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

Don't Try This at Home
Type:Album
Artist:Billy Bragg
Cover:BraggDontTry.jpg
Recorded:October 1990–July 1991
Studio:Pavillion Studios, London W10; Cathouse Studios, Streatham; Sonet Studio, London; Clear, Manchester; John Keane Studios, Athens, Georgia; Jester House, Athens, Georgia
Genre:Alternative rock, folk rock, folk punk
Label:Elektra (US), Go! Discs (UK), Cooking Vinyl (UK)
Producer:Grant Showbiz, Johnny Marr
Prev Title:The Peel Sessions Album
Prev Year:1991
Next Title:William Bloke
Next Year:1996

Don't Try This at Home is the sixth album by urban folk artist Billy Bragg, released on 16 September 1991 by Go! Discs.[1] It reached #8 on the UK Albums Chart.[2]

"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 three 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.[3]

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 The song was named after a drawing by Woody Guthrie, whose unpublished lyrics were set to music by Bragg and Wilco on the Mermaid Avenue albums a few years later.[4]

"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.[5]

Critical reception

Don't Try This at Home was released to positive reviews from music critics.[6] Writing for Select, Michele Kirsch found that Bragg had subverted "every pigeonhole he's ever had the misfortune to be bunged into by both the critics and, to some extent, himself." David Quantick of NME praised the record's "imagination" and noted the presence of "many occasions when your actual Bragg sound is radically altered", concluding that Bragg had "shrugged off the demons of despond and made his best album."

Track listing

Adapted from album liner notes.[7] [8]

All tracks written by Billy Bragg except where noted.

  1. "Accident Waiting to Happen"  - 4:01
  2. "Moving the Goalposts"  - 2:34
  3. "Everywhere" (Greg Trooper, Sid Griffin)  - 5:01
  4. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives"  - 4:15
  5. "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood" (Bragg, Peter Buck)  - 3:11
  6. "Trust"  - 4:13
  7. "God's Footballer"  - 3:04
  8. "The Few"  - 3:27
  9. "Sexuality" (Bragg, Johnny Marr)  - 3:49
  10. "Mother of the Bride"  - 3:36
  11. "Tank Park Salute"  - 3:30
  12. "Dolphins" (Fred Neil)  - 4:20
  13. "North Sea Bubble"  - 3:19
  14. "Rumours of War"  - 2:50
  15. "Wish You Were Her"  - 2:46
  16. "Body of Water" (Bragg, Philip Wigg aka "Wiggy")  - 3:58
Japanese bonus tracks
  2. "Bad Penny" (B-side of "Sexuality")  - 2:49
  3. "Bread and Circuses" (Bragg, Natalie Merchant) (B-side of "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood")  - 4:23
  4. "Sexuality (London Remix)" (Bragg, Marr) (B-side of "Sexuality")  - 6:27

Bonus disc track listing

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.

  1. "Party of God" (Bragg, Merchant) (lead vocals by Natalie Merchant)  - 4:15
  2. "North Sea Bubble" (demo)  - 3:30
  3. "Sexuality" (demo) (Bragg, Marr)  - 3:54
  4. "Just One Victory" (alternative mix) (Todd Rundgren)  - 5:31
  5. "Everywhere" (alternative version) (Trooper, Griffin)  - 4:42
  6. "Trust" (demo)  - 5:43
  7. "Bread and Circuses" (Bragg, Merchant)  - 4:28
  8. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" (demo)  - 3:38
  9. "The Few" (demo)  - 3:50
  10. "Revolution" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)  - 1:51
  11. "Tighten Up Your Wig" (with the Athenians and DJ Woody Dee)  - 3:18
  12. "MBH"  - 2:07
  13. "This Gulf Between Us"  - 2:46
  14. "Picadilly Rambler"  - 1:49
Bonus disc notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.[7] [8]

Production
Bonus disc

Notes and References

  1. Don't Try This at Home . 24 May 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240524054002/https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0qcAAOSwbDlg2IWc/s-l1600.webp . 24 May 2024 . dead . press advertisement . . 1991.
  2. Web site: Billy Bragg full Official Chart History. Official Charts. 12 September 2023.
  3. Ross.P (2006)"Best of British", The Herald, 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  4. . 4 February 2008. Patriot games . . 345. 21 August 2021.
  5. http://www.football-england.com/peter_knowles.html God's Footballer
  6. Book: Collins, Andrew . Still Suitable for Miners: Billy Bragg . Andrew Collins (broadcaster) . . 4th . 2013 . 978-0-7535-1245-6 . 223.
  7. Don't Try This at Home. Billy Bragg. 1991. liner notes. Go! Discs.
  8. Don't Try This at Home 2006 reissue. Billy Bragg. 2006. liner notes. Cooking Vinyl.

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