Don't Try This at Home (Billy Bragg album)

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Don't Try This at Home
BraggDontTry.jpg
Studio album by
Billy Bragg
Released17 September 1991 (1991-09-17)
StudioPavillion Studios, London W10; Cathouse Studios, Streatham; Sonet Studio, London; Clear, Manchester; John Keane Studios; Jester House, Athens, Georgia
GenreAlternative rock, folk rock, folk punk
Length56:37
LabelElektra, Go! Discs (UK), Cooking Vinyl (UK)
ProducerGrant Showbiz
Billy Bragg chronology
The Peel Sessions Album
(1991) 		Don't Try This at Home
(1991) 		William Bloke
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[1]
Chicago Tribune3/4 stars[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music4/5 stars[3]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[4]
NME9/10[5]
The Philadelphia Inquirer3.5/4 stars[6]
Q4/5 stars[7]
Rolling Stone3/5 stars[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide3.5/5 stars[9]
Select5/5[10]

Don't Try This at Home is the sixth full-length album by urban folk artist Billy Bragg.

"Sexuality" was released as a single which reached #27 on the UK charts and #2 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts. Johnny Marr of The Smiths co-wrote "Sexuality" and helped to produce two tracks.

The song "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" is about photographer Cindy Sherman.

"Tank Park Salute" is about his father, Dennis Bragg, who died of lung cancer when Bragg was 18. He said that for a show in Barking, where he grew up, he was so moved by the presence of his mother and brother in the audience that he kept a copy of the lyrics in case he forgot them while performing.[11]

R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Peter Buck contribute to "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood." The song was named after a drawing by Woody Guthrie, whose unpublished lyrics were set to music by Bragg and Wilco on the Mermaid Avenue albums a few years later.[12]

"Dolphins" is a cover of the Fred Neil song.

The song "God's Footballer" is about former professional football player Peter Knowles who spent his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers before voluntarily ending his football career to become a Jehovah's Witness.[13]

Track listing[]

All tracks written by Billy Bragg except where noted.

  1. "Accident Waiting to Happen"
  2. "Moving the Goalposts"
  3. "Everywhere" (Greg Trooper, Sid Griffin)
  4. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives"
  5. "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood" (Bragg, Peter Buck)
  6. "Trust"
  7. "God's Footballer"
  8. "The Few"
  9. "Sexuality" (Bragg, Johnny Marr)
  10. "Mother of the Bride"
  11. "Tank Park Salute"
  12. "Dolphins" (Fred Neil)
  13. "North Sea Bubble"
  14. "Rumours of War"
  15. "Wish You Were Her"
  16. "Body of Water" (Bragg, Philip Wigg aka "Wiggy")

Along with a remastered album, a second bonus disc was released by Yep Roc Records (in the U.S.) and Cooking Vinyl (in the U.K.) in 2006. The new tracks include demos of songs on the album, as well as several other songs, including a cover of The Beatles' "Revolution". Natalie Merchant sings on two tracks.

Bonus disc track listing[]

  1. "Party of God" (Lead vocals by Natalie Merchant)
  2. "North Sea Bubble" (demo)
  3. "Sexuality" (demo)
  4. "Just One Victory" (Todd Rundgren)
  5. "Everywhere"
  6. "Trust"
  7. "Bread & Circuses" (Natalie Merchant)
  8. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives"
  9. "The Few"
  10. "Revolution" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
  11. "Tighten up your Wig"
  12. "MBH"
  13. "This Gulf Between Us"
  14. "Picadilly Rambler"

Personnel[]

  • Grant Showbiz – production
  • Johnny Marr – production
  • Danny Thompson - double bass
  • Peter Buck – mandolin
  • Jody Linscott – percussion
  • John Keane – pedal steel guitar, bass
  • Billy Bragg – vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards
  • Mary Ramsey – violin, viola
  • Dave Woodhead – flugelhorn
  • Steven Lewis - backing vocals
  • J. F. T. Hood – drums, percussion
  • Kirsty MacColl -- backing vocals
  • Cara Tivey – piano, background vocals on "Dolphins"
  • James Eller – bass
  • Wiggy – electric guitar, bass
  • Julia Palmer – cello
  • Amanda Vincent – keyboards
  • Andy Hobson - bass
  • Caroline Hall – trombone
  • Elliet Mackrell – violin
  • Lorraine Bowen – clarinet, background vocals on "Accident Waiting to Happen", "Trust", "God's Footballer", "Wish You Were Her"
  • Victoria Taylor Roberts – background vocals
  • Michael Stipe – background vocals on "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood"
  • Andy Szabo – background vocals on "Wish You Were Her"
Technical

References[]

  1. ^ Deming, Mark. "Don't Try This at Home – Billy Bragg". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  2. ^ Rothschild, David (21 November 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home (Elektra)". Chicago Tribune.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  4. ^ Arnold, Gina (20 September 1991). "Don't Try This at Home". Entertainment Weekly.
  5. ^ Quantick, David (14 September 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home". NME.
  6. ^ Moon, Tom (20 October 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home (Elektra)". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  7. ^ Snow, Mat (October 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home". Q (61).
  8. ^ Tannenbaum, Rob (31 October 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007.
  9. ^ Considine, J. D. (2004). "Billy Bragg". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 101. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. ^ Kirsch, Michele (November 1991). "Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home". Select (17): 68.
  11. ^ Ross.P (2006)"Best of British", The Herald, 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  12. ^ "Patriot games". Record Collector. No. 345. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  13. ^ God's Footballer
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