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album reviews

Billy Bragg



Mr Love & Justice 7½ ( 2008 )
I Keep Faith / I Almost Killed You / M For Me / Beach Is Free / Sing Their Souls Back Home / You Make Me Brave / Something Happened / Mr Love And Justice / If You Ever Leave / O Freedom / Johnny Carcinogenic Show / Farm Boy

In search of fresh rhubarb for a crumble, Bragg stumbled upon Robert Wyatt, who found him some rhubarb and then attended the sessions for Bragg's 'I Keep Faith', lending his distinctive voice to the choruses. Bragg's first new album in six years sees him joined again by his Blokes and also seems to feature a mellow, happy Billy Bragg - just turned 50. Give it a couple of years, when the conservatives get back in power, i'm sure we'll see some pointed barbs in the direction of the blue party, yet for the cleverly titled 'Mr Love & Justice', Bragg works best when being sentimental and romantic. Well, I say that because all the other reviews have said that already. What I actually mean is that 'Mr Love And Justice' is something of a 'so what?' album. It doesn't have any particular theme or point of being, other than Bragg hasn't released anything in a while. Still, 'I Almost Killed You' with its bare instrumentation, thoughtful lyrics and insistent handclaps works spectacularly well. 'Beach Is Free' is enlived no end by some Duane Eddy style guitar. The lovely 'If You Ever Leave' is classic Bragg emotional songwriting, memorable melodies and that voice, unconventional beauty but beauty nevertheless.

Even with this clutch of great songs, and you can add the title track and 'O Freedom' to that list, too frequently it seems that Bragg has concentrated too much on making the music sound attractive, at the expense of the actual songs. The closing 'Farm Boy' is a good example. Nice little acoustic guitar lines, a sombre kind of Bragg vocal but the entire thing seems to lack energy. Other parts of the album seem to stray too far into Americana at the expense of Bragg's genuine personality. The best lyric on an album surprisingly short of great one liners arrives during 'M For Me', I've got friends that are telling me i'm living in clover but loose the c and the l and it's over baby, it's over now. It's just one of many great lines in that song, actually and I also love the parping brass parts that decorate the track instrumentally. Overall, 'Mr Love And Justice' is a decent, intelligent collection of songs, it just doesn't have any essential Bragg moments of brilliance to pick it up a little more.

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