Artist: Billy Bragg
Album: You Woke Up My Neighborhood 12"
Release: 1991
Label: Go! Records, Liberation
Tracklist:
1. You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
2. Ontario Quebec And Me
3. Bread And Circuses
4. Heart Like A Wheel
"You Woke Up My Neighborhood" is a 12" single that features four songs, three of which only appear on this single. The title track (featured on the Don't Try This At Home LP) is an incredible song about lost-love driven by peddle-steel guitar and violin. Bragg's lyrics are introspective on this one, not political. They longingly remember the shouting and fighting the speaker and his former lover once did in his now empty apartment. Back-up vocals are by Cara Tivey, who appears on many Bragg albums, as well as R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe.
I bought this single mostly for the above song. It's really a piece of pop genius. There are three others on the record which sometimes stir me and at other times irritate me. If you can tolerate Bragg's falsetto on the second song "Ontario Quebec and Me" you might find that all-in-all it is a solid track, reminiscent of Life's a Riot...-era Bragg. It's very minimal with only electric guitar accompaniment. The third song is a 10,000 Maniacs cover which might mean something to some people. "Heart Like a Wheel" has a mood like the Worker's Playtime track "Man in the Iron Mask." Like a lot of Bragg tracks Johny Marr provides production/guitar work.
At the end of the day Billy Bragg is a phenomenal songwriter. He is, sometimes, sickeningly sincere; the upshot of this is that he really accurately paints pictures of fundamental human experiences (successfully in "You Woke Up My Neighborhood") but at other times makes you want to run away from his records because they are embarrassingly honest. I prefer the political tracks (ala "To Have and Have Not") but this may just say something about my disposition.
This is intermediate-level Bragg, so you might want to try checking out some earlier stuff first to see if you can't stomach this.
Download Here
-Colman
Album: You Woke Up My Neighborhood 12"
Release: 1991
Label: Go! Records, Liberation
Tracklist:
1. You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
2. Ontario Quebec And Me
3. Bread And Circuses
4. Heart Like A Wheel
"You Woke Up My Neighborhood" is a 12" single that features four songs, three of which only appear on this single. The title track (featured on the Don't Try This At Home LP) is an incredible song about lost-love driven by peddle-steel guitar and violin. Bragg's lyrics are introspective on this one, not political. They longingly remember the shouting and fighting the speaker and his former lover once did in his now empty apartment. Back-up vocals are by Cara Tivey, who appears on many Bragg albums, as well as R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe.
I bought this single mostly for the above song. It's really a piece of pop genius. There are three others on the record which sometimes stir me and at other times irritate me. If you can tolerate Bragg's falsetto on the second song "Ontario Quebec and Me" you might find that all-in-all it is a solid track, reminiscent of Life's a Riot...-era Bragg. It's very minimal with only electric guitar accompaniment. The third song is a 10,000 Maniacs cover which might mean something to some people. "Heart Like a Wheel" has a mood like the Worker's Playtime track "Man in the Iron Mask." Like a lot of Bragg tracks Johny Marr provides production/guitar work.
At the end of the day Billy Bragg is a phenomenal songwriter. He is, sometimes, sickeningly sincere; the upshot of this is that he really accurately paints pictures of fundamental human experiences (successfully in "You Woke Up My Neighborhood") but at other times makes you want to run away from his records because they are embarrassingly honest. I prefer the political tracks (ala "To Have and Have Not") but this may just say something about my disposition.
This is intermediate-level Bragg, so you might want to try checking out some earlier stuff first to see if you can't stomach this.
Download Here
-Colman
2 comments:
Killer title track. Mix-taped to death by me.
I like every song here. Thanks.
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