Best Of Billy Bragg At The BBC 1983-2019 is a new double CD compilation of classic Billy Bragg performances at the BBC from the early 80s through to the present. The album, fully remastered and featuring many previously unreleased tracks, includes selected highlights from sessions for John Peel, David Jensen, Janice Long, Phill Jupitus, Bob Harris, Tom Robinson and more, and offers a fascinating chronological perspective on the development of one of the UK's most beloved entertainers. Featuring 38 classic tracks, the collection draws from all corners of Billy's catalogue and features, among many gems, his signature song "A New England" (later covered to huge acclaim by Kirsty MacColl), "Levi Stubbs' Tears" and his workers' anthem "There Is Power In A Union," with a couple of atypical covers thrown in, namely John Cale's "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" and "A13," his personal psycho-geography take on "Route 66." All of these and more paint a picture of a British national treasure plying his trade at a British institution and making the world a better place in the process.
1 A New England (John Peel Session, 27th July 1983)
2 Fear Is a Man's Best Friend (John Peel Session, 27th July 1983)
3 Love Gets Dangerous (John Peel Session, 27th July 1983)
4 Like Soldiers Do (David Jensen Session, 22nd December 1983)
5 The Man in the Iron Mask (David Jensen Session, 22nd December 1983)
6 The Saturday Boy (David Jensen Session, 22nd December 1983)
7 A Lover Sings (John Peel Session, 18th September 1984)
8 Between the Wars (John Peel Session, 18th September 1984)
9 A13, Trunk Road to the Sea (Saturday Live, 13th October 1984)
10 There Is Power in a Union (John Peel Session, 20th August 1985)
11 Days Like These (John Peel Session, 20th August 1985)
12 Scholarship Is the Enemy of Romance (Janice Long Session, 18th December 1985)
13 Greetings to the New Brunette (John Peel Session, 2nd September 1986)
14 Ideology (John Peel Session, 2nd September 1986)
15 The Warmest Room (John Peel Session, 2nd September 1986)
16 She's Got a New Spell (John Peel Session, 30th August 1988)
17 Valentine's Day Is Over (John Peel Session, 30th August 1988)
18 The Short Answer (John Peel Session, 30th August 1988)
19 Rotting on Remand (John Peel Session, 30th August 1988)
20 The Few (John Peel Session, 12th May 1991)
21 Accident Waiting to Happen (John Peel Session, 12th May 1991)
22 Tank Park Salute (John Peel Session, 12th May 1991)
23 Brickbat (John Peel Session, 13th October 1995)
24 This Gulf Between Us (John Peel Session, 13th October 1995)
25 Goal Hanger (John Peel Divas Bar Live, 1st May 1997)
26 The Boy Done Good (John Peel Divas Bar Live, 1st May 1997)
27 From Red to Blue (John Peel Divas Bar Live, 1st May 1997)
28 The Busy Girl Buys Beauty (Janice Long Paris Theatre London Live, October 1999)
29 It Says Here (Janice Long Paris Theatre London Live, October 1999)
30 Lonesome Traveller (John Peel Session, 8th December 2004)
31 Goodbye, Goodbye (Phill Jupitus Live, 30th March 2007)
32 Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key (Bob Harris Live, 6th May 2012)
33 No-One Knows Nothing Anymore (Latitude Festival Live, 18th July 2014)
34 Levi Stubbs' Tears (Glastonbury Live, 26th June 2015)
35 Why We Build the Wall (Tom Robinson Live Buxton Opera House, 21st January 2017)
36 I Ain't Got No Home (Radio 2 Folk Awards Live, 5th April 2017)
37 The Space Race Is Over (Tom Robinson Now Playing 'Billy Bragg Takeover', 14th July 2019)
38 St. Swithin's Day (Tom Robinson Now Playing 'Billy Bragg Takeover', 14th July 2019)
Best Of Billy Bragg At The BBC 1983-2019 is a new double CD compilation of classic Billy Bragg performances at the BBC from the early 80s through to the present. The album, fully remastered and featuring many previously unreleased tracks, includes selected highlights from sessions for John Peel, David Jensen, Janice Long, Phill Jupitus, Bob Harris, Tom Robinson and more, and offers a fascinating chronological perspective on the development of one of the UK's most beloved entertainers. Featuring 38 classic tracks, the collection draws from all corners of Billy's catalogue and features, among many gems, his signature song "A New England" (later covered to huge acclaim by Kirsty MacColl), "Levi Stubbs' Tears" and his workers' anthem "There Is Power In A Union," with a couple of atypical covers thrown in, namely John Cale's "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" and "A13," his personal psycho-geography take on "Route 66." All of these and more paint a picture of a British national treasure plying his trade at a British institution and making the world a better place in the process.
