By the time Billy Bragg began recording Workers Playtime in the fall of 1987, he'd gone from a rabble-rousing leftist songwriter and D.I.Y. one-man punk band to a bona fide pop star in the U.K., and had won a sizable cult following (and a major-label recording contract) in the United States. In addition, Bragg had begun expanding the stark sound of his early recordings on his 1986 album Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, and the sessions for Workers Playtime found Bragg and producer Joe Boyd building actual arrangements around his tunes as he struggled to balance a broader and more eclectic musical approach with the small-p politics that were his stock in trade. This struggle is practically audible on Workers Playtime, and this time out Bragg's songs about the ups and downs of relationships outnumber (and are more satisfying than) his polemics, and he seems torn between the comfort of the spartan simplicity of numbers like "The Only One," "Valentine's Day Is Over," and "Must I Paint You a Picture" and the more expansive approach of the rollicking "Life with the Lions" and the appropriately mysterious "She's Got a New Spell." Significantly, two of the album's most explicitly political numbers, "Rotting on Remand" and "Tender Comrade," are also the least satisfying tracks here, and the album reaches its finest moment when Bragg musically and lyrically faces the contradictions of this turning point in his career head on with the splendid final number, "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards." Workers Playtime has a number of pearly moments, but it was also Bragg's first genuine disappointment, and was the first step in the uncertain second act of his recording career.
So I logged on today and noticed my picture of myself was not showing up on my page. Not that this is a bad thing, but when I went to other MOG pages I noticed that their pictures seem to be hidden as well. If their picture did show up, and I clicked on more pictures they would soon disappear. Anyone else have this happen to them?
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So I just sent in my artwork for the MOG calender, and thought it turned out pretty good. I was hoping to see some other art pieces posted, just to see what the vibe is going to be. Here is mine, hope you like it.
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Billy Bragg's "Workers Playtime" is your album. Really deep stuff. Awesome breakup songs. I mean, sure, you're depressed, you might as well listen to someone else who was depressed. He covers all aspects of the relationship, too.Beautiful music for a miserable mood.Oh, and read about how he keeps control of his music. Smart guy. Good thinking.This post brought to you while listening to Workers ...
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Being on summer break does not mean I sit around the house playing video games and doing nothing. Ok, that is part of my gig right now, but I have been busy crossing things off my list of chores I have to get done before the summer is over. One of those chores was to turn my son's room into a "little boys" room. I had been working on some paintings for him over the last year, and today they fin...
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So I logged on today and noticed my picture of myself was not showing up on my page. Not that this is a bad thing, but when I went to other MOG pages I noticed that their pictures seem to be hidden as well. If their picture did show up, and I clicked on more pictures they would soon disappear. Anyone else have this happen to them?
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So I just sent in my artwork for the MOG calender, and thought it turned out pretty good. I was hoping to see some other art pieces posted, just to see what the vibe is going to be. Here is mine, hope you like it.
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...i used a panorama-generating program i have to put together a panoramic view of the crowd from that "*Billy Bragg video*":http://mog.com/blog_post/view/162971#comment-606647 i posted in a comment a bit ago - the one where whoever shot the video panned around the crowd - rather unsteadily.Here's the center part of it:The whole thing is online; "*Click here* to see it.":http://electronictiger....
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Happy Tuesday! I hope all the Canadians have gotten over their turkey-induced hangovers. Just in time, too, as today we of the Great White North get set to paint our nation red, blue, orange and/or green: it's Federal Election time in Canada. I'm not political, and I don't a politically-savvy thirtysomething on TV, but I have a voters card and I'm not afraid to use it. At the start of thi...
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Billy Bragg's "Workers Playtime" is your album. Really deep stuff. Awesome breakup songs. I mean, sure, you're depressed, you might as well listen to someone else who was depressed. He covers all aspects of the relationship, too.Beautiful music for a miserable mood.Oh, and read about how he keeps control of his music. Smart guy. Good thinking.This post brought to you while listening to Workers ...
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Billy Bragg is one of the greatest songwriters to come out of the U.K in the last 20 or so years, this song is taken from the album Workers Playtime produced by Joe Boyd who worked with Nick Drake, Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Shirley Collins, Vashti Bunyan, etc.What can I say with lyrics like:"I long to let my heart run freebut here i am a victim of geography"Although he is famed for his m...
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 "Workers Playtime")
