Don't Try This at Home (Billy Bragg album)


Don't Try This at Home is the sixth album by urban folk artist Billy Bragg, released on 16 September 1991 by Go! Discs. It reached No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart.
"Sexuality" was released as a single which reached No. 27 on the UK charts and No. 2 on the US Modern Rock charts. Johnny Marr of the Smiths co-wrote "Sexuality" and helped to produce three tracks.
The song "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" is about photographer Cindy Sherman.
"Tank Park Salute" is about his father, Dennis Bragg, who died of lung cancer when Bragg was 18. He said that for a show in Barking, where he grew up, he was so moved by the presence of his mother and brother in the audience that he kept a copy of the lyrics in case he forgot them while performing.
R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Peter Buck contribute to "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood". The song was named after a drawing by Woody Guthrie, whose unpublished lyrics were set to music by Bragg and Wilco on the Mermaid Avenue albums a few years later.
"Dolphins" is a cover of the Fred Neil song.
The song "God's Footballer" is about former professional football player Peter Knowles who spent his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers, before voluntarily ending his football career to become a Jehovah's Witness.

Critical reception

Don't Try This at Home was released to positive reviews from music critics. Writing for Select, Michele Kirsch found that Bragg had subverted "every pigeonhole he's ever had the misfortune to be bunged into by both the critics and, to some extent, himself". David Quantick of NME praised the record's "imagination" and noted the presence of "many occasions when your actual Bragg sound is radically altered", concluding that Bragg had "shrugged off the demons of despond and made his best album".

Track listing

Adapted from album liner notes.
All tracks written by Billy Bragg except where noted.
  1. "Accident Waiting to Happen" - 4:01
  2. "Moving the Goalposts" - 2:34
  3. "Everywhere" - 5:01
  4. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" - 4:15
  5. "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood" - 3:11
  6. "Trust" - 4:13
  7. "God's Footballer" - 3:04
  8. "The Few" - 3:27
  9. "Sexuality" - 3:49
  10. "Mother of the Bride" - 3:36
  11. "Tank Park Salute" - 3:30
  12. "Dolphins" - 4:20
  13. "North Sea Bubble" - 3:19
  14. "Rumours of War" - 2:50
  15. "Wish You Were Her" - 2:46
  16. "Body of Water" - 3:58
;Japanese bonus tracks
  2. "Bad Penny" - 2:49
  3. "Bread and Circuses" - 4:23
  4. "Sexuality " - 6:27

Bonus disc track listing

Along with a remastered album, a second bonus disc was released by Yep Roc Records and Cooking Vinyl in 2006. The new tracks include demos of songs on the album, as well as several other songs, including a cover of the Beatles' "Revolution". Natalie Merchant sings on two tracks.
  1. "Party of God" - 4:15
  2. "North Sea Bubble" - 3:30
  3. "Sexuality" - 3:54
  4. "Just One Victory" - 5:31
  5. "Everywhere" - 4:42
  6. "Trust" - 5:43
  7. "Bread and Circuses" - 4:28
  8. "Cindy of a Thousand Lives" - 3:38
  9. "The Few" - 3:50
  10. "Revolution" - 1:51
  11. "Tighten Up Your Wig" - 3:18
  12. "MBH" - 2:07
  13. "This Gulf Between Us" - 2:46
  14. "Picadilly Rambler" - 1:49
;Bonus disc notes
  • Track 1 recorded May 1988 at Fort Apache Studios. B-side of the 10,000 Maniacs single "Trouble Me", 1989.
  • Track 2 recorded 16–18 January 1989 at Pavilion Studios. Previously unreleased.
  • Track 3 recorded 1989 at Cathouse South. Previously unreleased.
  • Track 4 recorded 14 April 1990 at Pavilion Studios. Remixed later and released in 1997 as the B-side of "The Boy Done Good".
  • Tracks 5 and 6 recorded 20 August 1990 at Gateway Studios. Previously unreleased.
  • Track 7 recorded August 1990 at Fort Apache Studios and produced at Pavilion Studios. B-side of "You Woke Up My Neighbourhood", 1991.
  • Tracks 8 and 9 recorded 14 November 1990 at Southfield Road W4. Previously unreleased.
  • Track 10 recorded 1 February 1991 at Cathouse South. B-side of "Accident Waiting to Happen ", 1992.
  • Track 11 recorded May 1991 at John Keane's Studio. From the H.E.A.L. album Civilisation Vs Technology, 1991.
  • Tracks 12–14 recorded 16 July 1993 for the soundtrack of the 1993 BBCTV play Safe. Previously unreleased.

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.
;Production
;Bonus disc
  • Billy Bragg – vocals, guitar
  • Rob Allum – drums
  • Lorraine Bowen – clarinet
  • Peter Buck – guitar
  • Alan Dunn – accordion
  • Nigel Frydman – bass
  • The Grief Brothers – producer
  • Martin Hayles – engineer
  • J. F. T. Hood – drums, programming, backing vocals
  • John Keane – engineer
  • Bob Loveday – violin
  • Natalie Merchant – vocals
  • David Narcizo – drums
  • Julia Palmer – cello
  • Andy Roberts – mandolin, percussion, producer
  • Grant Showbiz – producer
  • Gary Smith – glockenspiel, bass, percussion, producer, engineer
  • Kate St John – saxophone
  • Mark Stepp – drums
  • Danny Thompson – double bass
  • Cara Tivey – piano, organ, keyboards, backing vocals
  • Victor Van Vugt – backing vocals, engineer, mixing
  • Wiggy – bass, guitar, footstomp, backing vocals, engineer
  • Dave Woodhead – trumpet
  • DJ Woody Dee – finger pops, "heal thyself"