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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