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1983's Smash-worldwide hit "In A Big Country" by Big Country (R.I.P. Stuart Adamson).
Review.- Big Country was a rock band from Dunfermlin 1983's smash-hit "In A Big Country" by Big Country.(R.I.P. Stuart Adamson)
Review.- Big Country was a rock band from Dunfermline, Scotland. Composed of Stuart Adamson (formerly of The Skids, vocals / guitar / keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar / vocals), Tony Butler (bass guitar / vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums / percussion / vocals) though a variety of other drummers have been in the band their long career, including Simon Phillips. Pete Wishart who joined Runrig and became prominent in the SNP, was in an early version of the band - the same incarnation that supported Alice Cooper and got thrown off the tour for being "too weird". Although the band's music drew from Scottish traditional music, none of its members were born in Scotland. Adamson grew up in Dunfermline, and as such, his trademark Scottish accent was genuine.
Formed initially as a five piece band in 1981, their first single was "Harvest Home", recorded and released in 1982. It was a modest success, reaching #91 on the UK Singles Chart. Their next single was 1983's "Fields of Fire", which reached the UK's Top Ten and was rapidly followed by the album The Crossing. The album was a hit in the United States, powered by "In a Big Country", their only U.S. Top 40 hit single. The song featured heavily engineered guitar playing, strongly reminiscent of bagpipes; Adamson and fellow guitarist, Watson, achieved this through the use of the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect. Also contributing to the band's unique sound was their early virtuoso use of the e-bow, a device which allows a guitar to sound more like strings or synthesizer. The Crossing sold over a million copies in the UK and obtained gold record status (sales of over 500,000) in the U.S.
The band released the non-LP extended play single Wonderland in 1984 while undergoing a lengthy worldwide tour. The song, considered by some critics to be one of their finest, was a Top Ten hit (#8) in the UK singles chart but despite heavy airplay and a positive critical response, was a comparative flop in the U.S., only reaching #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the last single by the band to make a U.S. chart appearance.
Their second album Steeltown (1984) was a hit as soon as it was released, entering the UK Albums Chart at Number one. The album featured three UK Top 40 hit singles, and received considerable critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, but like Wonderland (and, in fact, all subsequent releases) it was a commercial disappointment in the U.S, peaking at #70 on the Billboard album charts.
1986's The Seer, the band's third album, was another big success in the UK, peaking at Number 2, and producing three additional Top 40 UK singles. These included "Look Away" which reached Number 7 (the band's highest charting UK single). Kate Bush provided backing vocals on the title cut, and, as was the norm for the band at the time, the album received good reviews from the music press. In the U.S., the album sold modestly better than Steeltown, reaching #59 on the Billboard album charts.A tour of the Soviet Union accompanied the 1988 release of Peace in Our Time, but the following year Brzezicki resigned from duty, with drummer Pat Ahern enlisted for the single "Save Me." Chris Bell replaced Ahern upon completing 1991's No Place Like Home, the first of the band's albums not to receive an American release.
After parting ways with Polygram, Big Country signed with the Compulsion label for 1993's The Buffalo Skinners, recorded with yet another new drummer, Simon Phillips; the record launched a pair of British Top 30 hits, "Alone" and "Ships." Brzezicki rejoined the lineup in time for Without the Aid of a Safety Net, a live LP recorded in Glasgow at year's end. Why the Long Face followed in 1995, and after recording the acoustic effort Eclectic, Adamson relocated to Nashville in 1997, prompting Big Country to go on extended hiatus. The group's first new studio effort in four years, Driving to Damascus, appeared in 1999; the single "Somebody Else" was co-written by Adamson and the Kinks' Ray Davies. Adamson had problems with alcohol that contributed to his brief disappearance in November 1999 and announced his intentions to retire from touring in the spring of 2000, concurrent with the release of the limited edition Nashville Album. Later that fall, Come Up Screaming was issued on SPV. On December 16, 2001 Adamson was found dead in a hotel room in Hawaii. He had been missing for several weeks from his Nashville, Tennessee home. [More] [Less] |
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