The Internationale
Studio album by
Billy Bragg
ReleasedMay 1990
RecordedJanuary–March 1990
StudioGateway Studios, London; Cathouse Studios, Streatham; Pier House Studios, Edinburgh
GenreFolk
Length19:23
LabelLiberation Records, Utility Records
ProducerGrant Showbiz, Wiggy
Billy Bragg chronology
Workers Playtime
(1988)		 The Internationale
(1990)		 The Peel Sessions Album
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(dud)[2]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[3]
New Musical Express6/10[4]
Orlando Sentinel[5]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

The Internationale is a 1990 album by Billy Bragg. Originally released on Bragg's short-lived record label, Utility Records, it is a deliberately political album, consisting mainly of cover versions and rewrites of left-wing protest songs. Although Bragg is known for his association with left-wing causes, this release is unusual; most of Bragg's recordings balance overtly political songs with social observation and love songs.

The album peaked at number 34 on the UK Albums Chart in May 1990.[7]

Versions

The album was originally released as a seven-track EP in 1990.

In 2006, as part of a planned series of reissues of albums in his back catalogue, The Internationale was remastered and reissued along with the seven tracks from 1988's Live & Dubious EP and five bonus tracks. Also included is a bonus DVD titled Here and There containing live concerts from East Berlin, Nicaragua and the Soviet Union.

Track listing

Original album

  1. "The Internationale" (Pierre De Geyter, Billy Bragg) – 3:45
  2. "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night" (Earl Robinson, Bragg) – 1:27
  3. "The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions" (Bragg) – 3:59
  4. "Blake's Jerusalem" (William Blake, Hubert Parry) – 2:30
  5. "Nicaragua Nicaraguita" (Carlos Mejía Godoy) – 1:06
  6. "The Red Flag" (Jim Connell, traditional) – 3:12
  7. "My Youngest Son Came Home Today" (Eric Bogle) – 3:04

2006 reissue bonus tracks

Live and Dubious EP

  1. "Introduction" (live) – 0:57
  2. "Help Save the Youth of America" (live) (Bragg) – 2:36
  3. "Think Again" (live) (Dick Gaughan) – 4:21
  4. "Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto" (live) (Bernice Johnson Reagon) – 3:09
  5. "Days Like These" (DC remix) (Bragg) – 2:40
  6. "To Have and to Have Not" (live) (Bragg) – 2:47
  7. "There Is Power in a Union" (with The Pattersons) (Bragg, George F. Root, traditional) – 3:27

Bonus tracks

  1. "Joe Hill" (Phil Ochs) (from Don't Mourn – Organize! Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, 1990) – 8:23
  2. "This Land Is Your Land" (with Heathens All) (Woody Guthrie) (from The Disagreement of the People, 1995) – 4:35
  3. "Never Cross a Picket Line" (Bragg) (from Rock the Dock, 1998) – 3:38
  4. "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Sam Cooke) (previously unreleased) – 3:58
  5. "A Miner's Life" (traditional) (previously unreleased) – 3:01
Notes
  • Tracks 8-14 recorded and compiled at Pavillion Studios, London.
  • Tracks 15, 18 and 19 recorded duing The Internationale sessions.
  • Track 17 produced at Cathouse Studios.

Bonus DVD – Here and There

East Berlin DDR – February 1986

  1. "There Is Power in a Union" (live) (Bragg, Root, traditional) – 2:35
  2. "Between the Wars" (live) (Bragg) – 2:31

Nicaragua – July 1987

  1. "Nicaragua Nicaraguita" (live) (Godoy) – 1:07

Lithuania USSR – May 1988

  1. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (live) (Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong) – 2:07
  2. "To Have and to Have Not" (live) (Bragg) – 2:21
  3. "The Milkman of Human Kindness" (live) (Bragg) – 2:29
  4. "Island of No Return" (live) (Bragg) – 3:24
  5. "Introduction to Between the Wars" (live) – 3:15
  6. "Between the Wars" (live) (Bragg) – 2:21
  7. "The World Turned Upside Down" (live) (Leon Rosselson) – 3:02
  8. "Levi Stubbs' Tears" (live) (Bragg) – 3:15
  9. "Help Save the Youth of America" (live) (Bragg) – 2:36
  10. "A New England" (Bragg) – 2:04
  11. "Wishing the Days Away" (Bragg) – 4:15
  12. "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield) / "Tupelo Honey" (Van Morrison) – 3:02
  13. "Star" (David Bowie) – 1:56
  14. "A13, Trunk Road to The Sea" (Bobby Troup) – 2:17

Personnel

Musicians

Production

  • Grant Showbiz – producer (1–7, 17), reissue producer, reissue compilation
  • Wiggy – producer (1–7), DVD compilation
  • Charlie Llewellin – engineer
  • Derek Bolland – engineer (1–7)
  • Peter Haigh – engineer (1–7)
  • Step Parikian – engineer (1–7)
  • Committee – design
  • Kenny Jones – producer, engineer, compilation (8–14)
  • Tim Young – remastering (tracks 1–14)
  • Duncan Cowell – remastering (tracks 15–19)

References

  1. ↑ Cleary, David. "Billy Bragg - The Internationale". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (15 October 2000). "Billy Bragg". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780312245603.
  3. ↑ Sandow, Greg (6 July 1990). "Notable music for the week of July 6, 1990". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  4. ↑ Dalton, Stephen (5 May 1990). "Long Play: Hot to Trotsky". New Musical Express. p. 32.
  5. ↑ Fields, Curt (19 October 1990). "Billy Bragg". Orlando Sentinel.
  6. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City: Simon and Schuster. p. 101. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. rolling stone billy bragg album guide.
  7. ↑ "Billy Bragg full Official Chart History". Official Charts. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
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