BILLY BRAGG
Reaching To The Converted (Rhino)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Billy Bragg has never been the most prolific recording artist, and he curtailed almost all but writing for film and TV in 1993 to provide time and stability for fatherhood, but his 1998 collaboration with Wilco on the Grammy winning Mermaid Avenue, on which he supplied the tunes for a collection of previously unrecorded Woody Guthrie lyrics, revitalized his performing career and gave him his biggest exposure to date in the United States.

Rhino's new Billy Bragg compilation, Reaching To The Converted, is a great opportunity for stateside audiences to catch up with Bragg's pre-Mermaid output, gathering 16 tracks from the stream of singles that hit the U.K. charts in the 80s and 90s, along with a previously unreleased version of his song "Greetings To The New Brunette," retitled "Shirley" for this outing because, as he points out, "...that's what everyone calls it anyway."

Every cut, whether brand new or long familiar, is a treat. A mix of the heartfelt personal and the progressively political, the strikingly original and the creatively covered, this is a collection destined to make a Billy Bragg fan out of the new listener, and to delight the long converted. There's simply no one that I wouldn't recommend this to, and there's nothing here I wouldn't recommend. It's my favorite single-artist compilation of the year so far, and the year is pretty well along. Don't miss this one.

Track List: Shirley * Sulk * Accident Waiting To Happen (Red Star Version) * The Boy Done Good * Heart Like A Wheel * Bad Penny * Ontario, Quebec And Me * Walk Away Renee (Version) * Rule Nor Reason * Days Like These (U.K. Version) * Think Again * Scholarship Is The Enemy Of Romance * Wishing The Days Away (Ballad Version) * The Tatler * Jeane * She's Leaving Home * I Don't Need This Pressure Ron

© 1999 - Shaun Dale