''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'' is the second album by Billy Bragg, released in 1984. While his debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy ''Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy'' is Billy Bragg's first album, released in 1983. All songs on the original album consisted of Bragg singing to his electric guitar accompaniment. The original album played at 45 rpm rather than the more usu ...

'' (1983) was performed by Bragg accompanied only by his

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, ''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'' began to use subtle

overdub Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

s, such as

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

on "Love Gets Dangerous",

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

on "The Saturday Boy" and organ on "A Lover Sings". The album also continued Bragg's legacy of political songs. "It Says Here" is a bitingly satirical attack on the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

tabloid press Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...

and "Island of No Return" is a concise anti-war anthem. The album reached number 16 on the

UK albums chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. The cover of the original album has the subtitle "A Puckish Satire on Contemporary Mores," a quote from the

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

film ''

Love and Death ''Love and Death'' is a 1975 American comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. It is a satire on Russian literature starring Allen and Diane Keaton as Boris and Sonja, Russians living during the Napoleonic Era who engage in mock-serious ...

'', in which Allen's character reviews an army play presented to Russian soldiers to prevent them from becoming infected with venereal diseases while at war.

Versions

The album was originally released on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

in 1984 with 11 tracks. In 1987 the album was again released along with the album ''

'' (1983) and the EP '' Between the Wars'' (1985) and titled '' Back to Basics''. ''Back to Basics'' was reissued in 1990. ''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'' was reissued on its own in 199

In 2006, as part of a planned series of reissues of albums in his back catalogue, ''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'' was remastered and reissued for the first time on CD with a number of bonus tracks. These tracks included covers of "Back to the Old House" by

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...

(with Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr playing guitar) and " The Last Time" by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

. The bonus tracks also include the ''Between the Wars'' EP.

Reception

''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'' was ranked number six among the "Albums of the Year" for 1984 by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''. In 2000, '' Q'' placed ''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'' at number 87 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".

Track listing

All songs written by Billy Bragg, except where noted.

Disc one

#"It Says Here" – 4:18 #"Love Gets Dangerous" – 2:23 #"The Myth of Trust" – 2:54 #"From a Vauxhall Velox" – 2:31 #"The Saturday Boy" – 3:30 #"Island of No Return" – 3:37 #"St Swithin's Day" – 3:54 #"Like Soldiers Do" – 2:39 #"This Guitar Says Sorry" – 2:31 #"Strange Things Happen" – 2:38 #"A Lover Sings" – 3:54

Disc two (2006 reissue)

#"It Must Be a River" – 2:19 #"I Won't Talk About It" – 5:06 #"Talking Wag Club Blues" – 2:59 #" You Got the Power" ( James Brown, George Terry) – 3:10 #" The Last Time" (

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

) – 2:55 #" Back to the Old House" ( Morrissey, Johnny Marr) – 2:53 #"A Lover Sings" (alternative version) – 3:58 #" Which Side Are You On?" (

Florence Reece Florence Reece (April 12, 1900 – August 3, 1986) was an American social activist, poet, and folksong writer. She is best known for the song " Which Side Are You On?" which she originally wrote at the age of twelve while her father was out ...

, Bragg) – 2:34 #"It Says Here" (alternate version) – 2:36 #" Between the Wars" – 2:30 #"The World Turned Upside Down" (

Leon Rosselson Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934, Harrow, Middlesex, England) is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, i ...

) – 2:35

Personnel

Musicians

* Billy Bragg –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

*Dave Woodhead –

Kenny Craddock Kenny Craddock (18 April 1950 – 30 May 2002) was a British instrumentalist, composer and producer. Throughout his career he worked with artists including Ringo Starr, Ginger Baker, Billy Bragg, Gerry Rafferty and Alan White. He collabor ...

– organ

Production

*Edward de Bono – producer *Kenny Jones –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

*Tim Young – digitally remastered by *Duncan Cowell – digitally remastered by * Heeps Willard - cover illustration

Footnotes

References

Official Billy Bragg discography
*2006 reissue CD

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

{{Authority control Billy Bragg albums 1984 albums Go! Discs albums Cooking Vinyl albums