Workers Playtime
Studio album by
Billy Bragg
ReleasedSeptember 20, 1988
StudioPavilion Studios, London W10
GenreFolk punk
Length42:22
LabelElektra, Go! Discs
ProducerJoe Boyd, Wiggy
Billy Bragg chronology
Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
(1986)		 Workers Playtime
(1988)		 The Internationale
(1990)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert ChristgauB[2]
Record Mirror[3]
Rolling Stone[4]

Workers Playtime is a 1988 album by Billy Bragg. Originally released on the Go! Discs label, it is his fourth release but third full-length album. It was reissued on compact disc in September 1996 on the Cooking Vinyl label before being remastered, expanded and reissued in 2006 on Cooking Vinyl in the UK and on the Yep Roc label in the United States.

The album reached number 18 in the UK albums chart.[5]

It was voted number 499 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[6]

The original album cover has the subtitle "Capitalism Is Killing Music",[7] referring to the British Phonographic Industry's then-current campaign that "Home Taping Is Killing Music".

The album originally had a region- and format-specific price printed on the artwork, signifying the maximum price the album should be sold for (as "Pay no more than"), similar to Bragg's previous albums. For example, in the UK, no more than £4.99 should have been paid for the LP or cassette and £7.99 for the compact disc. Other prices included $15.99 for the LP or cassette in the US and AUD$23.99 for the Compact Disc in Australia. This particular aspect of the album was referenced in the TV series John Safran's Music Jamboree. The prices were removed on subsequent re-releases.

Track listing

All tracks written by Billy Bragg except where noted.

Disc one

  1. "She's Got a New Spell" – 3:26
  2. "Must I Paint You a Picture?" – 5:32
  3. "Tender Comrade" – 2:50
  4. "The Price I Pay" – 3:34
  5. "Little Time Bomb" – 2:17
  6. "Rotting on Remand" – 3:37
  7. "Valentine's Day is Over" – 4:53
  8. "Life With the Lions" – 3:06
  9. "The Only One" – 3:26
  10. "The Short Answer" – 4:59
  11. "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" – 4:35

Disc two (2006 reissue)

  1. "The Only One" (demo version) – 3:36
  2. "The Price I Pay" (demo version) – 4:01
  3. "Love Has No Pride" (Eric Kaz, Libby Titus) – 3:35
  4. "That's Entertainment" (Paul Weller) – 3:53
  5. "She's Got a New Spell" (demo version) – 2:44
  6. "The Short Answer" (demo version) – 5:21
  7. "Little Time Bomb" (demo version) – 2:21
  8. "Bad Penny" (demo version) – 3:05
  9. "Reason to Believe" (live) (Tim Hardin) – 2:12
  10. "Must I Paint You a Picture?" (extended version) – 7:13
  11. "Raglan Road" (live) (Patrick Kavanagh, traditional) – 3:46

Personnel

Musicians

Production

References

Information from the Official Billy Bragg website discography[8] and the 2006 reissue CD liner notes[9] unless otherwise noted.

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "CG: Billy Bragg". Robert Christgau.
  3. ↑ Murphy, Kevin (24 September 1988). "33". Record Mirror. p. 40. ISSN 0144-5804.
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  5. ↑ British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). 2006. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 175. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  7. ↑ "Workers Playtime", Billy Bragg, Electra 9 60824-2 (1988) CD
  8. ↑ "billy bragg - albums". www.billybragg.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 February 2002.
  9. ↑ "Workers Playtime", Billy Bragg, Yep records YEP2606 (2006) CD
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