Don't Try This at Home (Billy Bragg album)

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Don't Try This at Home
BraggDontTry.jpg
Studio album by
Billy Bragg
Released16 September 1991 (1991-09-16)
RecordedOctober 1990–July 1991
StudioPavilion Studios, London W10; Cathouse Studios, Streatham; Sonet Studio, London; Clear, Manchester; John Keane Studios, Athens, Georgia; Jester House, Athens, Georgia
Genre Alternative rock, folk rock, folk punk
Length56:37
Label Elektra (US), Go! Discs (UK), Cooking Vinyl (UK)
Producer Grant Showbiz, Johnny Marr
Billy Bragg chronology
The Peel Sessions Album
(1991)		Don't Try This at Home
(1991)		 William Bloke
(1996)
Singles from Don't Try This at Home
  1. "Sexuality"
    Released: 1 June 1991 [1]
  2. "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood"
    Released: 7 September 1991 [2]
  3. "Accident Waiting to Happen (Red Star Version)"
    Released: 23 February 1992 [3]

Don't Try This at Home is the sixth album by urban folk artist Billy Bragg, released on 16 September 1991 by Go! Discs. [4] [5] It reached #8 on the UK Albums Chart. [6]

Contents

"Sexuality" was released as a single which reached #27 on the UK charts and #2 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts. Johnny Marr of the Smiths co-wrote "Sexuality" and helped to produce three tracks.

The song "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" is about photographer Cindy Sherman.

"Tank Park Salute" is about his father, Dennis Bragg, who died of lung cancer when Bragg was 18. He said that for a show in Barking, where he grew up, he was so moved by the presence of his mother and brother in the audience that he kept a copy of the lyrics in case he forgot them while performing. [7]

R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Peter Buck contribute to "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood." The song was named after a drawing by Woody Guthrie, whose unpublished lyrics were set to music by Bragg and Wilco on the Mermaid Avenue albums a few years later. [8]

"Dolphins" is a cover of the Fred Neil song.

The song "God's Footballer" is about former professional football player Peter Knowles who spent his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers before voluntarily ending his football career to become a Jehovah's Witness. [9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [10]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Entertainment Weekly A− [12]
NME 9/10 [13]
The Philadelphia Inquirer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [14]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [17]
Select 5/5 [18]
Smash Hits 7/10 [19]

Don't Try This at Home was released to positive reviews from music critics. [4] Writing for Select , Michele Kirsch found that Bragg had subverted "every pigeonhole he's ever had the misfortune to be bunged into by both the critics and, to some extent, himself." [18] David Quantick of NME praised the record's "imagination" and noted the presence of "many occasions when your actual Bragg sound is radically altered", concluding that Bragg had "shrugged off the demons of despond and made his best album." [13]

Track listing

Adapted from album liner notes. [20] [21]

All tracks written by Billy Bragg except where noted.

  1. "Accident Waiting to Happen" – 4:01
  2. "Moving the Goalposts" – 2:34
  3. "Everywhere" (Greg Trooper, Sid Griffin) – 5:01
  4. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" – 4:15
  5. "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood" (Bragg, Peter Buck) – 3:11
  6. "Trust" – 4:13
  7. "God's Footballer" – 3:04
  8. "The Few" – 3:27
  9. "Sexuality" (Bragg, Johnny Marr) – 3:49
  10. "Mother of the Bride" – 3:36
  11. "Tank Park Salute" – 3:30
  12. "Dolphins" (Fred Neil) – 4:20
  13. "North Sea Bubble" – 3:19
  14. "Rumours of War" – 2:50
  15. "Wish You Were Her" – 2:46
  16. "Body of Water" (Bragg, Philip Wigg aka "Wiggy") – 3:58
Japanese bonus tracks
  2. "Bad Penny" (B-side of "Sexuality") – 2:49
  3. "Bread and Circuses" (Bragg, Natalie Merchant) (B-side of "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood") – 4:23
  4. "Sexuality (London Remix)" (Bragg, Marr) (B-side of "Sexuality") – 6:27

Bonus disc track listing

Along with a remastered album, a second bonus disc was released by Yep Roc Records (in the U.S.) and Cooking Vinyl (in the U.K.) in 2006. The new tracks include demos of songs on the album, as well as several other songs, including a cover of the Beatles' "Revolution". Natalie Merchant sings on two tracks.

  1. "Party of God" (Bragg, Merchant) (lead vocals by Natalie Merchant) – 4:15
  2. "North Sea Bubble" (demo) – 3:30
  3. "Sexuality" (demo) (Bragg, Marr) – 3:54
  4. "Just One Victory" (alternative mix) (Todd Rundgren) – 5:31
  5. "Everywhere" (alternative version) (Trooper, Griffin) – 4:42
  6. "Trust" (demo) – 5:43
  7. "Bread and Circuses" (Bragg, Merchant) – 4:28
  8. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" (demo) – 3:38
  9. "The Few" (demo) – 3:50
  10. "Revolution" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 1:51
  11. "Tighten Up Your Wig" (with the Athenians and DJ Woody Dee) – 3:18
  12. "MBH" – 2:07
  13. "This Gulf Between Us" – 2:46
  14. "Picadilly Rambler" – 1:49
Bonus disc notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes. [20] [21]

Production
Bonus disc

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References

  1. ↑ "Singles – Sexuality". billybragg.co.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  2. ↑ "Singles – You Woke Up My Neighbourhood". billybragg.co.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  3. ↑ "Singles – Accident Waiting to Happen (Red Star Version)". billybragg.co.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  4. 1 2 Collins, Andrew (2013). Still Suitable for Miners: Billy Bragg (4th ed.). Virgin Books. p. 223. ISBN   978-0-7535-1245-6.
  5. ↑ Don't Try This at Home (press advertisement). Go! Discs. 1991. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  6. ↑ "Billy Bragg full Official Chart History". Official Charts. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  7. ↑ Ross.P (2006)"Best of British", The Herald, 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  8. ↑ "Patriot games". Record Collector . No. 345. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  9. ↑ God's Footballer
  10. ↑ Deming, Mark. "Don't Try This at Home – Billy Bragg". AllMusic . Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  11. ↑ Rothschild, David (21 November 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home (Elektra)". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  12. ↑ Arnold, Gina (20 September 1991). "Don't Try This at Home". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  13. 1 2 Quantick, David (14 September 1991). "William the Conkerer". NME . p. 36.
  14. ↑ Moon, Tom (20 October 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home (Elektra)". The Philadelphia Inquirer .
  15. ↑ Snow, Mat (October 1991). "Opaque". Q . No. 61.
  16. ↑ Tannenbaum, Rob (31 October 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This At Home". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  17. ↑ Considine, J. D. (2004). "Billy Bragg". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p.  101. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8 . Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  18. 1 2 Kirsch, Michele (November 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home". Select . No. 17. p. 68.
  19. ↑ Dee, Johnny (18 September – 1 October 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home". Smash Hits . Vol. 13, no. 18. p. 42.
  20. 1 2 Don't Try This at Home (liner notes). Billy Bragg. Go! Discs. 1991.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. 1 2 Don't Try This at Home 2006 reissue (liner notes). Billy Bragg. Cooking Vinyl. 2006.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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