Billy Bragg on Pitchfork!!
July 5, 2005, 9:49 am

Billy Bragg to Get 2xCD Reissue Treatment

Zach Vowell reports:
Billy Bragg has enjoyed a long, storied career as the punk-rock Woody Guthrie over the last 20-plus years, and as a small homage to his formative years, Yep Roc Records will be reissuing his first four albums on September 20, each complete with a second disc of rare and unreleased tracks. The LPs to be reissued are 1983's well- received debut Life's a Riot With Spy vs. Spy, 1984's Brewing Up With Billy Bragg, and 1986's Talking With the Taxman About Poetry; a pair of EPs (1988's Live & Dubious and 1990's The Internationale) will be combined as one reissue. The bonus discs will contain songs picked by Bragg himself along with the able assistance of colleagues Wiggy (this is a real person) and Grant Showbiz.

If you suspect paying for four separate deluxe CDs will be outside the ol' budget, Yep Roc's way ahead of you. Also on September 20, a box set containing all the music of the individual reissues in seven discs will be released together with a helpfully comprehensive lyric booklet. For many artists, that's not much of a service, but with a troubadour of Bragg's talent, it might just come in handy.

And like any box set worth the cardboard it's packaged in, it will include extra material not found in the individual reissues; in this case, a DVD. The footage comes from Billy's appearance on "The South Bank Show", the UK's longest running arts program, which his cousin Melvin frequently hosts. Filmed in 1985, the program featured Billy and Melvin playing a set together; they do not, sadly, call themselves "The Melvins".

Bragg survived his country's craziest festival at Glastonbury last month, and now has two more festival stops lined up. Check him out, if you happen to be in, like, England:

07-17 Tolpuddle, England - Tolpuddle Festival and Rally
08-21 Escot Park, England - Beautiful Days Festival

* Billy Bragg: http://www.billybragg.co.uk