Sunday, June 19, 2011

Billy Bragg & Kirsty MacColl Hackney Empire (1991)


Wince-inducing cover art aside, this is a BIG one. It`s a New Year's Eve concert broadcast live by the BBC this includes lots of Bragg-iness and also an entire set by the wildly-talented and prematurely-departed Kirsty MacColl. Billy and Kirsty's intersecting history includes having their less-than-auspicious debut records come out on the same day in June of 1978 on Chiswick Records (Bily in Riff Raff, Kirsty in The Drug Adix), both having covered Smiths` songs (Bille did "Jeanne" and Kirsty totally owned "You Just Haven't Earned it Yet, Baby" ) having both recorded Bragg's "A New England" (Billy`s had less words and Kirsty`s had more production) and, always a big one for this blogger, they both loved The Clash:





Interestingly, Billy and Kirsty also bonded over the less-than-stellar Johnny Moped song "Darling, Let's Have Another Baby" to which they manage to inject a lot of life.



CD 1 76:09
Billy Bragg:
1. Richard
2. Little Time Bomb
3. St Swithin's Day
4. A Lover Sings
5. Honey I'm A Big Boy Now
6. The Few
7. The Man In The Iron Mask
8. Levi Stubbs Tears

Kirsty MacColl & Band
9. A New England
10. Fifteen Minutes
11. Don't Come The Cowboy
12. Train In Vain
13. Walking Down Madison
14. Free World
15. They Don't Know
16. There's a Guy Down at the Chip Shop Swears he's Elvis
17. Fairytale of New York
18. Darling Lets Have Another Baby (w/ Bragg).

CD 2 75:10
Jupitus as Porky the Poet
19. Bestiality

Billy Bragg
20. Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
21. The Warmest Room
22. Suwlk
23. Accident Waiting to Happen
24. Help Save The Youth Of America

Everybody
25. Auld Lang Syne

Billy Bragg
26. You Woke up my Neighbourhood
27. Greetings to the New Brunette
28. Body of Water
29. North Sea Bubble
30. Must I Paint You A Picture
31. Mother of the Bride
32. Cindy of a Thousand Lives (w/ MacColl)
33. Sexuality (w/ MacColl)

CD 3 30:08 / 33:05 / 2.48
34. Between The Wars > A New England
35. Billericay Dickie

Everybody
36. A Message To You,Rudi > Messages / Intros

Billy Bragg
37. A13, Trunk Road to the Sea

By the 90`s Bragg was touring with a full band (led by long-time associate Wiggy), The Red Stars, who I saw at The Commodore in Vancouver in 1991. The band was good, as this bootleg ably demonstrates, but there was a certain air of business-as-usualness that those old solo shows never had.




So COMMENTERS, two questions, what did you make off Bragg`s Red Stars era and what`s your take on Kirsty MacColl (and don't forget that the comment section is where you'll find the three Hackney Empire links).

P.S. I`m still looking for shows from a few different eras so if anyone knows a good source for Billy Bragg bootlegs let me know!!


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25 comments:

  1. jeffenJune 19, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    This

    one

    is

    so

    big

    that

    it

    requires

    three

    links!!

    (Another

    reason

    to

    not

    neglect

    to

    leave

    a

    COMMENT!)


    1.
    http://www.mediafire.com/?zc3zhsi1exy05ur

    2.
    http://www.mediafire.com/?dwj41mhvbd5pm24

    3.
    http://www.mediafire.com/?hpzh2gui561eik8

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 19, 2011 at 12:03 PM

    I had a cassette bootleg of part of this show, Kirsty sounds great. But even better to have the whole lot now.
    Thanks
    Gappy

    ReplyDelete
  3. jimJune 19, 2011 at 1:33 PM

    had been lookin for this one for a while. thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Simon KJune 19, 2011 at 2:33 PM

    I was at this gig... It was a great night... Kirsty and Billy in fine voice !

    ReplyDelete
  5. bskJune 19, 2011 at 2:38 PM

    Have you looked at http://www.archive.org/details/BillyBragg (you may need to register, but they are all legal boots) for other gigs. There is about 10 there from 1991 onwards. The Mountain Stage on 1991-04-28, although short, is very good, especially the sing along on the first track. Only he & Robyn Hitchcock can do that intersong banter so well (for me anyway).

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJune 19, 2011 at 11:53 PM

    Thanks for the Billy Bragg Boots. Hard To Find Here In Medellín, Colombia, SA. El Gringo Viejo Really Enjoys Your Blog. Thanks For All The Music.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousJune 20, 2011 at 7:03 AM

    Wow! Thank you very much for uploading this incredible set!
    I'm a huge Kirsty fan, (also Billy)
    I have never expected I would come across this.
    Thank you again!

    ReplyDelete
  8. PPJune 20, 2011 at 10:06 AM

    Thanks for this great post!

    ReplyDelete
  9. BarrieBJune 20, 2011 at 2:23 PM

    Thanx for these.

    Re "The Red Star" period I loved it just because there was more instruments & they didn't overpower the bard.

    Kirsty McColl I liked some of her music but was (am) not a fan as I've only got 2 or 3 of her albums.

    ReplyDelete
  10. jeffenJune 20, 2011 at 5:21 PM

    Glad you all liked this two-fer!

    and

    bsk
    Good call on the link

    ReplyDelete
  11. MondogarageJune 20, 2011 at 10:55 PM

    I've never really been a huge Billy Bragg fan (more out of ignorance than distaste), but Kirsty MacCall has been criminally overlooked here in the states. I first came across her when stationed in the UK the time the Kite album came out, and was completely hooked. I wonder what she'd be doing today.

    Unrelated, but Helium Angel did a really good cover of Accident Waiting to Happen...

    ReplyDelete
  12. PintManJune 21, 2011 at 2:04 AM

    Thanks!
    I first saw Billy Bragg in concert at Club Soda in Montreal in 89. A triple bill with Greg Trooper and Meryn Cadell (?) opening.
    It was a bitter cold night. My friend and I were admiring the "Capitalism is Killing Music" t-shirts on sale by the door when the front door to the club opened and Billy pushed past us and on into the back - his face red and nose running from the extreme cold.
    A few minutes later the show began with Meryn Cadell (if I recall correctly) taking the stage. About midway through her set Billy came out behind her and started dancing around in bright red onesie long johns. She couldn't figure out why everyone started laughing at her.

    Later Greg Trooper took the stage. He amazed the crowd when, after violently strumming his guitar he broke 3-4 strings. He kept right on going, stomping his foot and singing nonesense while frantically restringing the guitar with extras he had in his pocket. Bah Dah duh Dah Dah *stomp* *stomp* dah duh while bent over giving the guitar a quick tune. He was able to finish the song with all 6 strings restored. The crowd went nuts. Billy called him out again later to sing "Over There". A memorable night.

    I saw him in 91 at the Spectrum with the Red Stars - a more subdued affair.

    ReplyDelete
  13. MartinJune 22, 2011 at 7:39 AM

    Kirsty live. Many thanks for that (and Billy).

    ReplyDelete
  14. bruceJune 22, 2011 at 10:15 AM

    Thank you.

    Thank you.

    Thank you.

    (Three links-- three thanks.)

    --Bruce

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJune 23, 2011 at 5:08 PM

    Thank you so much. A great great treasure!

    ReplyDelete
  16. lesvbJune 24, 2011 at 4:03 AM

    Thanks! As for my take on Kirsty
    MacColl, I think she's just
    brilliant all around. (Actually, I
    wonder if you could maybe come up with one of the two or three live
    recordings, from 1995, that
    feature her version of the Lowell George song "Roll 'Em Easy.")

    ReplyDelete
  17. SimonJune 24, 2011 at 6:57 PM

    Many thanks for this. I was there for this and the other NYE shows.Great nights, remember them well!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. HamsterHueyJune 25, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    Huge Kirsty fan here -- thank you for the show! She is missed.

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousJune 26, 2011 at 2:24 AM

    Would have loved to have seen this - I saw BB in 1984, supporting Dave Gilmour, I think - and was a Kirsty fan too. Sadly I'd moved out of London by 1991. So great to hear this.
    Thanks
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 2:45 PM

    Thanks for this great memory of the night. Is pt3 completely full only seems to have one track?

    ReplyDelete
  21. antidarlingNovember 19, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    Can't believe Shane McGowan out-lived Kirsty MacColl.

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2012 at 9:55 AM

    I've loved Billy's music since the early 80s. Only saw him once - Finsbury Park in 1997. He was well chuffed at the recent demise of the Tory government. As were we all. Kirsty I never saw, unfortunately. Who called her the female Noel Coward? ;) R.I.P. Kirsty.

    Thanks for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  23. PogueMahoneAugust 5, 2012 at 1:02 PM

    Hi
    It doesn't works.
    PLEASE repost this one.
    Many thanks in advance.

    Regards

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousJuly 21, 2013 at 8:36 PM

    Reup of this would be MIGHTILY appreciated. Hope you can get to it. Far too little of Kirsty out there.

    Jeffro

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousJuly 21, 2013 at 8:52 PM

    Never mind - found it on archive.org! Thanks anyway :)

    -Jeffro

    ReplyDelete

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