[.ca] Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg

This is what a Greatest Hits album should be!:
I have every Billy Bragg album except this one, and the rare stuff on the third disc is tempting me to correct that oversight. Record companies take note - that's how a Greatest Hits album is supposed to work! For those unfamiliar with Billy Bragg, his music may be best summarized as "acoustic punk", but he has experimented with numerous styles over the course of his twenty year career. This three CD set collects them all, in a rough chronological order. Disc one begins in Thatcherite Britain: you can picture Billy sitting in a smoke-filled pub belting out coarse folk tunes and love songs with tender quirky lyrics; we then follow him outside into the middle of the poll tax riots, with socialist anthems and rich ballads that tell stories of heartache and broken dreams. Disc two starts at a time in Bragg's career I'd rather forget, the Britpop period, but thankfully the salvation of the later 1990s soon follows. Here he returns to familiar themes - disillusionment with the state of the world, left wing Utopianism, and, of course, love - but the music is more sophisticated and polished. There's even a few Woody Guthrie covers thrown in for fun (and to remind us of his politics). Disc three is made up of remixes and rarities I've only ever heard live or bootleg, which is why I'm going to break down and buy the album! Regardless of your politics, it's hard not to be moved by songs like "Levi Stubbs' Tears" or "The Space Race Is Over", or to reminisce about relationships gone sour over tracks like "The Price I Pay". Billy Bragg is truly a prolific artist, with a poet's soul and a bleeding heart, and this collection of his work is, as the title says, ESSENTIAL.

Pleasantly surprised...Now I am officially a NEW fan:
I bought this CD on the fact that it was value for money. Depending on your retailer you can get a bonus third 10 track disc. So overall you have 50 tracks and over 200 minutes of music. WOW! If all music CDs were like that...I'd buy triple the new releases CDs I buy now. The first disc is the more instantly gratifiable (quiet ambient, sonic, subliminal, primeval and surreal). The second disc needs more spins to appreciate, but still as good. The production values of this CD is first class...high quaility sound: guitars, piano and all sort of modern distortions. Overall I am impressed by this 3CD set. Now I am a fan of Billy Bragg.

• New England
• Man in the Iron Mask
• Milkman of Human Kindness
• To Have and to Have Not
• Lover Sings
• St. Swithin's Day
• Saturday Boy
• Between the Wars
• World Turned Upside Down
• Levi Stubbs' Tears
• Walk Away Renee
• Greetings to the New Brunette
• There Is Power in a Union
• Help Save the Youth of America
• Warmest Room
• Must I Paint You a Picture?
• She's Got a New Spell
• Price I Pay
• Valentine's Day Is Over
• Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
• Sexuality
• Cindy of a Thousand Lives
• Moving the Goalposts
• Tank Park Salute
• You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
• Accident Waiting to Happen (Red Stars Version)
• Sulk
• Upfield
• Fourteenth of February
• Brickbat
• Space Race Is Over
• Boy Done Good
• Ingrid Bergman - Billy Bragg, Wilco
• Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key - Billy Bragg, Wilco
• My Flying Saucer - Billy Bragg, Wilco
• All You Fascists Bound to Lose (Blokes Version) - Billy Bragg & the Blokes
• NPWA - Billy Bragg & the Blokes
• St. Monday - Billy Bragg & the Blokes
• Some Days I See the Point - Billy Bragg & the Blokes
• Take Down the Union Jack (Band Version) - Billy Bragg & the Blokes
• A13, Trunk Road to the Sea \o#\c\o*\c
• Fear Is a Man's Best Friend \o*\c
• Cold and Bitter Tears \oLive\c\o#\c\o*\c - Billy Bragg, Ted Hawkins
• Seven and Seven Is \o#\c\o*\c
• When Will I See You Again? \o#\c\o*\c
• Rule nor Reason \oLive\c\o#\c\o*\c
• Debris \oLive\c\o#\c\o*\c
• Dry Bed \o#\c\o*\c\oDemo Version\c
• She Smiled Sweetly \o#\c\o*\c
• Take Down the Union Jack \oKing Normal & The Rug Remix\c\o#\c\o*\c