Talking With the Taxman About Poetry

Folk punk noemt wiki dit. Dan denk ik aan bands als Flogging Molly. Maar, al hebben nummers als 'There is power in the union' daar heus wel wat van, dat is niet de kern van wat we voorgeschoteld krijgen.

Want, al is het door het volle geluid soms nauwelijks voor te stellen, dit is slechts één man met zijn gitaar. Blijkbaar kunnen de producers toveren met geluid. Ondanks het volle geluid zijn dit vaak echte folk-liedjes, waarin de man met zijn gitaar zijn verhaal vertelt, zijn emotie overbrengt of een boodschap brengt. Als je dit album luistert, wordt het andere album met de band Wilco helemaal overbodig.

Nee, ik ga dit niet nog eens aanzetten. Dit is mijn genre niet. Maar ik laat dit voorbeeld voor al die saaie folkartiesten ook niet zitten met een vergeetbare 3.

"Greetings to the New Brunette" is a soaring jangle pop opener (written by Johnny Marr [because of course!]) that should have been a bigger hit and probably would have been without Bragg's exaggerated accent.

The rest of the album waxes a bit too political for me, what with the neoliberalness of songs like the Dylan cover "Ideology," but he has a powerful voice, and his stripped-back drumless approach makes for a "live" feeling to the album despite it being a studio release.

Punk?

'Shirley / Your sexual politics have left me all of a muddle / Shirley / We are joined in the ideological cuddle.' Lovely - really, really lovely. '& marriage is when we admit / Our parents were right.' What separates Billy Bragg from other wits (Costello, McCartney) & leftists (Springsteen, Joe Strummer) of the music industry is that he has the humanity of an elder statesmen who has seen it all & would love nothing more than to have a conversation w/ his grandsons and daughters. In other words, there's a superb maturity here, & yet there's no jadedness & no fatigue, but a whole lotta fun & festivity. I of course love the politics behind the record, & Bragg's tributes to Motown legend Levi Stubbs, but it's more fundamental. I guess I love its loveliness.

One of those albums I haven’t listened to for years yet still remember every lyric and can’t help but sing out loud 👊

Man, that was boring. I couldn't even bring myself to listen to the whole original album. So I didn't even start on the bonus album. In a pub, it's okay as background noise—you don't have to actually listen to it. But that's about it. 2/5

I’m partial to a bit of Billy Bragg and this is him at his best.

I feel like the songwriting is good but it’s tough to get past his voice.

I've tried this a couple of times over the years, and have never liked it. I still don't after today's attempt. Just not my thing at all. The vocals are an immediate turn off and the music doesn't offer much respite. I admire the satirical/ironic lyricism however, which prevents this from getting the one star treatment.

Kind of surprised I don’t mind the vocals, and overall I liked this.

Not bad -- kinda punk-ish, folk-ish. Expecting a lot worse from other reviews, but I could kind of see the appeal (but again, not worthy of this list). 3*

Is this our first Billy Bragger? I think so. I know he's very popular, both among the hipsters of yesteryear and my students today. Can't go two weeks without hearing 'There Is Power in a Union', not that I've ever been in a union (not that I've ever had the chance to, I should say). I do like that his (English) accent is noticeable to an extent that is rare in songs. And the lyrics are good and the music is mostly unobjectionable. But I don't really like his voice that much. It's like a less interesting Bob Dylan-Robert Smith hybrid.

Highlights: 'There is Power in a Union', 'Help Save the Youth of America' (except the unnecessary gendering in lines like "Help save the boys in uniform / Their mothers and their faithful girls" tyvm)

Don't mind me, I'm just yearning for the Magnetic Fields: another HDH shoutout here - "Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too"

I first discovered Billy Bragg when I was in my leftist workers/union protest songs phase in middle and high school. He was a natural progression after listening to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. This type of stuff heavily influenced who I am today and my beliefs. Here I was, a white middle class kid in the American midwest in the 21st century, caring deeply about British miners and their strike from the 80s. I hated scabs and Thatcher despite the fact they had no real material effect on my life at that point.

The actual music is of course pretty damn good, as long as you can enjoy his singing. I can understand why it’d be grating to a lot of people, but I learned to enjoy it. This album has plenty of songs that aren’t political too. Billy Bragg is a good songwriter and can make interesting stories about anything

2.92

Eh

The Good: We get to talk about poetry!
The Bad: Who wants to talk to a taxman?
The Ugly: The working class delivery to be more… working class?

So, according to Apple Music, this is a double album… and trust me, this should not be a double album. Unless you like to get punished…

The protest songs aren’t bad. The instrumentations isn’t either. But the fucking voice…
Then, on side two, all of a sudden, I started listening to songs that I could really get into… to find out that those were not sung by Billy B…

Guess he needs to stop bragging…

3*

Enjoyed it after resisting it for most of the listen 😂

2.9/5

As a longtime fan of Billy Bragg, I went into Talking with the Taxman About Poetry with high expectations, and it didn’t disappoint.

What Billy does so well is combine sharp political commentary with deeply personal songwriting, all delivered with honesty, wit and real passion. His lyrics feel like poetry from the street, clever, grounded and full of heart. Lines like “Whoops, there goes another year / Whoops, there goes another pint of beer” are classic Billy: funny, relatable and deceptively smart.

What strikes me most is how relevant Billy’s message still feels today. His mix of cynicism, compassion and belief in collective action feels just as powerful now as it did when this album was released. For me, that’s the mark of great songwriting.

Favourite tracks: “Greetings to the New Brunette”, “Levi Stubbs’ Tears”, “There Is Power in a Union” and “Help Save the Youth of America”
Least favourite tracks: Every track earns its place on the album
Album artwork: A classic Billy Bragg cover that suits the album perfectly

This is giving vibes of Appalachia and rural North Carolina of the 30s and 40s with their Scottish based music meets Bob Dylan meets disenfranchised 80s youth of the UK. I think the first disc was better than the second one. His voice was too aggressive on so many songs on the second one.