Album: Billy Bragg, Tooth & Nail (Cooking Vinyl)

4.00

Simon Price

Saturday 16 March 2013

You'd think, five years since his last studio album and three into the coalition, Bragg would be bursting with political messages.

Instead, T&N – recorded over five days in Pasadena – concentrates on personal themes: confusion at TV science coverage, poor DIY skills, morality, love and death. Nevertheless, within the first song, he's mentioning "Politicians selling freedom/ Bumper sticker, 50 cents". Just like Levi Stubbs, he can't help himself.

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