Billy Bragg - Don't Try This at Home

Billy Bragg, you luscious Mynx. I had a bit of a Smiths type problem with Bragg, wherin I was so obsessed with “Talking with the Tax Man About Poetry” that I had trouble getting into his other albums. I’ve bought a number of them and I’m going to end up reviewing them here, but this one had a hand up on the others.

First of all it contains the single “Sexuality,” which I think is kind of awesome. Beyond the fact that I happen to like his message of openness, and beyond the fact that this was kind of ahead of its time at the time, the song is hilarious. If you haven’t heard it you should go watch the music video on YouTube. He is so freaking British. The bumbling, nerdy attempts to assure the audience he is straight before talking about how he is ok with gay people is heartwarming in its ineptness.  After being told “I’ve had relations with girls from many nations,” I believe in Bragg’s prowess less than I did previously, but that’s cool. And the rest of the lyrics are kind of a mess. Halfway through he gets to talking about nuclear submarines, which seem to have nothing to do with anything, and then there’s the verse about his, uh, performance anxiety…I just love this song. The man is the Hugh Grant of ultra-liberal British folk.

Nonetheless I had trouble getting into the album. It’s really long, and folk music has trouble holding my attention at the best of times. But I found my entry point at the song ‘Everywhere.’ The song tells the story of two friends, one Asian and one Caucasian, who join the army hoping to fight the Germans, just in time for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The white kid is killed at Battan and the Asian kid is sent to a detention center and eventually shoots himself. Musically beautiful, lyrically aching, a wonderful song, although from a narrative standpoint I might have changed the ending but whatever, I didn’t write it. Just saying suicide is not the only answer to survivor’s guilt. Moving on.

The album has a massive bredth, though it definitely feels a bit over long. There are only 16 songs on the album, and all of them are excellent as stand along compositions, but the album lacks a lot of the coherence that made “Talking with the Tax Man…” so awesome. It may grow on me more as I keep listening. In the mean time I can’t say I would cut any of these songs. they are all excellent pop-folk songs that take fascinating and intelligent stances on everything from love to topics of the day. Obviously this is a keeper. Swoot.