It’s
amazing how many people thought Big Country
split in the mid–eighties. In fact,
the band carried on recording and gigging
until 2000. It is a story of unrealized
potential, lack of support from record
labels, and a musical style that the music
industry couldn’t pigeon-hole. However,
let’s go back to the beginning.
The band formed in 1981 when hugely-talented
vocalist/lead guitarist/songwriter Stuart
Adamson left Scottish punk band The Skids
and joined with long-time Dunfermline
pal and ex-nuclear submarine cleaner Bruce
Watson on rhythm guitar. In 1982 the original
rhythm section was fired and Tony Butler
(bass) and Mark Brzezicki (drums) were
recruited from On the Air via session
work. On the Air was a three-some with
Simon Townshend, who’s now helping
brother Pete out in The Who.
The band signed up with Phonogram and
released their first single ‘Harvest
Home’. It introduced the band’s
distinctive twin-racing guitar sound.
References have been made to a ‘bagpipe’
sound. Let me tell you that most bagpipes
I’ve heard would make a deaf dog
cringe. We’ll leave this stereotype
to the ill-informed. The band’s
second single, ‘Fields of Fire’,
hit #10 in the UK charts in 1983. The
excellent first album, ‘The Crossing’,
charted initially at #4 and eventually
reached a peak of #3. Subsequent touring
and singles releases confirmed Big Country
as the hot new act in the post-punk music
industry.
Big Country’s second album, ‘Steeltown’,
hit the UK charts in 1984 and went straight
in at #1. More successful singles and
sellout gigs followed. The band then took
a brief sabbatical to record the soundtrack
to the movie Restless Natives.
The third album, ‘The Seer’,
was released in July 1986 and reached
#2 in the UK charts supported by the success
of their biggest hit single (at #7) ‘Look
Away’. High profile live appearances
followed at the classic 1986 Princes Trust
Concert and at Knebworth, supporting Queen
at their last ever UK gig in front of
200,000 people (including this dog!).
Looking back, 1986 was the band’s
commercial peak.
Each of the five studio albums that followed
had some elements of experimentation and
achieved varying degrees of success. The
sixth studio album, ‘Buffalo Skinners’,
was a classic twin-guitar hard rocking
album that eventually reached #25 in the
charts, but with proper support from the
record label could have brought the band
back into the big time.
Big Country’s last studio album,
‘Driving to Damascus’, encompassed
many of the styles of the previous albums
and had a more relaxed leaning consistent
with Stuart Adamson’s move to Nashville
in the US.
So, what do we have in Come Up Screaming?
A double live album of 22 of their best
tracks taken from the Glasgow and London
gigs on the ‘Final Fling’
tour of May 2000. The album kicks off
with the rousing ‘Harvest Home’,
quickly followed by the hard-rocking ‘King
of Emotion’ from the ‘Peace
in Our Time’ album. ‘John
Wayne’s Dream’ and ‘Driving
to Damascus’ follow with Adamson
and Watson in great form, supported by
the tightest rhythm section in the business.
Other classic tracks follow including
‘The Storm’ with the unique
E-bow intro; a quieter moment with ‘Come
Back to Me’, before cranking up
again for the ever-popular ‘Look
Away’ and ’Wonderland’.
The finale is formed of four tracks from
‘The Crossing’ in rapid succession
– the epic ‘Porroh Man’,
‘Chance’ with vocals as usual
loudly augmented by the crowd; theme song
‘In a Big Country’, and great
favourite ‘Fields of Fire’,
all with the racing guitars on full throttle.
Where are they now? Sadly, Stuart Adamson
took his own life in December 2001; Bruce
‘the man who invented the seagull’
Watson is recording and touring with ex-Marillion-frontman
Fish; Mark Brzezicki has been recording
and playing in Procol Harum, and Tony
Butler currently concentrates on remastering
and music production.
It’s always been a mystery why
Big Country never made the big time commercially.
They shied away from publicity-seeking
at the height of their popularity, when
many of their less-talented contemporaries
sought the limelight. The band stayed
together for most of their 18 years and
continued to be a great live act to go
and see. However, a band with four top
ten albums and four top ten singles should
not have been forgotten so easily. Their
legacy is kept alive by the ever-supportive
ex-Manager Ian Grant, the two websites
he runs (Track and Big Country), and an
enthusiastic group of fans across the
world. Live and rarities albums continue
to be released and some of the studio
albums have been lovingly remastered by
Tony Butler. The big stores in Thailand
have seen fit not to import ‘Come
Up Screaming’, so the best bet is
the Track Records website – www.trackrecords.co.uk
or the Big Country website – www.bigcountry.co.uk
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
