Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 341 - Big Country

Through A Big Country: Greatest Hits - Big Country

Mercury

Released April 1990

UK Chart #2

CD Version with Bonus Tracks

Original Vinyl Tracklist

 

A1 Save Me    
A2 In A Big Country    
A3 Fields Of Fire    
A4 Chance    
A5 Wonderland    
A6 Where The Rose Is Sown    
A7 Just A Shadow

    
B1 Look Away    
B2 King Of Emotion    
B3 East Of Eden    
B4 One Great Thing    
B5 The Teacher    
B6 Broken Hearts (Thirteen Valleys)    
B7 Peace In Our Time

CD Version includes three extra tracks
15 Eiledon    
16 The Seer    
17 Harvest Home

Single Taken from Through A Big Country

Save Me / Pass Me By / World On Fire

April 1990

UK Charts #41

Notes on Singles 

Links in this section are Live, TV or Promo Vids

Harvest Home / Balcony / Flag of Nations (Swimming)

17th September 1982

UK Chart #91

Fields Of Fire / Angle Park

18th February 1983

UK Chart #10

US Chart #52

In A Big Country / All Of Us

20th May 1983

UK Chart #17

US Chart #17

Chance / Tracks Of My Tears

26th August 1983

UK Chart #9 

Wonderland / Giant

13th January 1984

UK Chart #8

US Chart #86

East Of Eden / Prairie Rose

21st September 1984
UK Chart #17

Where The Rose Is Sown / Belief In The Small Man

23rd November 1984

UK Chart #29

Just A Shadow / Winter Sky

18th January 1985

UK Chart #26

Look Away / Restless Natives

April 1986

UK Chart #7

The Teacher / Home Came The Angels

6th June 1986

UK Chart #28

One Great Thing / Song Of The South

September 1986

UK Chart #19

King Of Emotion / The Travellers

 August 1988

UK Chart #16

Broken Heart (Thirteen Valleys) / Soapy Souter Strikes Back

October 1988

UK Chart #47

 Peace In Our Time / Promised Land (The R.E.L. Tapes)

January 1989

UK Chart #39

*****************

Through A Big Country was the first of a number of Best of/Greatest Hits of Big Country. Over the years pretty much most of the Singles released by Big Country charted in the UK and a few also in other countries around the world.

Most of the singles had been drawn from their first four albums: The Crossing (1983), Steeltown (1984), The Seer (1986) and Peace In Our Time (1988).

I was never a huge Big Country fan myself. I really took note of them because I had always like Stuart Adamson as a guitarist when he was in The Skids and was quite interested as to what he would do next especially being the frontman and main songwriter. I did buy a good number of the early singles that are featured on this Greatest Hits album. They did actually make a few really brilliant singles in their time.

The only single missing from the Album is Hold The Heart (November 1986, UK Chart #55) which they could have added to the CD along with the debut single Harvest Home instead of including The Seer and Elledon. That's really the only negative point regarding the album for me.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

The Soundtrack4Life Concert Series: Big Country - 1983

 In memory of the late Stuart Adamson

11th April 1958 - 16th December 2001

The Concert Series today spotlights one of Scotland's finest bands at their best playing at Barrowlands in Glasgow on New Year's Eve 1983.

A brilliant set from Big Country that includes Wonderland, Chance, Fields of Fire, a beautiful rendition of Tracks of My Tears and of course In A Big Country.

 

Rewind: 1983 - Big Country Release Debut Album The Crossing

 The Crossing - Big Country

Released 15th July 1983

Mercury Records

Produced by Steve Lilywhite

UK Chart #3

US Chart #18

   Personnel
    Stuart Adamson – vocals, guitar, piano, e-bow
    Bruce Watson – guitar, mandolin, sitar, vocals, e-bow
    Tony Butler – bass, vocals
    Mark Brzezicki – drums, percussion, vocals
 

Singles on the Album

Harvest Home. UK #91

Fields of Fire (400 Miles). UK #10

In A Big Country. UK #17

Chance. UK #9

Whilst I was not a huge fan of Big Country (I only really started listening to them because I liked Stuart Adamson when he was in The Skids) and only ended up liking a few songs here and there throughout their career, I do have a bit of a soft spot for their debut album.

It was released today back in 1983 (hard to believe where the time goes!) and the album was an instant success. They would follow this up with a #1 album in Steeltown (1984), and and a #2 album with The Seer (1986).

Mike Peters Interview over on The Alarm's Website

A rather interesting and insightful interview with Mike Peters of The Alarm/Big Country.

Big Country - The Journey - April 8th 2013

The first album of the new music from Big Country is released on Monday 8th April 2013 entitled 'The Journey'.

The band is: Mike Peters (The Alarm) - Vocals and Guitar, Bruce Watson - Guitar, Jamie Watson - Guitar, Derek Forbes (ex-Simple Minds) - Bass and Mark Brzezicki - Drums.

The album is released on Cherry Red Records in the UK and will be available from Amazon and iTunes.

Four days after the release of the album Big Country will embark on a tour that begins in Glasgow and finishes up in Belmont, Texas (USA) on the 13th July.

Throughout the past number of days leading up to the release the band have been releasing a video each spotlighting a particular song on the album with band members on each video talking about the song. There's still a couple to go and I will add links to them once they become available, so make sure you bookmark this page in order to see the remaining three.

01. In a Broken Promise Land.

02. The Journey.

03. After the Flood.

04. Hurt. PROMO VIDEO FOR HURT.

05. Home of the Brave.

06. Angels and Promises.

07. Strong (All Through This Land).

08. Last Ship Sails.

09. Another Country. PROMO VIDEO FOR ANOTHER COUNTRY.

10. Return.

11. Winter Fire.

12. Hail and Farewell.

Mike Peters - The Song That Changed My Life

Mike Peters of The Alarm and Big Country is featured in a new edition of 'The Song That Saved My Life'. The programme aired last night in the USA and thankfully for us outside the States can be seen online.

 CLICK HERE TO WATCH

Big Country - The Crossing Part 07

 

Mike's Tour Blog Day 10: Norwich 

Chance

Saying Goodnight



15th February: Bristol


The Teacher



Chance



Tracks of My Tears



16th February: Nottingham


Fields of Fire



17th February: Birmingham

Angle Park (part)



Inwards (Part)



Chance



Lost Patrol



Porrohman (Part)



Tracks of My Tears



18th February: Sheffield


Angle Park



Balcony



The Crossing



Close Action



Fields of Fire

Big Country - The Crossing Part 06

Saturday 11th Feb 2012 - London Shepherds Bush Empire

In A Big Country

Tracks of My Tears

Wonderland

Mike's Tour Blog Day 8 

Sunday 12th Feb. 2012 - Reading Hexagon 

Inwards

Chance

Lost Patrol

Close Action

Thought I'd also post a video from support band Gun here.

Word Up

Mike's Tour Blog Day Nine Reading

Big Country - The Crossing - Part 05 Tour Blogs

Mike Peters is doing a Blog  for the Big Country Tour and they are well worth rhe read. I'll post links here to the ones that have been done so far and will then include links in further posts where possible.

DAY ONE PART ONE

DAY ONE PART TWO

DAY TWO LIVERPOOL

DAY THREE TRAVEL DAY

DAY FOUR: GLASGOW

DAY FIVE: DUNFERMLINE

DAY SIX: NEWCASTLE

DAY SEVEN: LEEDS

DAY SEVEN: WALES 

Big Country - The Crossing Part 04

Tuesday 7th Feb 2012: Dunfermline

Another Country

Inwards

Lost Patrol

Wednesday 8th Feb 2012 - Newcastle

Angle Park



Another Country


The Storm

Tracks of My Tears

Thursday 9th Feb 2012 - Leeds

In A Big Country

Big Country - The Crossing Pt 03 Glasgow

Surprisingly there does not seem to be that many videos around from the Barrowlands Show on Monday evening! If more turn up I'll add them to this post.

Monday 6th February 2012

In A Big Country

Chance

Fields of Fire

Porrohman 

Big Country - The Crossing - Part 02 Liverpool

Liverpool O2 Academy 4th Feb 2012

Angle Park

Restless Natives

Balcony

Another Country

The Crossing

In A Big Country

Inwards

Chance

1000 Stars

The Storm

Harvest Home

Lost Patrol

Fields of Fire

Porrohman

Tracks of My Tears

Look Away and Wonderland

Wonderland and Into the Valley 

Big Country - The Crossing - Part 01 Manchester

The Tour

The Album

Big Country are out on tour at the moment spoltlighting their excellent album 'The Crossing'. As videos become available on You Tube I'm going to add them to this particular blog. I'll try and post them in the order they were played but as I've seen so few set lists that might be difficult. I know that they are opening up with a few songs before launching into The Crossing album so I'll try and get it as spot on as I can. As I write the band have already completed the first four shows and tonight will play in Newcastle at the O2 Academy.

Here's the videos from the opening night of the Tour at the Academy In Manchester.

Angle Park

East of Eden

The Crossing

In A Big Country

Chance

The Storm

Harvest Home

Fields of Fire

 

Stuart Adamson 11 April 1958 - 16 December 2001

"Some days will stay a thousand years 

Some pass like the flash of a spark

Who knows where all our days go"

It's been 10 years since Stuart Adamson passed away and whilst gone he and the music he created has not been forgotten.

Earlier this year a memorial bench was put in place at Pittencrief Park in Dunfermline after a long process by fans of the Stuart and the band.

My own personal memories of Stuart started way back when he was guitarist for The Skids. John Peel played their first single 'Charles'

Charles (Audio)

Even back then Stuart was developing that signature guitar sound that he would later become a star with fronting Big Country. I remember seeing them at The Marquee in London when 'Into the Valley' had been released and they were destined for chart success. They were brilliant back then and their debut album 'Scared to Dance' is amazing to listen to all these years later.

Into the Valley

When Stuart left The Skids prior to the recording of their last album ('Joy') he resurfaced with a brand new band - Big Country. They unleashed their debut single in September 1982 and 'Harvest Home' barely scrapped the lower reaches of the chart.

Harvest Home (The Tube 1984)

Between 1983-1988 they had 11 Top 30 hit singles and four Top Ten albums (including 'Steeltown' which reached number one).

Fields of Fire (The Tube 1983)

In A Big Country (from the Wonderland DVD filmed in Essen, Germany 1986)

Wonderland (OGWT at Reading Hexagon)

There's actually so many good tracks that I could put up on here but I'll finish this with one of the most beautiful songs that Stuart ever performed.

Fragile Thing (with Eddie Reader)



Whilst today is a sad day as we reflect upon the untimely passing of Stuart at the age of 43, it is also a day to remember the brilliant music that he left behind. That will be his legacy.

One of my good friends reminded me this morning that December is a pretty sad month because of the deaths of Kirsty MacColl (18th December) and Joe Strummer (22nd December).

Big Country - Another Country Official Video

Released on August 29th on Track Records UK and produced by Steve Lilywhite


Another Country



In A Big Country ('Dreams Stay With You - Live At Edinburgh Picture House - April 2011')

Celtic Rock Festival INEC Killarney 29th-30th July 2011

What an exceptional bill for this festival: Simple Minds, Big Country, Cry Before Dawn and the return of Cactus World News!

Here's a few videos from the show (a big thanks to kennyu272's on You Tube for most of the vids, looks like he had a great view).


Simple Minds


Waterfront



Sanctify Yourself



Up On The Catwalk



Big Country


Restless Natives



Another Country



Last Ship Sails


Cactus World News


New Years Later


Cry Before Dawn

Flags

Big Country In Session 14th July 2011

Part One: Interview and 'Steeltown' and a '1000 Stars'


Part Two: Interview and 'Harvest Home' and new song 'Another Country'


Part Three: Interview and 'Fields of Fire' and 'Just A Shadow'

Big Country King Tuts 11th July 2011

After two big festival shows (T in the Park and Oxygen), Big Country were back in Glasgow for another night at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut.

All videos were taken by Jamie Mcmonagle and all photos by Caroline Fraser


1000 Stars/Inwards

Driving to Damascus

The Teacher/Another Country

Restless Natives/Chance

Steeltown

Look Away

The Last Ship Sails/Wonderland