Billy Bragg Begets Box, Begins Book Bender

When the world falls apart some things stay in place: for example, the politically charged songwriting of Billy Bragg.

Whether championing the working class of England, challenging current interpretations of patriotism, or battling the terms and conditions of MySpace, the folk-punk artist remains a stalwart of progressivism-- and, unlike many mainstream artists whose music is (as he once described to newspaper The West Australian) "rammed down your throats and used for car adverts," Bragg consistently challenges the status quo.

Lucky for fans, his rejecting of consumerism doesn't mean there isn't plenty of his music to consume. On October 17, Yep Roc Records wraps up a massive reissuing of Bragg's solo releases by treating U.S. fans to Volume 2, a nine-disc box set featuring dozens of remastered tracks you've never heard on car adverts.

Tracing the evolution of Bragg's sound (from stripped down arrangements to the addition of a full band), Volume 2 includes four reissues: Workers Playtime (1988), Don't Try This at Home (1991), William Bloke (2002), and England, Half English (2002). Each CD is accompanied by a second disc of bonus material, a good deal of it previously unavailable, selected by Bragg and his old friends/collaborators Grant Showbiz and Wiggy. Like any decent box set of this magnitude, Volume 2 contains bells and whistles: in this case, a DVD containing a 1991 televised concert and a 2006 live show.

The prolific Bragg also released a book recently, The Progressive Patriot: A Search for Belonging, an impassioned response to the July 2005 London transit suicide bombings. He's presently touring the UK in support of the work.

Volume 2:

Workers Playtime:

01 She's Got a New Spell
02 Must I Paint You a Picture
03 Tender Comrade
04 The Price I Pay
05 Little Time Bomb
06 Rotting on Remand
07 Valentine's Day Is Over
08 Life With the Lions
09 The Only One
10 The Short Answer
11 Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

Bonus CD:

01 The Only One
02 The Price I Pay
03 Love Has No Pride
04 That's Entertainment
05 She's Got a New Spell
06 The Short Answer
07 Little Time Bomb
08 Bad Penny
09 Reason to Believe
10 Must I Paint You a Picture?
11 Raglan Road

Don't Try This At Home:

01 Accident Waiting to Happen
02 Moving the Goalposts
03 Everywhere
04 Cindy of a Thousand Lives
05 You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
06 Trust
07 God's Footballer
08 The Few
09 Sexuality
10 Mother of the Bride
11 Tank Park Salute
12 Dolphins
13 North Sea Bubble
14 Rumours of War
15 Wish You Were Her
16 Body of Water

Bonus CD:

01 Party of God
02 North Sea Bubble
03 Sexuality
04 Just One Victory
05 Everywhere
06 Trust
07 Bread & Circuses
08 Cindy of a Thousand Lives
09 The Few
10 Revolution
11 Tighten Up Your Wig
12 MBH
13 This Gulf Between Us
14 Piccadilly Rambler

William Bloke:

01 From Red to Blue
02 Upfield
03 Everybody Loves You Babe
04 Sugardaddy
05 A Pict Song
06 Brickba
07 The Space Race Is Over
08 Northern Industrial Town
09 The Fourteenth of February
10 King James Version
11 Goalhanger

Bonus CD:

01 As Long As You Hold Me
02 Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet
03 Sugar Daddy
04 The Space Race Is Over
05 Goalhanger
06 Upfield
07 The Fourteenth of February
08 Qualifications
09 Never Had No One Ever
10 Thatcherites
11 All Fall Down

England, Half English:

01 St. Monday
02 Jane Allen
03 Distant Shore
04 England, Half English
05 Npwa
06 Some Days I See the Point
07 Baby Farouka
08 Take Down the Union Jack
09 Another Kind of Judy
10 He'll Go Down
11 Dreadbelly
12 Tears of My Tracks

Bonus CD:

01 Billericay Dickie
02 Mansion on the Hill
03 Glad and Sorry
04 He'll Go Down
05 Yarra Song
06 You Pulled the Carpet Out
07 Mystery Shoes
08 Tears of My Tracks
09 Take Down the Union Jack
10 England, Half English
11 1 2 3 4
12 Dry Bed
13 Danny Rose
14 She Smiled Sweetly

If You've Got A Guestlist… DVD:

Billy Bragg & The Red Stars at the Town & Country Club - Nov 1991 (TV Concert):

01 You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
02 The Saturday Boy
03 The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions
04 The World Turned Upside Down
05 Dolphins
06 Valentine's Day Is Over
07 North Sea Bubble
08 Body of Water
09 Levi Stubbs' Tears
10 A Lover Sings
11 She's Got a New Spell
12 Cindy of a Thousand Lives
13 Accident Waiting to Happen
14 Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
15 Tender Comrade
16 Tank Park Salute
17 The Warmest Room
18 Sexuality

Billy Bragg At The Broadway Barking - May 2006 (Live Concert):

01 A Lover Sings
02 The Price I Pay
03 Debris
04 Tank Park Salute
05 All You Fascists
06 Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
07 A13, Trunk Road to the Sea

Bragg book tour:

10-11 Ilkley, England - Ilkley Literature Festival
10-17 Cambridge, England - Cambridge University Debating Chamber
10-18 London, England - Stratford Circus Theatre
10-19 London, England - Fopp Music, Film & Books
10-25 Reading, England - Waterstone's
10-27 Southampton, England - Physics Lecture Theatre
11-23 London, England - National Portrait Gallery