You may have noticed a certain album's 20th birthday recently. It reminded me that the 25th anniversary of the release of Billy Bragg's Talking With The Taxman About Poetry was this past month.

I don't think I first heard it until 18 or 19 years ago, but it's one of the few to which I've never stopped returning. We love all things Billy Bragg here: Political Billy, Romantic Billy, Billy backed by a full band, and Billy alone with his guitar. Taxman has some of the finest examples of each. Personally, I'll always be a sucker for romantic billy - a wonderful showing of which we get with the opener, "Greetings to the New Brunette"




There's a bit of a mystery as to who's providing the gorgeous lead guitar on this song. No slight to Mr. Bragg, but it's technically far more complicated than just about anything else he's done. The great Johnny Marr is listed in the credits only for "Electric Guitar," but it certainly fits his style.

In any event, decades later it's still one of my favorites and an album I imagine will never be too far.