Album Review

Billy Bragg – I Keep Faith

• 10th Mar 2008

“Red Billy” has lost none of his ability to use the trickling ambience of a piano to seep out working class life and complement his lobbing, pub banter style vocals. He has now had over 25 years in the business yet manages to retain a fresh edge. Billy doesn’t want any long service recognitions, he is happy to keep producing music of earthy quality and with ‘I Keep Faith’, it is aim achieved.

Small Faces mainstay, Ian McLagan provides the trickling piano and harmonica touch, so Billy can concentrate on the weaving guitars and delivering the urbanely poetic lyric push, as a follow your heart message is espoused without the merest hint of cheesiness.

An acoustic version of ‘Like Soldiers Do’, brings things down to earth, as Bragg mingles his two passions, that is passion and drawing attention to the cruelties of war;

“Our fathers were all soldiers, shall we be soldiers too? Fighting and falling like soldiers do.”

His poetic resonance lives on.