The Internationale (album)

Not to be confused with Internationale (EP).

The Internationale
Studio album by Billy Bragg
Released	30 April 1990 [1]
Recorded	January–March 1990
Studio	Gateway Studios, London; Cathouse Studios, Streatham; Pier House Studios, Edinburgh
Genre	Folk
Length	19:23
Label	Liberation Records, Utility Records
Producer	Grant Showbiz, Wiggy
Billy Bragg chronology
Workers Playtime (1988) The Internationale (1990) The Peel Sessions Album (1991)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	A− [4]
New Musical Express	6/10 [5]
Orlando Sentinel	[6]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide	[7]

The Internationale is a 1990 album by Billy Bragg. Originally released on Bragg's short-lived record label, Utility Records, it is a deliberately political album, consisting mainly of cover versions and rewrites of left-wing protest songs. Although Bragg is known for his association with left-wing causes, this release is unusual; most of Bragg's recordings balance overtly political songs with social observation and love songs.

The album peaked at number 34 on the UK Albums Chart in May 1990. ^[8]

Versions

The album was originally released as a seven-track EP in 1990.

In 2006, as part of a planned series of reissues of albums in his back catalogue, The Internationale was remastered and reissued along with the seven tracks from 1988's Live & Dubious EP and five bonus tracks. Also included is a bonus DVD titled Here and There containing live concerts from East Berlin, Nicaragua and the Soviet Union.

Track listing

Original album

1. "The Internationale" (Pierre De Geyter, Billy Bragg) – 3:45
2. "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night" (Earl Robinson, Bragg) – 1:27
3. "The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions" (Bragg) – 3:59
4. "Blake's Jerusalem" (William Blake, Hubert Parry) – 2:30
5. "Nicaragua Nicaraguita" (Carlos Mejía Godoy) – 1:06
6. "The Red Flag" (Jim Connell, traditional) – 3:12
7. "My Youngest Son Came Home Today" (Eric Bogle) – 3:04

2006 reissue bonus tracks

Live and Dubious EP

8. "Introduction" (live) – 0:57
9. "Help Save the Youth of America" (live) (Bragg) – 2:36
10. "Think Again" (live) (Dick Gaughan) – 4:21
11. "Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto" (live) (Bernice Johnson Reagon) – 3:09
12. "Days Like These" (DC remix) (Bragg) – 2:40
13. "To Have and to Have Not" (live) (Bragg) – 2:47
14. "There Is Power in a Union" (with The Pattersons) (Bragg, George F. Root, traditional) – 3:27

Bonus tracks

15. "Joe Hill" (Phil Ochs) (from Don't Mourn – Organize! Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, 1990) – 8:23
16. "This Land Is Your Land" (with Heathens All) (Woody Guthrie) (from The Disagreement of the People, 1995) – 4:35
17. "Never Cross a Picket Line" (Bragg) (from Rock the Dock, 1998) – 3:38
18. "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Sam Cooke) (previously unreleased) – 3:58
19. "A Miner's Life" (traditional) (previously unreleased) – 3:01

Notes

• Tracks 8–14 recorded and compiled at Pavilion Studios, London.
• Tracks 15, 18 and 19 recorded during The Internationale sessions.
• Track 17 produced at Cathouse Studios.

Bonus DVD – Here and There

East Berlin DDR – February 1986

1. "There Is Power in a Union" (live) (Bragg, Root, traditional) – 2:35
2. "Between the Wars" (live) (Bragg) – 2:31

Nicaragua – July 1987

3. "Nicaragua Nicaraguita" (live) (Godoy) – 1:07

Lithuania USSR – May 1988

4. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (live) (Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong) – 2:07
5. "To Have and to Have Not" (live) (Bragg) – 2:21
6. "The Milkman of Human Kindness" (live) (Bragg) – 2:29
7. "Island of No Return" (live) (Bragg) – 3:24
8. "Introduction to Between the Wars" (live) – 3:15
9. "Between the Wars" (live) (Bragg) – 2:21
10. "The World Turned Upside Down" (live) (Leon Rosselson) – 3:02
11. "Levi Stubbs' Tears" (live) (Bragg) – 3:15
12. "Help Save the Youth of America" (live) (Bragg) – 2:36
13. "A New England" (Bragg) – 2:04
14. "Wishing the Days Away" (Bragg) – 4:15
15. "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield) / "Tupelo Honey" (Van Morrison) – 3:02
16. "Star" (David Bowie) – 1:56
17. "A13, Trunk Road to The Sea" (Bobby Troup) – 2:17

Personnel

Musicians

• Billy Bragg – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals
• Cara Tivey  – piano, vocals, shakuhachi
• Lorraine Bowen  – clarinet, soprano recorder, piano, accordion, organ
• The Christie Tyler Cory Band – brass
• Côr Cochion Caerdydd – vocals
• Marc Duff – whistles
• Jim Sutherland – bodhran, percussion
• Dick Gaughan  – vocals
• Wiggy – bass guitar, vocals
• Charlie Llewellin – drum, cymbal
• Grant Showbiz  – vocals
• David Bedford  – arrangement and conducting

Production

• Grant Showbiz – producer (1–7, 17), reissue producer, reissue compilation
• Wiggy – producer (1–7), DVD compilation
• Charlie Llewellin – engineer
• Derek Bolland – engineer (1–7)
• Peter Haigh – engineer (1–7)
• Step Parikian – engineer (1–7)
• Committee – design
• Kenny Jones – producer, engineer, compilation (8–14)
• Tim Young – remastering (tracks 1–14)
• Duncan Cowell – remastering (tracks 15–19)

References

1. Andy Strickland, ed. (21 April 1990). "This Week: The Next Seven Days in View – Releases". Record Mirror . p. 29. ISSN   0144-5804.
2. Cleary, David. "Billy Bragg – The Internationale". AllMusic . Retrieved 23 November 2018.
3. Christgau, Robert (15 October 2000). "Billy Bragg". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s . Macmillan Publishing. ISBN   9780312245603.
4. Sandow, Greg (6 July 1990). "Notable music for the week of July 6, 1990". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 23 November 2018.
5. Dalton, Stephen (5 May 1990). "Long Play: Hot to Trotsky". NME . p. 32.
6. Fields, Curt (19 October 1990). "Billy Bragg". Orlando Sentinel .
7. Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide . New York City: Simon and Schuster. p.  101. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8. rolling stone billy bragg album guide.
8. "Billy Bragg full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 September 2023.