Billy Bragg ‘Best Of BB At The BBC 1983-2019’ vinyl and CD sets released in September

Always a fixture on the live circuit throughout the 80s and 90s, Billy Bragg was also no stranger to  radio sessions.  Between 1983 and 2000, he was the subject of eleven Peel Sessions. Only a few artists recorded a higher number of sessions for the legendary DJ’s show.  Highlights of some of those earlier sets were compiled on a now hard to find 1991 ‘Peel Sessions’ release on Strange Fruit Records.

A new compilation ‘Best of BB at The BBC 1983-2019’ brings together 38 radio session tracks, many of which are being released on CD and vinyl for the first time.

The confirmed tracklist for the 2CD/3LP edition is as follows:

1 A New England (John Peel session, 27th July 1983)
2 Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend [Cale] (John Peel session, 27th July 1983)
3 Love Gets Dangerous (John Peel session, 27thJuly 1983)
4 Like Soldiers Do (David Jensen session, 22ndDecember 1983)
5 The Man In The Iron Mask (w/ Dave Woodhead) (David Jensen session, 22ndDecember 1983)
6 The Saturday Boy (David Jensen session, 22ndDecember 1983)
7 A Lover Sings (John Peel session, 18thSeptember 1984)
8 Between The Wars (John Peel session, 18thSeptember 1984)
9 A13, Trunk Road To The Sea [Troup/Bragg] (w/ Wiggy) (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, 20thAugust 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, 2ndSeptember 1986)
16 She’s Got a New Spell (John Peel session, 30thAugust 1988)
17 Valentine’s Day Is Over (John Peel session, 30th August 1988)
18 The Short Answer (John Peel session, 30thAugust 1988)
19 Rotting On Remand (John Peel session, 30thAugust 1988)
20 The Few (John Peel session, 12th May 1991)
21 Accident Waiting To Happen (w/ Wiggy) (John Peel session, 12th May 1991)
22 Tank Park Salute (w/ Cara Tivey) (John Peel session, 12th May 1991)
23 Brickbat (John Peel session, 13th October 1995)
24 This Gulf Between Us (John Peel session, 13thOctober 1995)
25 Goal Hanger (London Music Week live, 1st May 1997)
26 The Boy Done Good [Bragg/Marr] (London Music Week live, 1st May 1997)
27 From Red To Blue (London Music Week 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 [Hays] (John Peel session, 8thDecember 2004)
31 Goodbye, Goodbye (Phill Jupitus live, 30thMarch 2007)
32 Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key [Guthrie/Bragg] (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 [Anais Mitchell] (Tom Robinson live Buxton Opera House, 21st January 2017)
36 I Ain’t Got No Home [Guthrie] (w/ CJ Hillman) (Radio 2 Folk Awards live, 5th April 2017)
37 The Space Race Is Over (Tom Robinson Now Playing 6Music ‘Billy Bragg Takeover’, 14th July 2019)
38 St. Swithin’s Day (Tom Robinson Now Playing 6Music ‘Billy Bragg Takeover’, 14th July 2019)

Special bundles including signed CDs and a white vinyl edition can be purchased exclusively at Billy’s webstore here.  Standard edition 2CD sets and black vinyl pressings will be available from all of your usual preferred outlets.

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For the keen Bragg fan, this new release includes lots of gems, but it doesn’t cancel out the need for the earlier Peel Sessions disc. Included on that 1991 set but absent on this new set are the following selections:

This Guitar Says Sorry (27th July ’83)
Strange Things Happen (27th July ’83)
A13, Trunk Road To The Sea (27th July ’83)
Which Side Are You On? (18th September ’84)
The Marriage (20th August ’85)
Jeane (20th August ’85)
Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto (2nd September ’86)

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Read Real Gone’s review of Billy’s ‘Bridges Not Walls’ mini album here.