Billy Bragg’s outspoken debut album strikes back with anniversary reissue on Cooking Vinyl

Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy returns on vinyl for a few bob more than £2.99.

Rooted in a terrifyingly pertinent attack on Britain’s two-tier society under Conservative governance, Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy is to be reissued on vinyl by Cooking Vinyl with a special live version of the 7-track original recorded at London’s Union Chapel thrown into the bargain.

The activist poet’s debut record, Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy was originally released in 1983 with the words “Don’t pay more than £2.99 / For this 7 track album” emblazoned down the sides of the sleeve and tracks like “To Have And To Have Not” emphasising Bragg’s solidarity with the disenfranchised members of society during Thatcher’s regime.

As it is, Cooking Vinyl are being forced to compromise on the original record’s values for the 30th Anniversary Edition (these words replace Bragg’s RRP), with only the digital editions following suit, retailing at £2.49 and £3.49 for the 7-track and 14-track versions respectively.

A record that has a fine history of giving two-fingers to the money men, the cassette version of Bragg’s original was recorded onto just one side, with the blank side inscribed with the message that fans should use it to bootleg his concerts. With the Anniversary reissue, Cooking Vinyl have done that for you.

Click here for more info.

Original Album

1. The Milkman of Human Kindness
2. To Have and to Have Not
3. Richard
4. A New England
5. The Man in the Iron Mask
6. The Busy Girl Buys Beauty
7. Lovers Town Revisited

Live at Union Chapel

8. Intro (Live)
9. Lovers Town revisited(Live)
10. To Have and to Have Not (Live)
11. The Busy Girl Buys Beauty (Live)
12. The Man in the Iron Mask (Live)
13. Richard (Live)
14. The Milkman of Human Kindness (Live)
15. A New England (Live)