After a rash of re-issued and re-mastered classic Bragg albums a couple of years ago, Mr. Love & Justice is Billy back with his backing band, The Blokes. The album is testament to his ability to keep the faith. In fact, the opening track is called ‘I Keep Faith’, with guest vocals from the even older (and legendary) Robert Wyatt.

Fresh after his appearance at Rough Trade’s ‘Record Store Day’ and St. Georges Day Bash with the talk of the folk world Rachel Unthank & The Winterset (who I just missed at Larmer Tree last year) and the brilliant Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (who I didn’t miss at Larmer Tree. To digress, someone in the crowd shouted, “Hey Billy! What’s Hawaiian rockabilly to being English?” and Billy told him, check out the Hawaii. What a clever bloke and after just celebrating 25 years since his first solo gig, he knows how to perform.

While ‘I Keep Faith’ is a declaration and in keeping with the older Bragg Folk Britannia/The Imagined Village politic than lefty red wedge younger days. Particularly strong tracks are ‘O Freedom’, ‘The Beach Is Free’ and ‘The Johnny Carcinogenic Show’. Taking the line “What other Industry could get away with contaminating their best customers this way”, as an ex-smoker myself, this track is in the best tradition of BB as it hurts to listen to while at the same time, a happy sing-a-long; “Poverty is toxic”.

Bragg always managed to appeal to the ladies as his tender love songs was always something that he managed to do well and ‘You Make Me Brave’ and ‘If You Ever Leave’ are no exceptions.

Even for a clever bloke, Billy has always had the common touch. Our generation’s Bob Dylan. And on the strength of this album, I’d say he’s actually better now than he ever was, ‘I Almost Killed You’ and ‘M For Me’ being good examples; “Take the M for Me and the Y for you out of family, and it all falls through” (great bit of trombone too!)

But putting this altogether, you just know he’d try and make sense of it all. The auto-biographical title track ‘Mr. Love & Justice’ fails as a ‘My Way’ for me but all the other 11 tracks make up for this. Barking’s Mr. Internationale now lives in Dorset so with the release of the album timed to coincide with May Day Bank Holiday, a good time to visit Tolpuddle — the home of the original farm boys.

The Hectic Mix for John Peel Day 2008 will definitely feature one of these tracks; looks like a best yet.

Reviewed: Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice (Cooking Vinyl) Cat. No. COOKCD452 Release Date: 3rd May 2008
Tracklisting
01. I Keep Faith (4:34)
02. I Almost Killed You (2:38)
03. M For Me (2:43)
04. The Beach Is Free (2:43)
05. Sing Their Souls Back Home (3:28)
06. You Make Me Brave (3:06)
07. Something Happened (2:38)
08. Mr. Love & Justice (3:13)
09. If You Ever Leave (3:00)
10. O Freedom (4:04)
11. The Johnny Carcinogenic Show (4:15)
12. Farm Boy (3:37)

Links:
www.billybragg.co.uk December 20, 1957 in Barking, Essex, United Kingdom
www.braggtopia.com
http://imaginedvillage.com/artists/Billy_Bragg “Troubadour, songwriter political activist, broadcaster, writer and bandleader (of The Blokes) — since his arrival in the early Eighties the Bard of Barking has become a one-man institution, the living link between Gerrard Winstanley and Woody Guthrie, George Orwell and The Clash”
www.rachelunthank.com
www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival 2008 — 18-20 July.
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