Halfway to Bliss

I finally comitted to buying Billy Bragg's boxsets, which comprise - more or less - everything he's ever recorded. I've got a lousy mish-mash of his catalog consisting of a couple proper CD releases (Reaching to the Converted, Don't Try This at Home), several vinyl LPs (Talking to the Taxman, Life's a Riot, Brewing up With) and CD burns (Workers Playtime). For a guy whose music means so much to me, it's pretty lame.

So he's got two boxsets for sale now, conveniently titled "One" and "Two" (actually in Roman Numerals), released by Yep Roc. Gotta love the Yep Roc.

"One" is actually a much better set. It consists of the early one-man LPs and EPs (collected in Back to Basics) and Talking with the Taxman - possibly (but not probably) his best record. From '83 to '88 the guy was on an unparalleled roll. No one should be allowed to make that much amazing music. It's just not fair.

But, seeing as I own vinyl copies of all those records, I decided to purchase "Two" first. Two begins with "Workers Playtime." Forget what I said about Talking with the Taxman, because Workers Playtime is his best record; and one I didn't actually own in any real format. Sadly, that LP was follwoed by Don't Try This at Home, which was - man, I love Bragg's music so much, so I'm gonna be really, REALLY charitable here - a "disappointment." No, really, it was a big pile of crap; and that hurts to say.

Truth is, I have never had any interest in following him after that record. I heard lots of Mermaid Avenue (my ex, who introduced me to Billy Bragg, loved that record. I fucking hated it, and still do. Jeff Tweedy needs to die. That shitty recording almost kept me from ever discovering the joy of Billy's pre-90s music...one of my greatest joys in life.)

Anyway, I now own Mr. Bragg's last few offical records - William Bloke and England, Half English - which I never intended to buy. I haven't heard them properly in their entirety, but I heard the singles and saw them perform on various late night shows, and frankly, it was underwhelming.

But the great thing about these boxsets is that each album rerelease includes a bonus disc. In the case of Workers Playtime, most of the bonus songs are demos of some of my favorite Bragg songs, and that is priceless. And in the case of Don't Try This at Home, between the actual CD, the bonus CD, and some tracks form Reaching to the Converted, I was able to put together a full CD I'm mostly interested in hearing; kinda the album it SHOULD'VE been.

So I'm really looking forward to my next paycheck, when I can order "One," which will be amazing, I'm sure.

(I'll likely be posting some of the more interesting B-sides, demos and rarities as I survey them. Stay tuned.)