I am pleased to say that after 25 years in the business Billy Bragg has lost none of his soul and passion. I first saw Billy Bragg at a Mandela benefit concert in Glasgow in 1983, this was around the time of his debut release “Life’s a riot with Spy V Spy” which still is regarded as one of the finest debut’s ever recorded. The early 80’s in Glasgow were interesting times. Whilst many in England enjoyed economic prosperity under Maggie Thatcher first term in office many of the regions felt isolated and unemployment, poverty and ignorance was rife. Life in Glasgow and many other Northern cities was extremely tough. Glasgow had lost it’s shipbuilding industry in the late 70’s and it looked like the many coal mines in Scotland were either going to be shut or scaled down. Billy Bragg along with Paul Weller were one of the few English singer songwriters who encapsulated the times of the early 80’s and truly understood the hardship that many were facing whilst enjoying critical success and healthy record sales.
I met Billy a few weeks ago whilst he was promoting his new initiative to rehabilitate prisoners through the use of musical instruments (see earlier blog). It was great to see that after all these years there was still plenty for Billy campaign for. The show at the Roundhouse was excellent and would appear that he is enjoying a comeback with younger audiences who were not even born when he released his seminal debut. Raw, gritty and uncompromising Billy still has the passion and vigour that he had in the 80’s. His new album “Mr. Love and Justice” is excellent and well worth picking up. His new CD no longer contains a sticker stating that you should not pay any more than £4.99 for it however I guess music is one of things that actually has become cheaper. If you have not heard Billy Bragg for a while check out the video below which was filmed at The Dominion theatre in 1988. Pure Class!
Written by John Rahim
