BILLY BRAGG AND THE BLOKES
England, Half English
Outside
· First collection of original Billy Bragg tunes since 1996’s William Bloke.
While the music may have changed over the years, Billy Bragg’s message remains the same – speak your mind, stand up for your beliefs and God help you if you are a multinational corporation that is only concerned with the bottom line. The 12 tracks on England, Half-English challenge us to consider identity – both personal and national – and to try to understand the identities of our neighbours at the same time.
Politics and ideologies aside, the album presents some classic Bragg material, such as the title track, "St. Monday" and "Baby Faroukh." Still, many of the songs seem to be missing something distinctly Bragg-ish. The production on "NPWA" overshadows the song’s message – when performed acoustically at last summer’s folk fest, it sounded more passionate and offered more meaning. A lot of these songs just don’t know where to go, and because of that the intent and feeling with which they were undoubtedly written has been lost along the way.
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