Bragg Billy – Talking With the Taxman About Poetry (Blue Vinyl)

Billy Bragg's Talking with the Taxman About Poetry was originally released in September 1986, arriving deep in the Thatcher years and capturing the point where Bragg's writing turned more overtly political without losing its emotional pull. It was his third album and his first Top 10 release, a record that widened his stark early sound into something fuller while keeping the directness that made his songs matter in the first place.

Here Bragg works with producers John Porter and Kenny Jones, and brings in guests including Kirsty MacColl and Johnny Marr. That broader palette suits the album's mix of private and public concerns: the jangling lift of Greetings To The New Brunette, his first Top 40 hit, sits alongside Levi Stubbs' Tears, a song about domestic abuse and solace found in the Four Tops, and There Is Power in a Union, which became one of his best-known workers' anthems. Contemporary and retrospective writing around the album often points to how successfully it balanced polish with Bragg's plainspoken force.

This remastered vinyl edition was cut from high-resolution transfers made from master tapes in Billy Bragg's archive, giving a long overdue return to a record that marked a real shift in his catalogue: less lone voice with electric guitar, more band-shaped detail, but still unmistakably Billy Bragg.

Features

• Blue Vinyl
• Remastered by John Webber at Air Studios from high-resolution transfers of master tapes in Billy Bragg's archive
• Gatefold sleeve