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!!
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).
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!
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...
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.
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.")
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
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.
MRML is a blog about the devestating effects of culture: music, politics, comics plus etc. blah blah blah. At times MRML will post fine, unpurchasable three-chord obscurica (punk, pop-punk, new wave, mod, power-pop, gospel, reggae, hardcore, rockabilly, folk, country...whatever.) - - - - - - "The otherwise unavailable files in this blog are posted for a limited time and are intended for educational, non-commercial use. These files were transcribed from what are believed to be out-of-print sources. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from commercial sources, or if any of these files infringe upon rights that you hold, please notify us so that we can quickly remove the referenced items immediately." - - - SUPPORT THE ARTISTS - BUY MUSIC!
If you have any questions or music to donate you can contact me at musicruinedmylife (at) gmail (dot) com
Re: Re-Ups
MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority.
This
ReplyDeleteone
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
I had a cassette bootleg of part of this show, Kirsty sounds great. But even better to have the whole lot now.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Gappy
had been lookin for this one for a while. thanks!
ReplyDeleteI was at this gig... It was a great night... Kirsty and Billy in fine voice !
ReplyDeleteHave 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).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Billy Bragg Boots. Hard To Find Here In MedellĂn, Colombia, SA. El Gringo Viejo Really Enjoys Your Blog. Thanks For All The Music.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you very much for uploading this incredible set!
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge Kirsty fan, (also Billy)
I have never expected I would come across this.
Thank you again!
Thanks for this great post!
ReplyDeleteThanx for these.
ReplyDeleteRe "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.
Glad you all liked this two-fer!
ReplyDeleteand
bsk
Good call on the link
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.
ReplyDeleteUnrelated, but Helium Angel did a really good cover of Accident Waiting to Happen...
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Kirsty live. Many thanks for that (and Billy).
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Thank you.
(Three links-- three thanks.)
--Bruce
Thank you so much. A great great treasure!
ReplyDeleteThanks! As for my take on Kirsty
ReplyDeleteMacColl, 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.")
Many thanks for this. I was there for this and the other NYE shows.Great nights, remember them well!!
ReplyDeleteHuge Kirsty fan here -- thank you for the show! She is missed.
ReplyDeleteWould 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.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Chris
Thanks for this great memory of the night. Is pt3 completely full only seems to have one track?
ReplyDeleteCan't believe Shane McGowan out-lived Kirsty MacColl.
ReplyDeleteI'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.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this.
Hi
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't works.
PLEASE repost this one.
Many thanks in advance.
Regards
Reup of this would be MIGHTILY appreciated. Hope you can get to it. Far too little of Kirsty out there.
ReplyDeleteJeffro
Never mind - found it on archive.org! Thanks anyway :)
ReplyDelete-Jeffro