0081227596224. Pre-Owned: Good condition. CD. This is no ragtag rummage sale of leftovers castoffs and third-rate rejects. Having previously purchased the ten singles Reaching is culled from spanning 1985-1997 one nevertheless revels in the poignant luxurious breadth of Bragg s heart and brain. Like Bragg s real LPs this is a roadmap to the spectrum of feeling from bliss to misery and every destination in between. One experiences the heart-busting sweetness of Ontario Quebec and Me the contented bubbling joy of The Boy Done Good the knowing shrug of Bad Penny the regretful resignation of a revamped (by an inspired Johnny Marr) Greetings to the New Brunette called Shirley the distasteful frank frustration of Sulk the gentle sadness in a rendition of the Smiths B-side Jeane the wrenching melancholy of a ballad-rethink of Wishing the Days Away and the dour despair of his piano cover of Brit-folk standard Heart Like a Wheel. (Or for those who favor sociopolitics there is Days Like These and a less frenzied re-recording of Accident Waiting to Happen. ) Unfortunately some of Bragg s best B-sides are oddly A.W.O.L. The scathing Thatcherites and the Natalie Merchant-sung collaboration Bread and Circuses should have replaced the too-sketchy I Don t Need This Pressure Ron and Scholarship Is the Enemy of Romance -- or simply been added along with his torch job on Love s Seven and Seven Is. Likewise a so-so cover of the Beatles She s Leaving Home probably should have been left on the forgettable charity Sgt. Pepper tribute LP it came from. But otherwise this album might be better than William Bloke. If Bragg-faves the Temptations once sang I Wish it Would Rain then Reaching is like that song s memorable coda: Let it rain.... ~ Jack Rabid Rovi