Stephen William Bragg is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His activism is centred on social change and left-wing political causes.
Talking with the Taxman About Poetry is the third album by Billy Bragg, released in September 1986. With production by John Porter and Kenny Jones, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry featured more musicians than Bragg's previous works, which were generally little more than Bragg himself and a guitar.
Beats International were a British dance music band and hip-hop collective, formed in the late 1980s by Norman Cook based in Brighton, East Sussex, England, after his departure from the Housemartins.
The A13 is a major road in England linking Central London with east London and south Essex. Its route is similar to that of the London, Tilbury and Southend line via Rainham, Grays, Tilbury, Stanford-Le-Hope & Pitsea, and runs the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area, terminating on the Thames Estuary at Shoeburyness. It is a trunk road between London and the Tilbury junction, a primary route between there and Sadlers Hall Farm near South Benfleet, and a non-primary route between there and Shoeburyness.
Levi Stubbs was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group the Four Tops, who released a variety of Motown hit records during the 1960s and 1970s. He has been noted for his powerful, emotional, dramatic style of singing. In 1990, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Four Tops.
Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg, is a three CD collection of Billy Bragg's greatest hits and B-sides, released on October 28, 2003. It consists of a double album and a disc of ten extras. Subscribers to Billy's website voted on their favourite tracks and these votes were used to compile the CD collection.
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.
Reaching to the Converted is an album by Billy Bragg released in August 1999. It is a collection of B-sides and rarities that spans Billy's entire career. It includes variations on old favorites, such as "Greetings to the New Brunette" and "Walk Away Renee". None of the tracks on the album were reissued as extras for Bragg's box sets, Volume 1 and Volume 2.
"(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" is a popular rhythm and blues song, composed in 1946 by American songwriter Bobby Troup. The lyrics relate a westward roadtrip on U.S. Route 66, a highway which traversed the western two-thirds of the U.S. from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California. The song became a standard, with several renditions appearing on the record charts.
Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy is Billy Bragg's first album, released in 1983. All songs on the original album consisted of Bragg singing to his electric guitar accompaniment.
Brewing Up with Billy Bragg is the second album by Billy Bragg, released in 1984.
The Peel Sessions Album is an album by British rock artist Billy Bragg, released in 1991. It compiles recordings from Bragg's various radio sessions for John Peel's programme, recorded between 1983 and 1988.
"The World Turned Upside Down" is an English ballad. It was first published on a broadside in the middle of the 1640s as a protest against the policies of Parliament relating to the celebration of Christmas.
Victim Of Geography is a 1993 collection of Billy Bragg's previous albums Talking with the Taxman about Poetry and Workers Playtime, originally released in 1986 and 1988 respectively.
"The Diggers' Song" is a 17th-century English ballad by Gerrard Winstanley, a protest song about land rights inspired by the Diggers movement. The lyrics were published in 1894 by the Camden Society. It is sung to a version of the family of tunes later used for "Sam Hall", "Captain Kidd", and "Admiral John Benbow", which according to Roy Palmer was first printed in 1714. The English band Chumbawamba recorded a version of this song on their 1988 album English Rebel Songs 1381–1914.
Volume 2 is a box set by political folk singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, released in 2006.
Between the Wars is an extended play released by Billy Bragg in 1985. It reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.
Leon Rosselson is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC's topical TV programme of the early 1960s, That Was The Week That Was. He toured Britain and abroad, singing mainly his own songs and accompanying himself with acoustic guitar.
Handful of Earth is the fifth solo studio album by Scottish folk musician and singer Dick Gaughan, released in 1981 by Topic Records. The album was Gaughan's first after spending several years largely avoiding playing music while regaining his health following a mental breakdown in 1979. Containing an array of traditional and contemporary folk songs performed on guitar with open tunings, Handful of Earth was by far Gaughan's most political album to that point, and was inspired by the political turmoil in Scotland following the Conservative Party victory at the 1979 general election.
"There Is Power in a Union" is a song written by Billy Bragg and first released on his 1986 Talking with the Taxman About Poetry album. It is set to the tune of George Frederick Root's "Battle Cry of Freedom".
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