The Internationale
Studio album by
Billy Bragg
Released30 April 1990[1]
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[2]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(dud)[3]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[4]
New Musical Express6/10[5]
Orlando Sentinel[6]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]

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.[8]

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

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

Bonus tracks

  2. "Joe Hill" (Phil Ochs) (from Don't Mourn – Organize! Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, 1990) – 8:23
  3. "This Land Is Your Land" (with Heathens All) (Woody Guthrie) (from The Disagreement of the People, 1995) – 4:35
  4. "Never Cross a Picket Line" (Bragg) (from Rock the Dock, 1998) – 3:38
  5. "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Sam Cooke) (previously unreleased) – 3:58
  6. "A Miner's Life" (traditional) (previously unreleased) – 3:01
Notes

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

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

Lithuania USSR – May 1988

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

Personnel

Musicians

Production

References

  1. ^ Andy Strickland, ed. (21 April 1990). "This Week: The Next Seven Days in View - Releases". Record Mirror. p. 29. ISSN 0144-5804.
  2. ^ Cleary, David. "Billy Bragg - The Internationale". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert (15 October 2000). "Billy Bragg". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780312245603.
  4. ^ Sandow, Greg (6 July 1990). "Notable music for the week of July 6, 1990". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  5. ^ Dalton, Stephen (5 May 1990). "Long Play: Hot to Trotsky". New Musical Express. p. 32.
  6. ^ Fields, Curt (19 October 1990). "Billy Bragg". Orlando Sentinel.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "Billy Bragg full Official Chart History". Official Charts. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
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