The Internationale (album)

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.

Not to be confused with Internationale (EP).

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 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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