Back To Basics

Compiled from his first album BREWING UP WITH BILLY BRAGG and the EP LIFE'S A RIOT WITH SPY VS. SPY, BACK TO BASICS captures the Bard of Barking at the birth of his legendary career. Bragg's unique style was firmly in place from the first; sparely produced, with a few notable additions-- Dave Woodhead's popular hum-along trumpet part on "The Saturday Boy" and the vintage organ sound on "A Lover Sings" provide the few embellishments here.

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Compiled from his first album BREWING UP WITH BILLY BRAGG and the EP LIFE'S A RIOT WITH SPY VS. SPY, BACK TO BASICS captures the Bard of Barking at the birth of his legendary career. Bragg's unique style was firmly in place from the first; sparely produced, with a few notable additions-- Dave Woodhead's popular hum-along trumpet part on "The Saturday Boy" and the vintage organ sound on "A Lover Sings" provide the few embellishments here.
BACK TO BASICS is a testament to Bragg's writing and to his solid, sincere delivery--singing in one of pop music's heaviest regional accents, Bragg takes on fiery social issues and affairs of the heart with equal earnestness. Finding his inspiration in Motown, he spins tales of failed romance ("St. Swithin's Day", "The Milkman Of Human Kindness"), infused with a quirky, wholly British facility for wordplay and phrasing. But this tender heart has another side--a well know political activist, Bragg takes on issues of racial injustice (the I-IV-V rant "This Guitar Says Sorry"), social inequality ("To Have And Have Not"), and freedom of the press (the anthemic "It Says Here").

NME (11/27/93, p.32)
- 8 - Excellent - "...[Billy Bragg] is an electric Arthur Mullard let loose on the diaries of Nick Drake..."