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

Don't Try This at Home
Studio album by Billy Bragg
Released 17 September 1991
Genre Rock, Folk
Length 56:37
Label Elektra
Producer Grant Showbiz
Billy Bragg chronology

The Peel Sessions Album
(1991)		 Don't Try This at Home
(1991)		 William Bloke
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Entertainment Weekly A−[2]
Robert Christgau [3]
Rolling Stone [4]

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.[5]

R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Peter Buck contribute to "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood."

"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.[6]

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"
  3. "Sexuality"
  4. "Just One Victory"
  5. "Everywhere"
  6. "Trust"
  7. "Bread & Circuses"
  8. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives"
  9. "The Few"
  10. "Revolution"
  11. "Tighten up your Wig"
  12. "MBH"
  13. "This Gulf Between Us"
  14. "Picadilly Rambler"

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Entertainment Weekly review
  3. ↑ Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  5. ↑ Ross.P (2006)"Best of British", The Herald, 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  6. ↑ God's Footballer