Billy Bragg
Workers Playtime
Label:  Elektra 
Date:  1988
Length:  0:00
Format:  CA
Genre:  Rock; Alternative
  Category:  rock
    Track Listing:
      1.  
      		 She's Got a New Spell    
      2.  
      		 Must I Paint You a Picture?    
      3.  
      		 Tender Comrade    
      4.  
      		 Price I Pay    
      5.  
      		 Little Time Bomb    
      6.  
      		 Rotting on Remand    
      7.  
      		 Valentine's Day Is Over    
      8.  
      		 Life With the Lions    
      9.  
      		 Only One    
      10.  
      		 Short Answer    
      11.  
      		 Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards    
    Additional info: | top

      Even as a very young man, Billy Bragg tempered his socialist politics with songs about affairs of the heart, a combination that's served him well. But no matter how lovey-dovey he may croon, Bragg can't help but rail at oppression in its many manifestations. On Worker's Playtime, producer Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake) frames Bragg's ragged voice with sympathetic folk-rock arrangements. But the real strength of this 1988 collection lies in Bragg's songwriting. The album may boast the pedantic "Capitalism Is Killing Music," but Bragg's sense of humor is in evidence throughout. "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" mixes Mao with Mott the Hoople, while the heart-stopping sincerity of "The Short Answer" suffers not a whit for bringing up Karl Marx. --Rob O'Connor