The Boston Herald
November 18, 1996
Brit Extremes Move To Center
by Tristram Lozaw
"We're probably saying the same things in horribly different ways," Robyn Hitchcock joked as he turned the stage over to Billy Bragg.
True, for much of their careers, Bragg and Hitchcock have occupied somewhat opposite ends of the same singer-songwriter stick. As shown at Avalon, where each played a 105-minute set, Bragg is the brash socialist and Hitchcock the master of fractured fairytales. Bragg is the angry punk, Hitchcock the smart Pop-er.
But their current tour finds the two moving increasingly toward the center -- and each other.
Both Brits -- playing solo with electric guitars -- are blessed with keen senses of melody and wry wits that make their between-song banter as entertaining as the music.
Bragg admits that balancing his new-father status with his political focus pulls him in conflicting directions. "From Red To Blue", the leadoff track from William Bloke (Elektra), his first CD in five years, laid out this perspective. He also reworked lyrics for "A New England" and played an "anti-Capitalist lullaby", "Sugardaddy", in deference to his young son.
Though he says he's becoming more "free-associative" (a la Hitchcock) while his touring buddy gets more political, "Socialism of the Heart" resides deep in Bragg.
His sidebars of commentary humorously skewered the American elections, O.J. Simpson, Oasis, scabs, the "World" Series, tribute bands, Alanis Morisette, and Strom Thurmond.
Bragg wisely saved his most strident speechmaking for late in the set, when he had already captured the packed house.
After singing of human needs in "Great Leap Forward" and the worker-inspiring "Power In A Union", he spent five minutes rallying the troops around the new "revolutionary cell" -- the carpool.
Hitchcock, also riding a new CD, Moss Elixir (Warners), wove his usual magical quilt of craft, color and amusements. Though he spun his trademark hallucinatory tales between songs, his music displayed a solid, stripped-down focus.
He railed, "I know who wrote the book of love -- it was an idiot".
But his songs' hooks seemed both more honeyed and direct than usual. The rolling melodies of "Beautiful Queen" were spiked with deep swooping lines of violinist Deni Bonet, who also joined Hitchcock and Bragg for "Listening To The Higsons".
Other highlights included the peaceful jangle of "Heliotrope" and the "addictive" allure of "Heaven".
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