Tooth & Nail
Recorded live with no overdubs in five days at producer Joe Henry\'s basement studio in Pasadena, Calif., *Tooth & Nail* is the most musical album in Billy Bragg\'s long and impressive catalog. Politics, for the most part, lose their capital P for the more intimate human aspects of the heart. Woody Guthrie gets his obligatory nod for \"I Ain\'t Got No Home.\" \"No One Knows Nothing Anymore\" sounds more resigned about world situations, but the album\'s true strengths lie with pedal steel/dobro man Greg Leisz and first-rate session drummer Jay Bellerose; together they ensure Bragg keeps his sights on the music. \"Swallow My Pride\" captures the feel of a classic soul ballad. \"Goodbye, Goodbye\" plays like a letter to Bragg\'s fans for sticking with him all these years. There\'s something sweet about this premature chance to acknowledge that there\'ll come a time when Bragg won\'t be making records anymore. But for now, songs like \"Chasing Rainbows\" and \"Your Name on My Tongue\" sound like he has plenty yet to say.
Tooth & Nail is Billy Bragg’s 15th album in 30 years, and it’s the first—as his press materials are quick to point out—since his 1983 debut Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy to be recorded live, with no overdubs. But beyond that similarity, it couldn’t really be much more different, and it can be difficult to reconcile…
"January Song," the bluesy leadoff track from veteran English folkie Billy Bragg's first solo outing since 2008's Mr. Love and Justice, begins with the lyric "I'm so tightly wound in tension" and ends with "This is how the world ends," signaling a shift from the stalwart political activism of previous outings to a more internalized dialogue that suggests a subtle re-positioning of the magnifying glass.
When a fan on Twitter called Billy Bragg "the sherpa of heartbreak," the controversial-cum-contemplative songwriter took note and wrote a record steeped in matters of the heart.
Billy Bragg's new album is a downbeat, but authentic, affair, writes <strong>Neil Spencer</strong>
Billy Bragg – with more bleak and personal material than usual – has released his classiest-sounding album to date, writes <strong>Robin Denselow</strong>
The personal meets the political on the bard of Burton Bradstock's new album. CD review by Bruce Dessau