It's a 1983 LP, first released by Charisma in May, but this is the November ‘Go! Records’ re-issue bought by my dad in 1983. (Or maybe 1984 – it was a long time ago!) ‘Go!’ were an independent label started by an ex-employee of Stiff Records and had Billy Bragg as their first signing.
But is it an LP or an EP? It’s only 16 minutes and 7 tracks long! Also, when you first play it, it sounds a bit funny because it’s a 45 rpm record, not 33 1/3 rpm!
It’s a simple sleeve design, with a striking orange and white stripe pattern. Typical early Billy Bragg wanted it to be affordable and it reads on the front cover ‘PAY NO MORE THAN £2.99 FOR THIS 7 TRACK ALBUM’. It also has nice touches like the ‘Beware the Squander Bug’ logo, which is still an important message today with the environment and globalisation.
The songs sound simple (one man, one guitar, one amp) but are actually quite difficult to play. They have a very percussive sound, which reminds me of some of the ‘olde’ blues players, like Son House.
My favourite song is 'A New England’, though ‘The Busy Girl Buys Beauty’ is a close second.
There’s a really good write up by Billy Bragg himself on his Facebook page about the ‘made in Japan’ Arbiter guitar that he used for the LP.
https://www.facebook.com/billybraggofficial/posts/following-the-positive-response-to-my-posting-about-the-burns-steer-last-week-th/10154995597957471/
If you haven’t got Facebook, there’s also this link:
https://six-string-survivors.tumblr.com/post/17732992666/billy-bragg-week-continues-here-at-six-string
There’s a fun video on Youtube where Billy Bragg plays the whole LP as an encore. Interestingly, he uses a Telecaster here and it still sounds great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOpSIPZiI-I
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