ENGLAND, HALF-ENGLISH

Reviewed by Mark Warner

It’s quite hard to get a perspective on this album considering that by the time I finally heard it I was familiar with all but two of the tracks from hearing them live or via bootlegs and radio appearances. Some of the songs have been around so long they’ve been through several rewrites but overall it seems that the songs that have remained the same are often the best :

St. Monday

Billy’s take on the erosion of workers’ rights suggests turning up for work on a Monday but not actually doing anything. In its early forms this was definitely an office workers’ song with references to emails and computer screens but in this album version he’s hedged his bets by changing the lyrics so that it could apply to maybe any shade from a bright white to a light blue collar worker.

Taking advantage of Ian McLagan on keyboards the music is straight out of the Small Faces songbook and the piano solo middle 8 is a gem. It’s a good opening track which is politically lightweight but a crowd pleaser that’s an easy one to sing-a-long to.

Jane Allen

Fidelity in the face of temptation from an old flame – but will his true love believe him ? Billy has been playing this one for some time with The Blokes and it’s gone through a few reworkings both lyrically and musically. The resulting mix of eastern strings and percussion and a good melody fails to compensate for a poor vocal. Bill sounds like he’s straining with a different style and as a result the twist in the lyrics is lost in the mix.

Distant Shore

Simple but attractive tune. Simple but pointed lyrics. This is Bill’s take on the Western world’s current rejection of refugees from a refugee’s point of view and which he made a big point of debuting in Australia. Bill’s throat sounds rather sore but he gets the point across. A shame that the ending is a bit naff.

England, Half-English

Considering everyone hated this when Bill first started playing it live it’s come through with few changes. A very busy musical production of what is apparently an Algerian traditional tune while Bill goes overboard with his (not very good) Ian Dury impression which he previously gave a test run on a cover of Billericay Dickie. It’s all about how all those things regarded for their Englishness are often imports from elsewhere but Bill loves it all and wants us to celebrate what a wonderful mix it all is. This one will die a death after the promotional tour.

NPWA

Chosen as the promo single in the USA this is the most obvious political track on the album. It’s already been slammed by those who love to find fault that the tune is a flashback to 80’s chart rockers with backing singers (Bryan Adams or Robert Palmer anyone ?) but these critics are also the people who tell you what a great cover Billy did of Todd Rundgren’s “Just One Victory”…which was a rock track with backing singers.

Getting stuck into globalisation and the loss of Western jobs to the third world Bill demands there should be “No Power Without Accountability”. As a sloganeering easily digestible rocker it will get the crowd singing along but I think this one also has a limited shelf life. After all, how often does Bill sings “Days Like These” these days ?

Some Days I See The Point

Reminiscent of some William Bloke tracks with it’s mature outlook on the world this track boasts the kind of lyrics that attract people to Bill’s songs along with very listenable music from the Blokes. It beautifully conjures up images of Bill strolling along the cliffs near his Dorset home and pondering on his family or the problems of the world.

This is one that grows on you.

Baby Faroukh

Traditional Bragg fans will hate this track. White boy world music in a Middle Eastern stylie with plenty of muso-wank virtuosity. Throw in a thoroughly irritating whiny female chorus (imagine the sound of Arab women wailing as they waggle their tongues) and this is about as un-Bragg as they come. The lyrics are…well, I don’t know what they are but they ain’t good. Strike that first sentence – it should read : Almost everybody will hate this track except for Folk Roots readers who buy their copy for its World Music coverage….and maybe Bill’s Mum.

Take Down The Union Jack

The best track on the album and frankly it’s no coincidence that it’s Bill solo with just his electric guitar. An honest look at a sad country which wraps itself in a tatty, moth-eaten flag and pretends it still rules the waves. The reference to Gilbert and George will continue to fly well over most heads but that aside the tune and lyrics hit just the right note.

Another Kind Of Judy

Another kind of song that’s been through a bunch of rewrites but still sounds pretty much the same. Maybe this one’s been kicking around just too long as Bill sounds horribly bored with the whole thing as if he’s sung it a hundred times already…which he probably has. The second half has been tweaked up with effects and Ian McLagan vocals and goes all Small Faces psychaedelic – maybe Bill had fallen asleep by then ?

He’ll Go Down

This one’s been around forever but of the rewritten songs it comes off the best. Slowed way down from it’s orginal version it seems to be another take on the Sugardaddy theme but in quite a different style. I like it. Just a shame that the backing singers from NPWA didn’t hang around for this one.

Dreadbelly

Don’t study the lyrics too hard. Bill and The Blokes took random lines from a bunch of books they had and bolted them together to come up with this one. Billy Bragg meets Ian Dury as the frontman for Madness for some Essex-ska. Problem is all them words out of books slow the whole thing down and it just drags along. This one sounds much better live but with that organ solo there’s way too much scope for Bill to start dancing….which should not be encouraged.

Tears Of My Tracks

Bill flogs his vinyl collection and then has regrets. This never worked on stage when Bill did it solo but with a bit of production it starts to hang together as a Smokey Robinson pastiche. They should have gone the whole hog and really gone for that Motown sound – I’m sure it would have worked. Where did those backing singers go ?

So that’s 6 that are good to very good and half a dozen to remember for trivia quizzes. Not a classic Bragg album and one that I’d have reservations about recommending…especially to traditional Bragg fans. The biggest failing seems to be the scarcity of Braggesque lyrics which used to leap out of almost every song on earlier albums. The plus is that occasionally Bill still delivers the goods. Now, where’s that solo album ?