★★★★★
The Union Chapel's sympathetic acoustics make the North London venue a favourite among artists intent on a little unplugged action, but Bragg took to its stage last summer with all amps blazing. Backed by many of the musicians who'd played on his then recent album Tooth & Nail, it was also an opportunity to revisit former glories reupholstered in an Americana-hued musical setting.
- recordcollectormag.com
2014-04-24
★★★★★
The bard's compact debut plus live counterpart... There are many reasons to welcome this anniversary edition of Billy Bragg's seven-track debut album - not all of them directly concerning the music. In an age of extravagantly bloated deluxe packages, there's something heartening about the fact that, even puffed up to twice its original size, this expanded version of Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy comes in at a shade under 35 minutes...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2013-12-03
★★★★★
To get an idea of how far Billy Bragg has come since Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy was first issued 30 years ago, one only has to listen to it in tandem with Tooth & Nail, the album he released earlier this year, considered by some critics to be his best effort thus far. Tooth & Nail is steeped in an American roots sensibility. Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy is, well, something of a riot, with its loud guitar and raw vocals...
- www.theaureview.com
2013-11-07
★★★★★
Who would have guessed thatthe fresh-faced formersquaddie brandishinga battered Burns guitar in 1983 would go on to becomea major figure in modernBritish folk and one of thecountry's most respectedsinger-songwriters? Havingsaid that, there were alreadyhints on his seven-trackdebut, the work of a witty andwordy firebrand.
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-11-07
★★★★★
If you could go back in time to early 1983 and ask a 25-year-old Billy Bragg if he thought his first record would someday get a special 30th Anniversary Edition, he would probably have laughed at the question. At the time the singer was working days in a record shop that sold overstock 45s at 5p and then hopping on the tube after work with his guitar and amp to play at any London pub that would have him...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-11-01
★★★★★
30 years, eh? That means I was 13 when I first heard Billy Bragg's debut mini-album, now remastered and filled out with live versions of all seven tracks recorded earlier this year. At the time, Bragg seemed strange yet compelling; with just his voice and the way he scrubbed and tore at his guitar you sensed his punk rock spirit, yet much of Life's A Riot ... busied itself with the distance between the sexes as much as the more polemic material with which he would become associated...
- music.thedigitalfix.com
2013-10-30
★★★★★
Cooking Vinyl The arch-top Gibson on the album cover of Tooth And Nail indicates where Billy Bragg's first solo album since 2008's Mr. Love and Justice is headed. Recorded live in five days, without overdubs, at producer Joe Henry's basement studio in Pasadena, Calif., the album is the most intimate and accessible of Bragg's career...
- www.relix.com
2013-05-15
★★★★★
Let's face it. Punks get older, and with that they are less angry. Billy Bragg pretty much proves that, not to say that he isn't active in politics (he's still very politically active). Music wise, however, it's a different story. Over the course of the last decade, there's been a transformation in Bragg's sound. It's become more and more intimate. His last solo effort, 2008's Mr. Love & Justice, was basically where it really came into fruition...
- www.punknews.org
2013-05-08
★★★★★
On Billy Bragg's latest album, the 55-year-old lefty folk-punk musician is more contemplative and melancholic than on his last collection of originals, 2008's energetic Mr. Love & Justice. Tooth & Nail's dozen songs are earnestly delivered but downbeat, set mostly to sparse acoustic guitar and light percussion...
- nowtoronto.com
2013-05-02
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