Don't Try This at Home
One wouldn't imagine that a died-in-red-wool socialist agitator and spiritual offspring of Woody Guthrie would be able to make serious inroads in modern-rock radio, but Billy Bragg did indeed slip onto some playlists with 1991'sDon't Try This at Home. Working with a full band (the Smiths' Johnny Marr and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Michael Stipe are among the guests) with bits of brass and strings shading the arrangements, Bragg came up with a surplus of hooky songs highlighted by the minor hit "Sexuality." Conflict both personal ("You Woke Up My Neighborhood," "Accident Waiting to Happen") and political ("Everywhere," "God's Footballer") intertwine among these 16 songs in customary Bragg fashion. Ultimately,Homestands as one of the Brit firebrand's most accessible efforts.--Steven Stolder