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Billy Bragg - Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg

Track listing:
Volume 1
  1. A New England 2:15
  2. The Man In The Iron Mask 2:13
  3. The Milkman Of Human Kindness 2:48
  4. To Have And To Have Not 2:33
  5. A Lover Sings 3:53
  6. St. Swithin's Day 3:55
  7. The Saturday Boy 3:31
  8. Between The Wars 2:29
  9. The World Turned Upside Down 2:35
  10. Levi Stubbs' Tears 3:32
  11. Walk Away Renee 2:24
  12. Greetings To The New Brunette 3:32
  13. There Is Power In A Union 2:50
  14. Help Save The Youth Of America 2:48
  15. The Warmest Room 3:58
  16. Must I Paint You A Picture 5:31
  17. She's Got A New Spell 3:24
  18. The Price I Pay 3:34
  19. Valentine's Day Is Over 4:54
  20. Waiting For The Great Leap Fowards 4:36
Volume 2
  1. Sexuality 3:48
  2. Cindy Of 1000 Lives 4:14
  3. Moving The Goalposts 2:34
  4. Tank Park Salute 3:29
  5. You Woke Up My Neighbourhood 3:10
  6. Accident Waiting To Happen (Red Stars Version) 3:48
  7. Sulk 3:47
  8. Upfield 4:05
  9. The Fourteenth Of Feburary 3:25
  10. Brickbat 3:13
  11. The Space Race Is Over 4:25
  12. The Boy Done Good 3:22
  13. Ingrid Bergman 1:50
  14. Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key 4:07
  15. My Flying Saucer 1:46
  16. All You Fascists Bound To Lose (Blokes Version) 4:11
  17. NPWA 5:29
  18. St. Monday 3:01
  19. Somedays I See The Point 4:57
  20. Take Down The Union Jack (Band Version) 3:22
Volume 3
  1. A13, Trunk Road To The Sea 2:28
  2. Fear Is A Mans Best Friend (Live) 2:33
  3. Cold And Bitter Tears 2:35
  4. Seven And Seven Is 2:12
  5. When Will I See You Again? 3:02
  6. Rule Nor Reason 3:33
  7. Debris 4:10
  8. Dry Bed 1:48
  9. She Smiled Sweetly 2:52
  10. Take Down The Union Jack 2:47

Notes

Feb 1983 - 2001

In 1983, Billy Bragg was a guy with a cheap electric guitar, a rough but passionate voice, and a knack for writing and singing straight from the heart whether he was discussing leftist political concerns or the mysterious interactions between men and women. The guy has a band and the political issues that have caught his attention are trickier 20 years later, but he's still enchanted and puzzled by love, and hasn't stopped writing worthwhile songs about it. Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg is a two-disc, 40-song compilation that does an admirable job of capturing the hills and valleys of Bragg's recording career, opening up with "A New England" from his debut EP, Life's a Riot With Spy vs. Spy, and closing with a cut from 2002's England, Half English. A spin through this set suggests that Bragg's best (or at least most affecting) work arrived in the early stages of his career, as disc one (which follows Bragg through Worker's Playtime) is a decidedly more solid and absorbing listen than disc two (the material from the disappointing William Bloke in particular weighs down the collection's second act), and his love songs have stood the test of time a shade better than his political material (the miners' strike may be over, but broken hearts are timeless). But there are plenty of gems to be found throughout this collection, and Must I Paint You a Picture? serves as a potent reminder that in the grand tradition of Bob Dylan, even Bragg's lesser albums contain a handful of truly memorable songs worth hearing; if this isn't the ideal Billy Bragg collection, it's an excellent introduction, a solid career overview, and a lovely reminder of how much he has to say about the heart and the mind. Initial pressings come with a ten-song bonus disc that adds several hard to find selections, including Bragg's Anglophile rewrite of "Route 66," a telling duet with the late Ted Hawkins, and a bootleg remix that merges Bragg with the Hives.