A while back I was in a friend’s car and he was playing the Mermaid Ave. CD and I really dug it so I went out to buy my own copy. (This is an album that Billy Bragg and Wilco recorded together, the source material being old Woody Guthrie lyrics the music for which Woody took with him. Billy Bragg and Wilco wrote the music as they imagined Woody would have written it.)
I love this album and fully intend on buying Vol.2.
What should I check out of the rest of the Billy Bragg and Wilco catalogues?
Wilco’s being there. Great country-rockish double album, sort of a cross between Neil Young and The Replacements. Some people like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but I found it a little precious, in an over-cooked, “look how different this is from our last album” way.
Second on Wilco’s Being There…it’s glorious. I’ll stop short of calling it the alt.country incarnation of “the White Album,” but I’m thinking it. I also like Wilco’s first album A.M. a lot.
For what it’s worth, you might want to explore the entire Uncle Tupelo catalog, as Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy was a member of that band. Their last album Anodyne is performed by what is basically Wilco’s starting lineup, but seriously, almost anything by the band is worth it. My personal fave is Still Feel Gone.
In Billy Bragg’s case, probably his most popular/accessible album is Workers Playtime, his first album with a full band…everything prior to that is solo electric guitar/vocal, and a little harder to get into for a lot of people. *Don’t Try This At Home * is my favorite, and has some good guest shots with members of R.E.M. in their prime as well as a great cover of Fred Neil’s “Dolphins.”
If you’ve never heard Billy Bragg’s “Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards”, I strongly suggest you go out and buy Workers Playtime this very second. I agree with todd33rpm that on balance, *Don’t Try This At Home * is a better record, but “…Great Leap…” is an unbelievably great song. I must have listened to it 10 times a day after I first bought that record.
I’ll stay out of the Wilco discussion, as I’m a Jay Farrar guy. I will say though that I don’t know any Wilco fans that think that their most recent release is among their better records.
All of Wilco’s albums are very worthwhile, often for different reasons. Being There and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are at the top of the heap, but I would personally consider them all essential.
Same goes for Uncle Tupelo, even though Tweedy was by far the weaker half of the Farrar/Tweedy duo.
I’m not as familiar with Billy Bragg, unfortunately, though like you I enjoyed both “Mermaid Ave.” albums.
Mad props for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but no love for Summerteeth? IMHO (not that this is the forum for it), it’s certainly as good as Being There.
I absolutely adore Summerteeth. I think it sounds very heavily influenced by The Beatles (though I know someone on this board thinks it sounds more like Pet Sounds, yet another hears The Traveling Wilburies in the songs). Whatever influenced them, it’s brilliant. High re-play value. I must have listened to it a million times on my drive to and back from Utah.
Their latest album, A Ghost is Born is different from their other work–much darker, I think. But it’s my third favorite (behind Summerteeth and Mermaid Ave). Another album with wonderful re-play value.
I’m going to go see Wilco on Friday at the Wilturn in L.A. I’m very, very excited! 
get the dvd Man in the Sand, which is a documentary about the making of the Mermaid Avenue cds.
Also, Billy Bragg’s Talking with the Taxman about Poetry, Worker’s Playtime, and there’s a great one of B-Sides, which I had and then lost. Can’t remember the name of it, but it has an orange cover and has the song Don’t Walk Away Renee on it. Killer!
I think you mean Reaching to the Converted.
Unlike most of the other people who’ve posted, I am a much bigger Billy Bragg than Wilco fan. By far his best album, in my opinion, is Talking with the Taxman about Poetry, followed by Don’t Try this at Home. I personally think that Worker’s Playtime is his weakest album, except for the absolutely brilliant Great Leap Forwards.
If you’re looking for a decent Billy Bragg Compilation, his double album Must I paint you a picture? has a pretty good tracklist.
Also, try to get your hands on his version of My Youngest Son Came Home Today with Micheal Stipe and A New England with Kirsty MacColl. Both are great!
Man, do I ever love Billy!
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is seriously the best album I have heard in ages - and it gets better with every spin.
they often have free tunes to download from <http://www.wilcoweb.com>
cheers
I’ve heard volume 2 of Mermaid Avenue isn’t as good as the first. Does anyone here like it?
I have Billy Bragg’s album “Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg”. It has two discs, with a third for rarities. It’s good.