Billy Bragg has announced the upcoming release of a career-spanning box set

Billy Bragg’s career-spanning box set, titled The Roaring Forty|1983-2023, is set for release October 27th 2023. Marking four decades worth of work, the 14-disc box set will include three LP and single LP sets.

With this collection, the punk rocker and folk singer celebrates the enduring musical legacy of his much-loved work, songwriting, protest singing, and political activism. The Roaring Forty|1983-2023 has been compiled by Bragg, and will be available in three formats: a single disc 13-song ‘primer’ on orange vinyl; a 40-song 3 album collection on three shades of green vinyl (which is also available as a 2 CD and digital set); and a 14-CD box set, containing more than 300 songs including each of the songwriter’s twelve studio albums, non-album singles and B-Sides, session tracks, rare live recordings, collaborations and previously unreleased material from the years across his illustrious career.

The large format book, which is included in the box set, contains 40 images of particular objects from Billy’s career, which include the hand tinted flyer to his first solo gig, his first NME cover, the original lyrics to ‘A Lover Sings’, the Red Wedge manifesto, his membership card to the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles fan club, to name a few, accompanied by commentary from the Cockney vocalist himself.

“It seems like just the other day that I was handing John Peel a mushroom biryani and asking him to play my first record. The music business has changed dramatically since then, but my belief in the power of the song is undimmed,” Billy says.

Besides being a fearless political campaigner, and tireless live performer, the 65-year-old throughout his 40-year career has released 11 solo studio albums: Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy (1983); Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (1984); Talking With The Taxman About Poetry (1986); Workers Playtime (1988); The Internationale (1990); Don’t Try This At Home (1991); William Bloke (1996); England, Half English (2002); Mr Love & Justice (2008); Tooth & Nail (2013); The Million Things That Never Happened (2021); three albums with Wilco – Mermaid Avenue (1998); Mermaid Avenue Vol II (2000); Mermaid Avenue Vol III (2012); and one with Joe Henry – Shine A Light: Field Recordings From The Great American Railroad (2016). His mini-album, Bridges Not Walls was released in 2017, followed by an anthologised series of his BBC performances, The Best Of Billy Bragg At The BBC 1983-2019 in 2019.

Billy became a best-selling author with the release of his 2017 acclaimed book, Roots, Radicals & Rockers – How Skiffle Changed The World. As well as the success of his 2017 release, Bragg has also published two books of political analysis: The Progressive Patriot: A Search For Belonging in 2006, and 2019’s The Three Dimensions of Freedom.

Across his 40 years, the English singer has worked alongside the likes of Eliza Carthy, Norman Cook, Dick Gaughan, Joe Henry, Kirsty MacColl, Ian McLagan, Johnny Marr, R.E.M., and US alt-Rock band Wilco, with whom he created two critically acclaimed collections.

Billy will also perform at The National Concert Hall on November 21st. Tickets from €38 can be found here.