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Workers Playtime

A full band arrives, with Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards to close.
Billy Bragg, 1988

Released
September 1988
Studio
Pavilion Studios, London W10
Label
Go! Discs
Producer
Joe Boyd, Wiggy
Length
42:22

Released in September 1988, Workers Playtime added a full backing band for Bragg. Cara Tivey plays piano, Danny Thompson double bass and Micky Waller drums, and Michelle Shocked sings backing vocals. Joe Boyd produced it, with a co-production credit for Wiggy. It reached 18 in the UK albums chart.

The cover subtitle, Capitalism Is Killing Music, answered the British Phonographic Industry slogan Home Taping Is Killing Music. The original artwork also carried a maximum price: in the UK no more than 4.99 pounds for the LP or cassette and 7.99 pounds for the CD. The prices were dropped from later pressings. The advance single was Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards, which closes the album.

Reception and reissues

Melody Maker, quoted on Bragg's own site, called it his most thoughtful, most carefully-crafted work to date. Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums placed it at 499 in its third edition in 2000. The album was reissued on compact disc in 1996, then remastered and expanded in 2006 on Cooking Vinyl in the UK and Yep Roc in the US.

Track listing

  1. She's Got a New Spell3:26
  2. Must I Paint You a Picture?5:32
  3. Tender Comrade2:50
  4. The Price I Pay3:34
  5. Little Time Bomb2:17
  6. Rotting on Remand3:37
  7. Valentine's Day is Over4:53
  8. Life With the Lions3:06
  9. The Only One3:26
  10. The Short Answer4:59
  11. Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards4:35

Personnel

More from Billy Bragg

Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy (1983), Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984), Talking with the Taxman About Poetry (1986), Don't Try This at Home (1991), Mermaid Avenue (1998)

Sources

  1. Workers Playtime (album), Wikipedia
  2. Billy Bragg, Billy Bragg