Label: Cooking Vinyl

Released 2006

English singer/songwriter Billy Bragg's Volume 2 box set picks up where Volume 1 left off, but most of the four albums covering 14 years chronicled here involve alterations in the Bragg repertoire: more love songs to balance his social and political rants, and a full band playing behind him. Bragg is nothing if he isn't revolutionary. He mixes adoration ("She's Got a New Spell") and angst ("Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards") on Workers Playtime (1988); covers Fred Neil ("Dolphins") on Don't Try This at Home (1991); puts music to a Rudyard Kipling poem à la Mermaid Avenue ("A Pict Song") on William Bloke (1996); and takes his home country to the woodshed ("Take Down the Union Jack") on England, Half English (2002). The nine-CD package is jammed with demos, alternate versions, and covers (such as a splendid version of the Faces' "Glad and Sorry"), and a bonus DVD provides a look at Bragg in his most comfortable element: on stage at concerts recorded in 1991 and 2006.

Track listing:

Workers Playtime

1. She's Got A New Spell
   
2. Must I Paint You A Picture
   
3. Tender Comrade
   
4. The Price I Pay
   
5. Little Time Bomb
   
6. Rotting On Remand
   
7. Valentine's Day Is Over
   
8. Life With The Lions
   
9. The Only One
   
10. The Short Answer
    
11. Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
12. The Only One (Demo)*
    
13. The Price I Pay (Demo)*
14. Love Has No Pride*
15. That's Entertainment*
16. She's Got A New Spell (Demo)*
17. The Short Answer (Demo)*
18. Little Time Bomb (Demo)*
19. Bad Penny (Demo)*
20. Reason To Believe (Live)*
21. Must I Paint You A Picture (Extended Version)*
22. Raglan Road (Live)*

Don't Try This At Home

1. Accident Waiting To Happen
   
2. Moving The Goalposts
3. Everywhere
4. Cindy Of A Thousand Lives
5. You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
6. Trust
7. God's Footballer
8. The Few
9. Sexuality
10. Mother Of The Bride
11. Tank Park Salute
12. Dolphins
13. North Sea Bubble
14. Rumours Of War
15. Wish You Were Her
16. Body Of Water
17. Party Of God*
18. North Sea Bubble (Demo)*
    
19. Sexuality (Demo)*
20. Just One Victory (Alternative Mix)*
21. Everywhere (Alternative Version)*
22. Trust (Demo)*
23. Bread & Circuses*
24. Cindy Of A Thousand Lives (Demo)*
25. The Few (Demo)*
26. Revolution*
27. Tighten Up Your Wig with The Athenians & DJ Woody Dee*
28. MBH*
29. This Gulf Between Us*
30. Piccadilly Rambler*

William Bloke

1. From Red To Blue
2. Upfield
3. Everybody Loves You Babe
4. Sugardaddy
5. A Pict Song
6. Brickbat
7. The Space Race Is Over
8. Northern Industrial Town
9. The Fourteenth Of February
10. King James Version
11. Goalhanger
12. As Long As You Hold Me (Demo)*
13. Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet (Demo)*
14. Sugar Daddy (Demo)*
15. The Space Race Is Over (Demo)*
16. Goalhanger (Demo)*
17. Upfield (Demo)*
18. The Fourteenth Of February (Demo)*
19. Qualifications*
20. Never Had No One Ever*
21. Thatcherites*
22. All Fall Down*

England, Half English (Billy Bragg & The Blokes)

1. St. Monday
2. Jane Allen
3. Distant Shore
4. England, Half English
5. NPWA
6. Some Days I See The Point
7. Baby Faroukh
8. Take Down The Union Jack
9. Another Kind Of Judy
10. He'll Go Down
11. Dreadbelly
12. Tears Of My Tracks
13. Billericay Dickie*
14. Mansion On The Hill*
15. Glad And Sorry*
16. He'll Go Down (Demo)*
17. Yarra Song*
18. You Pulled The Carpet Out*
19. Mystery Shoes*
20. Tears Of My Tracks (Demo)*
21. Take Down The Union Jack (Band Version)*
22. England, Half English (7" Remix)*
23. 1 2 3 4*
24. Dry Bed (Band Version)*
25. Danny Rose*
26. She Smiled Sweetly*

Bonus Tracks*

DVD - If You've Got A Guestlist...

Billy Bragg & The Red Stars At The Town & Country Club November 1991

1. 1. You Woke Up My Neighbourhood
      
   2. The Saturday Boy
   3. The Marching Song Of The Covert Battalions
   4. The World Turned Upside Down
      
   5. Dolphins
      
   6. Valentine's Day Is Over
   7. North Sea Bubble
   8. Body Of Water
   9. Levi Stubbs' Tears
   10. A Lover Sings
   11. She's Got A New Spell
   12. Cindy Of A Thousand Lives
   13. Accident Waiting To Happen
   14. Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards  
   15. Tender Comrade    
   16. Tank Park Salute  
   17. The Warmest Room  
   18. Sexuality

At The Broadway, Barking May 2006

1. 1. (Intro)
   2. A Lover Sings
   3. The Price I Pay
   4. Debris
      
   5. Tank Park Salute
   6. All You Fascists
   7. For The Great Leap Forwards
   8. A13, Trunk Road To The Sea