Description
Label Review.
2017 mini album. Billy says: “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters is the name of an etching created in 1799 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. The title struck a chord with me when trying to understand the events of last year. The lies and hubris of the Leave campaign in our EU referendum was echoed and amplified by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Only by restoring empathy and reason can we hope to defeat the monstrous forces of nationalism and untruth.”
Our Overview.
Billy Bragg has been entertaining and rabble rousing since the early 1980s. Legend has it that he attracted the attention of John Peel by buying him a curry and driving down to BBC Broadcasting House to give it to him on air after Peelie complained that he was hungry during a broadcast! He made waves with his debut mini album in 1983 ‘Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy’ and consolidated his rise with his first full length, ‘Brewing Up With...’ in 1984. By the following year he was on Top Of The Pops with the lead track from his EP “Between The Wars” and Kirsty MacColl scored a big hit with her version of his ‘A New England’.
Over the next few years, Bragg slowly commercialised his sound and package until he took a break in the early 90s to raise a family. Since his comeback in 1996 with ‘William Bloke’, he has taken more time over his records but now only a year since his collaboration with Joe Henry which took the pair across the United States making field recordings, Billy is back with half a dozen new songs commenting on some of the events in 2017.