ALBUMS: The Crossing (1983), Steeltown (1984)
MVC Rating: The Crossing 4.0/$$; Steeltown: 3.5, $$
The fact that I have two Big Country albums means I must have liked them a lot. Or at least the first one to make me buy the second one. I do like Big Country although haven’t listened to this band in years.
They sing in Scottish accents and make their guitars sound like bagpipes in a wall of sound that is rousing and dare I say, war-like
On a scale of their contemporaries the Alarm and the Waterboys, I’d place them ahead of the Alarm and behind the Waterboys purely subjective because I like all three. I got into the Waterboys because they walked to the precipice of something new – big music — thanks to Mike Scott.
Probably my two favorite BC cuts are “In a Big Country’ off the Crossing and ‘Where the Rose is Sown’ off of Steeltown. These are killer songs.
And both sound alike.
Which is my critique. Powerful sounds, roaring Scottish guitars in riff driven waves make them sound good. But up creeps a sameness that I think took away from how good these songs are. They wouldn’t be the first group accused of milking a successful song/sound. I mean there is no artist (except the elite of the elite who can make basic rock and roll sound new again all the time. The sound Big Country milks is especially good. Just don’t expect something that continues to evolve.