Big Country - The Crossing

At the time this was one of my favourite LPs so replaying this will be a pleasure !

As I already had two albums by The Skids, it was not too surprising that I would like the subsequent output from Stuart Adamson. Whilst the guitar sound on The Skids was pretty distinctive, it moved to a whole new level with Big Country's first LP. Certainly the twin guitars as bagpipes sound was something orginal at a time when new wave was drifting into techno-pop, electronica. Added to rousing, stirring, historic anthems with colourful and romantic imagery of hope and destiny, it created epic sound. At the time I though all the tracks were tremendous, and I normally can't stand bagpipes ! I never bought the lumberjack shirts though...........

Side one opens with "In A Big Country", my favourite song on the LP which sets the tone for the rest of the album. It should have be a number one for weeks on end, but only reached number 17 in the UK. It did get to number 3 in the US though. Starting with pounding drums, then the guitar riff, before cries of "Come up screaming", the song launches into the bagpipe guitars and an uplifting melody, finishing with more great guitar bagpipes with the fade at the end. Lyrically the song portrays the joy and hope of finding the promised land, or perhaps the comfort of returning home, and there are some memorable lines. I've always sung along to "I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert, but I can live and breathe and see the sun in winter time", although I am also fond of "In a big country dreams stay with you, like a lover's voice fires the mountainside. Stay alive !"& "I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered". Big Country were featured on several live TV shows at the time, and the live versions of "In A Big Country" were much longer than the album version, but still too short !

After such as great song it wouldn't be a surprise if things dipped thereafter, but the following "Inwards" is perhaps even better. It has a great rhythm, a slow mournful refrain in middle, before the urgent, frantic guitars return. There's a great hook, bleak but hopeful lyrics and a great ending. Superb !

The tempo slows with the dark, eery, haunting sad tale of an unwanted pregnancy of "Chance", with a Japanese style guitar, "He came like a hero from the factory floor, with the sun and moon as gifts, but the only son you ever saw,were the two he left you with "

The screaching guitars and stirring imaginery return on "1000 Stars" before side one ends with the dramatic "The Storm". A slow build up, fast country style acoustic guitar before sorrowful, pleading vocals. Most people don't have an accent when they sing, but here the pronounciation of  "storom" rather than "storm" adds to the Scottishness of the song among the imaginery of terrible rain and thunder in the glens or remote fields of the highlands.

Side two opens with "Harvest Home", the first single. The guitar bagpipes are more melodic and some thumping drums dominate the song. "Lost Patrol" has some Scottish yodelling and another great anthemic chorus. "Close Action" is a slower tempo with a swaying chorus of "I will carry you home"

"Fields of Fire" makes you want to get up and perform a Scottish reel or jig during the guitar breaks, and also join in with the infectious shouting. Its clearly the inspiration for Slade's "Run Runaway" released the following year, and obviously influenced fellow Scots the Proclamers to go 100 miles extra ! Famously during a live performance on The Tube, two drunken lads got-up on stage to dance a reel, leaving the bouncers and Stuart Adamson bemused. It wouldn't be allowed today !

The album finishes with the 7 minute "Porrohman", more twirling guitars and chants conjuring up images of men in kilts. Again, "give us i-ron" has to be sung in a Scottish accent ! An epic conclusion to a an epic album.

In conclusion, in 2020 The Crossing is still one of the best albums I have heard.

Track Listing :

1. In A Big Country
2. Inwards
3. Chance
4. 1000 Stars
5. The Storm
6. Harvest Home
7. Lost Patrol
8. Close Action
9. Fields of Fire ( 400 Miles )
10. Porrohman


Released 1983
UK Chart Position : 3

Singles :

Harvest Home ( No 91 - 1982 )
Fields Of Fire ( 400 Miles ) ( No 10 - 1983 )
In A Big Country ( No 17 - 1983 )
Chance ( No 9 - 1983 )