Billy Bragg: Mr. Love & Justice

There's probably no more succinct way to describe

English folk-punk Billy Bragg than with the title of his latest album, Mr.

Love & Justice.

His songwriting has always been marked by two major themes: outspoken leftist

protest songs, and tender love songs, both seasoned with intelligence, wit, and

simple compassion. In his younger days, Bragg favored a loud, distortion-heavy

guitar as his sole accompaniment, which both fit his image as a lefty firebrand

and helped strip his songs to their bare essence. Since 1988's Workers

Playtime,

he's embraced a gentler, warmer, and fuller sound that is still the dominant

mode on Mr. Love & Justice, reflecting Bragg's mellower nature. (There's

also a deluxe double-CD version of Love that features solo-electric takes on the

songs, a mode that's still an essential part of his live set.) Only his third

album of new material in 12 years, Love finds Bragg standing on more solid ground

than 2002's uneven England, Half English. He captures Woody Guthrie's puckish humor

on "The Beach Is Free," a breezy celebration of the pleasures in life that

aren't yet under corporate ownership, and he displays his gift for combining

earnestness and melody on "Sing Their Souls Back Home." While he doesn't scale

the heights he achieved on earlier albums, at least the mountains are visible

from here.