the noisy report of his electric guitar, and the push and pull between small-p politics and a regular bloke's view of the world were all firmly in place, and in many respects these seven songs set the template for the first act of Bragg's career, with much of what followed essentially a variation on this theme. "To Have and to Have Not," "A New England," and "The Busy Girl Buys Beauty" proved he could write about social and political themes with unpretentious intelligence, "The Milkman of Human Kindness" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" showed he had plenty to say about affairs of the heart, and all the songs are well served by the spare, stark dynamics of Bragg's guitar-and-voice performing style. While the slightly dodgy fidelity of the low-budget recording occasionally interferes, Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy caught enough ears to send Billy Bragg on his way to a successful career, and with good reason -- he rarely made a record that honored both his songs and his enthusiasm as effectively as he did here.
Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot With Spy Vs Spy ( flac 238mb)
01 The Milkman Of Human Kindness 2:49
02 To Have And To Have Not 2:33
03 Richard 2:51
04 A New England 2:14
05 The Man In The Iron Mask 2:13
06 The Busy Girl Buys Beauty 1:58
07 Lovers Town Revisited 1:19
Bonus
08 Strange Things Happen (Alternative Version) 3:19
09 The Cloth (1) 2:50
10 Love Lives Here 1:42
11 Speedway Hero 2:39
12 Loving You Too Long 2:51
13 This Guitar Says Sorry (Alternative Version) 2:14
14 Love Gets Dangerous (Alternative Version) 2:32
15 The Cloth (2) 2:47
16 The Man In The Iron Mask (Alternative Version) 2:17
17 A13, Trunk Road To The Sea 2:27
18 Fear Is A Man's Best Friend 2:32
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Bragg's first full album delivers another clutch of memorable, clever songs. Here the rudimentary voice and electric guitar arrangements prevalent in Life's a Riot With Spy Vs. Spy are refined and sweetened by occasional use of overdubbed vocals ("Love Gets Dangerous"), organ ("A Lover Sings"), and trumpet ("The Saturday Boy"); this last selection is a jaunty mid-tempo number about unrequited love that makes reference to the Delfonics' "La-La Means I Love You." Occasional 1950s influences surface on this album, most notably Bo Diddley in the jittery "This Guitar Says Sorry" and Chuck Berry in the bouncy "From a Vauxhall Velox" (which has the classic couplet "Some people say love is blind/But I just think that it's a bit short-sighted"). In addition to songs about relationships, there are also pointedly critical numbers that deal with social/political issues; examples include "It Says Here" (a ringing gruff tune that lampoons the press) and "Island of No Return" (a gripping and angry antiwar song).
Billy Bragg - Brewing Up With Billy Bragg ( flac 380mb)
01 It Says Here 4:18
02 Love Gets Dangerous 2:23
03 The Myth Of Trust 2:54
04 From A Vauxhall Velox 2:31
05 The Saturday Boy 3:30
06 Island Of No Return 3:37
07 St. Swithin's Day 3:54
08 Like Soldiers Do 2:39
09 This Guitar Says Sorry 2:31
10 Strange Things Happen 2:38
11 A Lover Sings 3:54
Recorded The 17th January 1984
12 It Must Be A River 2:19
Recorded During The Brewing Up Sessions July 1984
13 Won't Talk About It 5:06
14 Talking Wag Club Blues 2:59
15 You Got The Power 3:10
Recorded On 10th January 1986 In Billy's Flat
16 The Last Time 2:55
17 Back To The Old House 2:53
18 A Lover Sings (Alternative Version) 3:58
Between The Wars EP
19 Which Side Are You On? 2:34
20 It Says Here (Alternative Version) 2:36
21 Between The Wars 2:30
22World Turned Upside Down 2:35
Today's artists is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centred on bringing about change and involving the younger generation in activist causes. ......N-Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Finding inspiration in the righteous anger of punk rock and the socially conscious folk tradition of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg was the leading figure of the anti-folk movement of the '80s. For most of the decade, Bragg bashed out songs alone on his electric guitar, singing about politics and love. While his lyrics were bitingly intelligent and clever, they were also warm and humane, filled with detail and wit. Even though his lyrics were carefully considered, Bragg never neglected to write melodies for songs that were strong and memorable. Throughout the '80s, he managed to chart consistently in Britain, yet he only gathered a cult following in America, which could be due to the fact that he sang about distinctly British subject matter, both politically and socially.
Bragg began performing in the late '70s with the punk group Riff Raff, which lasted only a matter of months. He then joined the British Army, yet he quickly bought himself out of his sojourn with £175. After leaving the Army, he began working at a record store; while he was working, he was writing songs that were firmly in the folk and punk protest tradition. Bragg began a British tour, playing whenever he had the chance to perform. Frequently he would open for bands with only a moment's notice; soon, he had built a sizable following, as evidenced by his first EP, Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (1983), hitting number 30 on the U.K. independent charts. Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984), his first full-length album, climbed to number 16 in the charts.
During 1984, Bragg became a minor celebrity in Britain, as he appeared at leftist political rallies, strikes, and benefits across the country; he also helped form the "Red Wedge," a socialist musicians' collective that also featured Paul Weller. In 1985, Kirsty MacColl took one of his songs, "New England," to number seven on the British singles chart. Featuring some subtle instrumental additions of piano and horns, 1986's Talking with the Taxman About Poetry reached the U.K. Top Ten.
Bragg's version of the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home," taken from the Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father tribute album, became his only number one single in 1988 -- as the double A-side with Wet Wet Wet's "With a Little Help from My Friends." That year, he also released the EP Help Save the Youth of America and the full-length Workers Playtime, which was produced by Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, R.E.M.). Boyd helped expand Bragg's sound, as the singer recorded with a full band for the first time. The following year, Bragg restarted the Utility record label as a way of featuring non-commercial new artists. The Internationale, released in 1990, was a collection of left-wing anthems, including a handful of Bragg originals. On 1991's Don't Try This at Home, he again worked with a full band, recording his most pop-oriented and accessible set of songs; the album featured the hit single, "Sexuality." Bragg took several years off after Don't Try This at Home, choosing to concentrate on fatherhood. He returned in 1996 with William Bloke.
In 1998, he teamed with the American alternative country band Wilco to record Mermaid Avenue, a collection of performances based on unreleased songs originally written by Woody Guthrie. Reaching to the Converted, a collection of rarities, followed a year later, and in mid-2000 Bragg and Wilco reunited for a second Mermaid Avenue set. While touring in support of Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2, Bragg formed the Blokes in 1999 with Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan. Lu Edmonds (guitar), Ben Mandelson (lap steel guitar), Martyn Barker (drums), and Simon Edwards (bass) solidified the group while Bragg moved from London to rural Dorset in early 2001. One year later, the Blokes joined Bragg for England, Half English, his first solo effort since William Bloke.
In 2004, Bragg collaborated with Less Than Jake for "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out," a track included on the Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 compilation. The two-CD Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg appeared in 2003 with initial copies featuring a third bonus CD of collectibles and rarities. The Yep Roc label released the box set Volume 1 in 2006. The set included seven CDs and two DVDs of previously unavailable live footage, and the label simultaneously reissued four titles from Bragg's early back catalog in expanded editions. Billy Bragg spent the next year recording in London, Devon, and Lincolnshire, and 2008 saw the release of Mr. Love & Justice, his first solo effort in six years. Although the Blokes served as Bragg's backing band on the album, a limited-edition package also included a second disc comprised of intimate solo recordings. The bare-bones Woody Guthrie-inspired Tooth & Nail arrived in early 2013 and the following year brought the DVD & CD set, Live at the Union Chapel, which included an encore performance of Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy in its entirety as a bonus feature.
In the spring of 2016, Bragg teamed up with American singer, songwriter, and producer Joe Henry to make an album of folk songs inspired by the legacy of the American railroad system. Recorded with a portable recording rig while Bragg and Henry rode an Amtrak line from Chicago to Los Angeles, Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad was released in September 2016, and followed by a joint concert tour. In November 2017, in the wake of the political upheavals brought on by Brexit in the U.K. and the election of Donald Trump in the United States, Bragg released a six-song EP of topical material, Bridges Not Walls.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
When Billy Bragg struck out on his own after mustering out of the British Army (and his short-lived punk band Riff Raff), he set out to be a one-man version of the Clash, and his first recorded salvo is nearly as strong a statement of purpose as the Clash's self-titled debut. Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy captured Bragg in rough but indelible form: the passionate bray of his voice, the noisy report of his electric guitar, and the push and pull between small-p politics and a regular bloke's view of the world were all firmly in place, and in many respects these seven songs set the template for the first act of Bragg's career, with much of what followed essentially a variation on this theme. "To Have and to Have Not," "A New England," and "The Busy Girl Buys Beauty" proved he could write about social and political themes with unpretentious intelligence, "The Milkman of Human Kindness" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" showed he had plenty to say about affairs of the heart, and all the songs are well served by the spare, stark dynamics of Bragg's guitar-and-voice performing style. While the slightly dodgy fidelity of the low-budget recording occasionally interferes, Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy caught enough ears to send Billy Bragg on his way to a successful career, and with good reason -- he rarely made a record that honored both his songs and his enthusiasm as effectively as he did here.
Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot With Spy Vs Spy ( flac 238mb)
01 The Milkman Of Human Kindness 2:49
02 To Have And To Have Not 2:33
03 Richard 2:51
04 A New England 2:14
05 The Man In The Iron Mask 2:13
06 The Busy Girl Buys Beauty 1:58
07 Lovers Town Revisited 1:19
Bonus
08 Strange Things Happen (Alternative Version) 3:19
09 The Cloth (1) 2:50
10 Love Lives Here 1:42
11 Speedway Hero 2:39
12 Loving You Too Long 2:51
13 This Guitar Says Sorry (Alternative Version) 2:14
14 Love Gets Dangerous (Alternative Version) 2:32
15 The Cloth (2) 2:47
16 The Man In The Iron Mask (Alternative Version) 2:17
17 A13, Trunk Road To The Sea 2:27
18 Fear Is A Man's Best Friend 2:32
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Bragg's first full album delivers another clutch of memorable, clever songs. Here the rudimentary voice and electric guitar arrangements prevalent in Life's a Riot With Spy Vs. Spy are refined and sweetened by occasional use of overdubbed vocals ("Love Gets Dangerous"), organ ("A Lover Sings"), and trumpet ("The Saturday Boy"); this last selection is a jaunty mid-tempo number about unrequited love that makes reference to the Delfonics' "La-La Means I Love You." Occasional 1950s influences surface on this album, most notably Bo Diddley in the jittery "This Guitar Says Sorry" and Chuck Berry in the bouncy "From a Vauxhall Velox" (which has the classic couplet "Some people say love is blind/But I just think that it's a bit short-sighted"). In addition to songs about relationships, there are also pointedly critical numbers that deal with social/political issues; examples include "It Says Here" (a ringing gruff tune that lampoons the press) and "Island of No Return" (a gripping and angry antiwar song).
Billy Bragg - Brewing Up With Billy Bragg ( flac 380mb)
01 It Says Here 4:18
02 Love Gets Dangerous 2:23
03 The Myth Of Trust 2:54
04 From A Vauxhall Velox 2:31
05 The Saturday Boy 3:30
06 Island Of No Return 3:37
07 St. Swithin's Day 3:54
08 Like Soldiers Do 2:39
09 This Guitar Says Sorry 2:31
10 Strange Things Happen 2:38
11 A Lover Sings 3:54
Recorded The 17th January 1984
12 It Must Be A River 2:19
Recorded During The Brewing Up Sessions July 1984
13 Won't Talk About It 5:06
14 Talking Wag Club Blues 2:59
15 You Got The Power 3:10
Recorded On 10th January 1986 In Billy's Flat
16 The Last Time 2:55
17 Back To The Old House 2:53
18 A Lover Sings (Alternative Version) 3:58
Between The Wars EP
19 Which Side Are You On? 2:34
20 It Says Here (Alternative Version) 2:36
21 Between The Wars 2:30
22World Turned Upside Down 2:35
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The cover to Billy Bragg's Talking with the Taxman About Poetry features the subtitle "the difficult third album," and while it's obviously meant as a joke, there's also a certain truth to the statement -- after two EPs and a full album that only rarely featured anything other than Bragg's voice and electric guitar, Talking with the Taxman found him and producers John Porter and Kenny Jones trying to add a bit of polish to Bragg's stark sound without losing either the charm of his performances or the power of his political statements. While nearly all the tracks on Talking with the Taxman feature Bragg alongside other musicians (among them Johnny Marr and Kirsty MacColl), the arrangements are purposefully spare, and ultimately they sweeten the songs without getting in the way of Bragg's homey melodies or passionate lyrics. However, as a songwriter, Billy's heart was stronger than his head on this album; while Talking with the Taxman features several of his best love songs (such as "The Marriage," "Greetings to the New Brunette," and "Wishing the Days Away") and some superb character studies ("Levi Stubbs' Tears" and "The Passion"), the political numbers are unexpectedly strident and obvious, especially the clumsy "Ideology" and "Help Save the Youth of America." Talking with the Taxman About Poetry proved that Bragg could take his music in a new direction and still hold on to the qualities that made his songs so special; too bad his political instincts were not as keen as his musical ones at the time.
Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry ( 439mb)
01 Greetings To The New Brunette 3:31
02 Train Train 2:12
03 The Marriage 2:31
04 Ideology 3:27
05 Levi Stubbs' Tears 3:31
06 Honey I'm A Big Boy Now 4:07
07 There Is Power In A Union 2:48
08 Help Save The Youth Of America 2:48
09 Wishing The Days Away 2:29
10 The Passion 2:54
11 The Warmest Room 3:57
12 The Home Front 4:16
Bonus
13 Sin City 3:34
14 Deportees 4:03
15 There Is Power In A Union (Instrumental) 3:16
16 The Tracks Of My Tears 2:56
17 Wishing The Days Away (Alternate Version) 2:32
18 The Clashing Of Ideologies (Alternate Version) 2:52
19 Greetings To The New Brunette (Demo) 3:57
20 A Nurse's Life Is Full Of Woe 2:48
21 Only Bad Signs 3:10
22 Hold The Fort 1:47
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By the time Billy Bragg began recording Workers Playtime in the fall of 1987, he'd gone from a rabble-rousing leftist songwriter and D.I.Y. one-man punk band to a bona fide pop star in the U.K., and had won a sizable cult following (and a major-label recording contract) in the United States. In addition, Bragg had begun expanding the stark sound of his early recordings on his 1986 album Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, and the sessions for Workers Playtime found Bragg and producer Joe Boyd building actual arrangements around his tunes as he struggled to balance a broader and more eclectic musical approach with the small-p politics that were his stock in trade. This struggle is practically audible on Workers Playtime, and this time out Bragg's songs about the ups and downs of relationships outnumber (and are more satisfying than) his polemics, and he seems torn between the comfort of the spartan simplicity of numbers like "The Only One," "Valentine's Day Is Over," and "Must I Paint You a Picture" and the more expansive approach of the rollicking "Life with the Lions" and the appropriately mysterious "She's Got a New Spell." Significantly, two of the album's most explicitly political numbers, "Rotting on Remand" and "Tender Comrade," are also the least satisfying tracks here, and the album reaches its finest moment when Bragg musically and lyrically faces the contradictions of this turning point in his career head on with the splendid final number, "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards." Workers Playtime has a number of pearly moments, but it was also Bragg's first step in the uncertain second act of his recording career.
Billy Bragg - Workers Playtime ( 216mb)
01 She's Got A New Spell 3:25
02 Must I Paint You A Picture 5:32
03 Tender Comrade 2:50
04 The Price I Pay 3:34
06 Rotting On Remand 3:39
07 Valentine's Day Is Over 4:53
08 Life With The Lions 3:06
09 The Only One 3:26
10 The Short Answer 4:59
11 Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards 4:36
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Dear Rho, I have long been an avid visitor of your blog, maintaining its place at the top of the 'bookmarks bar' for many years. I would just like to render my sincerest and most heartfelt thanks for your seemingly tireless efforts to share your deep love of, seemingly, all possible musics. Each new post, whether a deep dive into South American jazz/soul/funk/folk that I would never have thought to seek or, as with today, an artist I have long loved, you give a thorough background of the history and an in-depth analysis of each individual release, that is always insightful.
ReplyDeleteAlongside your impeccable musical(and audio-book or radio-play) choices it is this level of detail with which I am continually impressed and, which is earnestly awaited(and never for long).
Again, thank you for the sheer perseverance that your writings, posts and re-ups(after re-up, after re-up) must require.
I look forward in eager anticipation to all future posts and, if this ever becomes an unfulfilling pursuit for you, will always remain ever thankful, indebted to the sonic and historical wonder you have gifted us all over these many years.
Thank you, always
Chris
Hi Rho, would you be so kind to re-upload "Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry ( 439mb)" ?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
The links for all of Billy's records are dead. Can You update them?
ReplyDeleteThanks