Customer Reviews
Five Red Stars. - By: Ian Wood, Author of 'Here's 2 Absent Fathers', 22 Mar 2008 
After the return to basics for the Utility album `The Internationale' Billy Bragg returned to Go Discs to continue ploughing the furrow he had started with `Workers Playtime'. This time rather than argue with label boss, Billy decided to play the game with the label picking the singles & promoting them with MTV friendly videos.
To this ends with a fanfare of press `Sexuality' hit the TV & the charts with a band bolstered by co-producer Johnny Marr & backing vocals from Kirsty MacColl.
The album continued in this vein opening with the rock calll to arms anthem `Accident Waiting to Happen' which moves seamlessly into `Moving the Goalposts' which reads like an apology for his new direction. Next up is the wonderful cover of `Everywhere' which with it's anti-war message fits nicely into a Billy Bragg set, much more so than Fred Neil's `Dolphins' also included.
The second single & collaboration with REM's Michael Stripe & Peter Buck is one of the weaker songs on the album & I imagine its choice as a single was more based on its celebrity connections rather than representation of the album. I think the album is at its best when the songs are pure Bragg but with an accompaniment we didn't expect, songs such as `God's Footballler', `The Few', `Mother of the Bride', `Tank Park Salute' & `North Sea Bubble'.
The bonus disc brings very little to the party except for `MBH', `The Gulf Between Us' & `The Piccadilly Rambler' written for the TV drama `Safe', commerciallly available for the first time.
Bragg toured with a band, The Red Stars, for the first time to promote `Don't Try this at Home' & this made for a great concert as I can attest to. If you needed additional proof as to what a tight band the Red Stars became I would recommend bootleg `No Pop, No Style, Strictly Roots' as further reading.
He had an uncle who once played for Red Star Belgrade ! - By: redando, 19 Oct 2006 I've always loved this album,originallly released in 1991.It contains many of Bill's best loved songs , a mixture of the political & personal.Its a lot easier on the ear than his previous album , Workers Playtime , & it has better tunes than his later albums.
There are 3 bona fide hit singles here - Sexuality,Accident Waiting To Happen,and Neighborhood (featuring REM) , but there are many other superb tracks - Cindy Of A Thousand Lives & Gods Footballler in particular.
Now its re-released with a Bonus disc of 14 tracks , some of which are considerably different versions of tracks on the actual album , but also some new (to me anyway) songs -Bread & Circuses,Party Of God (which was a 10,000 maniacs B side), & Piccadilly Rambler (from a BBC TV play).The quality on the bonus disc doesnt dip at alll & I think for 8 quid you can't go wrong here.
All together now " I've had relations with girls from many nations!!"
