Talking with the Taxman About Poetry

Bragg recorded his third album from March to July 1986 at Livingston Studios in Wood Green, London, with Kenny Jones and John Porter producing. Go! Discs issued it in the UK on 22 September 1986 and Elektra in the US. The original cover carried the subtitle The Difficult Third Album. It was his first Top 10 album. The title is that of a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky, and a translation of the poem was printed on the inner sleeve.

Earlier records had been little more than Bragg and a guitar. This one used more musicians. Johnny Marr plays electric guitar and Kirsty MacColl sings on Greetings to the New Brunette and The Passion. Dave Woodhead plays trumpet and flugelhorn on The Marriage, Levi Stubbs' Tears and The Home Front. Porter plays bass and slide guitar on Greetings to the New Brunette, and mandolin on Help Save the Youth of America and Wishing the Days Away. There Is Power in a Union borrows the tune of Battle Cry of Freedom. Levi Stubbs' Tears reached 29 in the UK as the first single, and Greetings to the New Brunette reached 58.

Reception and reissues

David Handelman of Rolling Stone called the album a winning mesh, by turns as political as the Clash, as clever as Elvis Costello, as melodic as Ray Davies and as rocking as Chuck Berry. Ira Robbins of Trouser Press called it a great leap forward and praised the deft, understated instrumental accompaniment on some of Bragg's best-ever songs. Pitchfork, reviewing the 2006 reissue set, singled out Levi Stubbs' Tears as absolutely devastating. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

The 2006 reissue added a second disc produced by Grant Showbiz. It holds a Gram Parsons cover, Sin City, and a Woody Guthrie song, Deportees, both with Hank Wangford, as well as a demo of Greetings to the New Brunette. A later remastered edition was cut by John Webber at Air Studios from high-resolution transfers of the original master tapes held in Bragg's archive.