Reaching To The Converted

Combine the confusion of modern man with the infectious enthusiasm of a small boy, and you've got Billy Bragg. REACHING TO THE CONVERTED, a mixture of one-offs and studio doodles that never quite made the final cut, has both qualities in abundance. more...

"Shirley", the album's uptempo opener, demonstrates Bragg's mastery of the contemporary British urban couplet ("How can you lie back and think of England / When you don't even know who's in the team?"), while Johnny Marr's fine production proves the perfect foil for Bragg's direct vocal approach. Bragg still wears his left-wing heart on a red shirtsleeve ("Days Like These"), and he's never afraid to have his say on a serious matter; but he manages to do so without smugness. Unlike other troubadours, Bragg prefers writing about being in love to writing about being out of it, and a sense of real warmth and humanity always comes through ("We'll dance in the town till the sun goes down / And push our beds together"). Whether standing on his soapbox or musing on his calf-love ordeals, Bragg matches the voice of a football fan with the heart of a poet.

Q (10/99, p.142)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...With tracks revived from as far back as 1985...there's plenty to please Bragg completists."

Mojo (10/99, p.113)
- "...Bragg's great strength, undeniably, is words. Even with the '80s shading into history, it is still sweet to revisit unmatched poitico rhymes....there's more durable appeal in his doomed romancing..."

Alternative Press (11/99, p.89)
- 4 out of 5 - "...Bragg sets reality to the sweetest of melodies, then lets his untutored tonsils do the rest....He still sounds like he means every word."

Dirty Linen (4-5/00, p. 81)
- "...an odd-and-ends collection of old B-sides and unreleased songs...full of English folk-rockster Bragg's unique mix of enthusiastic vitriol and tender mercies, all rendered with his trademark clanging guitar and marble-gargling vocals..."