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THE BEST OF
THE BIG COUNTRY MAILING LIST
5/94-11/95
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PART ONE: WHAT IS BIG COUNTRY?
A) Bare-Bone Facts On Individual Band Members
B) A Big Country History
C) Additional Comments From List Members
D) Dumfermline: Kind Of City Is It?
E) Who Were The Skids?
F) How Have Big Country Fared From The Critics?
G) Do BC Openly Support Any Social Causes?
Part One: WHAT IS BIG COUNTRY?
Big Country is a Scottish rock band formed in 1982, and it has nothing to do with country
music. The band uses elements from rock music, folk music, traditional Scottish music
and (occasionally and to a lesser degree) punk/hard rock. Their music has often been
called folk rock.
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A) Bare-Bone Facts On Individual Band Members:
NAME: Stuart Adamson
DATE OF BIRTH: 11.4.58
PLACE OF BIRTH: Manchester
PREVIOUS GROUPS: Tattoo, The Skids
FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE: Crossgates Institution, Scotland
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED: Guitar Synthesizer
MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Bill Nelson, Leonard Cohen
NAME: Mark Brzezicki
DATE OF BIRTH: 21.6.57
PLACE OF BIRTH: Slough
PREVIOUS GROUPS: Silver Stream, On The Air, Shea Ramah
FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE: Slough Working Men's Club
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED: Drums Percussion
MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Jazz Funk, Fusion, Jeff Beck
NAME: Tony Butler
DATE OF BIRTH: 13.2.57
PLACE OF BIRTH: Hammersmith
PREVIOUS GROUPS: Pete Townshend Senators
FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE: Questors Theatre Ealing
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED: Bass Guitar
MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Jimi Hendrix
NAME: Bruce Watson
DATE OF BIRTH: 11.3.61
PLACE OF BIRTH: Tinnins Ontario
PREVIOUS GROUPS: Delinx, Euroset
FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE: Lady Of Dourdes Chapel, Dunf
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED: Guitar
MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Bill Nelson, Alex Harvey
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B) A Big Country History:
Though born in Manchester, England, Adamson was raised in the small
village of Crossgates near Dunfermline, Fife; hence the undeniable
Scottish edge to the Big Country beat.
The impact of punk pricked Adamson into seriously putting together a band
of his own. After assembling bassist Tom Kellichan, drummer Willie
Simpson and young vocalist Richard Jobson, he launched the Skids in 1977;
and though the rhythm section subsequently underwent a series of changes,
Adamson and Jobson remained together until 1981.
After the Skids broke up, Adamson quietly went back underground in
Dunfermline. His wife gave birth to their first child and he began
writing songs with guitarist Bruce Watson, a flame-haired young firebrand
whose two previous bands, the Delinquents and Eurosect, had often
supported the Skids on Scottish dates. Watson needed little encouragement
from Adamson to quit his day job scrubbing out nuclear submarines.
The pair worked for months in a portable studio beneath a community pool
hall, perfecting the blueprint that was to become Big Country. By the end
of the year, they were ready to test the prototype and extended their
lineup to embrace a lineup to embrace a rhythm section and keyboards. They
had an initial appearance in their home town, then they supported Alice
Cooper two nights in England. The latter backfired when the obnoxious
Vietnam vet tour manager took a dislike to the band and kicked them off
the tour. This did the group a favor, and Big Country Mark One nose-dived
out of existence only weeks after being formed.
Mark Two came about when Phonogram Records talent scout Chris Briggs
offered Adamson and Watson some demo time in a London studio. Lacking a
permanent rhythm section, the pair called in a session team known as
Rhythm For Hire - Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki - for the task. The
first song they ever played was 'Harvest Home' and that was all it took
to convince Adamson that this was the group he'd been striving for.
Butler and Brzezicki had been together for some time, having played in
Simon Townshend's group On The Air and worked with Simon's more
illustrious older brother Pete on the _Empty glass_ and _Chinese Eyes_
solo projects. though still in their mid-20s, they were a part of the old
school of sessioneers - the _real_ musicians - before they joined Adamson.
[to read more on the history of Big Country, see the biographies and articles
on the main web page]
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C) Additional Comments From List Members
The early line up was mentioned in "A Certain Chemistry" and there were photos too.
This was a question in a Country Club competition -many- moons ago: "Which group
is original member (Alan?) Wishart now in?" Answer: "Runrig".
Just had the "A Certain Chemistry" at hand. On pages 6+7, there's a picture of the
first line up featuring Alan Wishart (bass), Bruce, Stuart, Clive Parker (drums)
and Pete Wishart (keyboards).
[I asked Scotty of the Runrig web page: http://www.worldserver.pipex.com/nc/scotty/runrig.htm
what the real story was regarding the departure of Alan and Peter Wishart. Scotty responds:]
"Peter Wishart and his brother were in Big Country before they really struck big. The BC
management and record company wanted new faces in the band and Peter's brother
along with the drummer, I believe, were replaced. Peter left because of this but remains
on good terms with Stuart and the others. He wasn't sacked...he left to avoid any ill-feeling
and to show some support for his brother. Runrig members are very approachable...
via the Fan Club which has the bands active involvement. Write to any of the band at the
Fan Club address and they will pass on any message or comments. Enclose a SAE."
More info on early members--Clive Parker was in Spizz Oil. The first demos
were cut by Stuart, Bruce, and Rick Buckler of the Jam. Songs: Heart and Soul,
Angle Park.
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D) Dumfermline Is Frequently Mentioned In Regard To Big Country.
What Kind Of City Is It?
I was born in Dunfermline, and lived there 'till six. I went back there
in 1992, to have a look. It was pretty much as I had remembered it - some
industry around the outskirts (IBM), no more coal industry (which is why
we left in 1975), a small, dense town centre, which now has a couple of
shopping malls but not much else. The best part is the huge park, which
was endless to a six-year old, but seems not much smaller now!
The suburbs, where I lived...ugh! We weren't in the worst area, the east
side of the hill. It's, frankly, a slum - dirty council flats, some with
satellite dishes but no glass in the windows, graffiti. The best part is
where it all abruptly ends, and you're left looking over green fields
with the occasional cow...
Looking at Dunfermline now, with its McDonalds and TV culture, I can't
help thinking that Stuart let some of that come through in songs like
We're Not in Kansas" & "The Selling of America" - they did some recording
for NPLH and BS in Dunfermline, I believe.
"And the rain came down on a cold new town..."
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E) Who Were The Skids?
Before Big Country, Stuart Adamson belonged to and recorded with the Skids.
Their history is told below:
Skids: Fanfare by John Peel
[This article appears on the back of Fanfare, a collection of Skids finest songs.
Spelling and grammar as is.]
Richard Jobson (vocals)
Alexander Plode (guitar)
Stuart Adamson (guitar)
Thomas Bomb (drums)
Yes, Jolson. This, according to a mimeographed sheet from No Bad Records of
Dunfermline, was the original line-up of the Skids. The anonymous writer of this
press release, which accompanied the first Skids single, was of the view that the
band was destined for the top. And he was almost right. To quote further from
his thoughtful paragraphs, the Skids were causing a substantial Buzz and this time
he was spot-on. This was early 1978 and for some months, Scottish fanzines had
been noising abroad the excellence of the Messrs. [plural of Mr.]. Jolson, Plode,
Adamson and Bomb, remarking that they had moved beyond the confines of pure
punk and were evolving something entirely of their own devising, something that
we, or so it was hinted, identifiable Scottish.
Thus it was that when No Bad NB1 "Reasons", 'Test-tube Babies" and "Charles"
reached the sink-pits and stews of London, the Skids already enjoyed the first
murmurings of a reputation, and when the band followed the record south, they
must have hoped for an enthusiastic reception. Back home they had been heard
on Radio Forth, [Radio 4??] for Heaven's sake and had supported the Stranglers
in Edinburgh and when they clambered on stage in a Stoke Newington pub they
must have been disappointed at the mute, incurious glances of the few regulars
which greeted the few regulars that greeted them. Happily, my old brave ones,
this performance was enough to win the Skids an outing on Radio 1 and a
subsequent approach from Virgin Records.
The rest, I am tempted to say is history.
First out of the Virgin gate was "Sweet Suburbia". This white vinyl record has
a weird gimmick warned the company's effervescent promotions department,
mysteriously adding "You'll like it".
Consumers did, but only a bit, as the record pounced on the number 70 spot in
the charts but then fell away into nothingness. The "Saints are Coming"
improved on this, clawing its way as high as 48.
Next on the our turntables was "Into the Valley"; released in Feb. 1979, which
reached the top ten. Although the truly discerning preferred the reverse "TV Stars",
assuredly the only record to date to bring together in song the stars of Coronation Street
and Crossroads along with Kenny Dalglish, the greatest living Scotsman and
this typist [John Peel].
There were further hits singles, stirring LP's and it wasn't too long before the music
weeklies, having come to terns with the idea that Richard Jolson was really
Richard Jobson, spotted that he was also a likeable, gregarious, and highly quotable
chap. "Jobbo" as we had learned to call him has never been backward at coming
forward and he took to this notoriety with definite enthusiasm, using it to his own
advantage and diversifying into poetry and the theatre.
After the Skids third LP "The Absolute Game", Stuart Adamson by now a highly
individualized guitarist, resigned his commission leaving Richard, brother to
Meadowband Thistle's goal-hungry striker, John Jobson, to soldier on with bassist
Russell Webb.
On the stage, amid locker-room gossip that he never simulated anything, no sirree,
Richard was to be spotted spending evenings lying on top of the celebrated ingenue,
Honey Band and could be observed at artistic soirees declaiming his and other folks'
poems in a firm and manly voice. Contemporary, with this arts-labs activity, Richard
was working with Russell on "Joy", an LP in which they ferreted back into Scottish
history and culture. Despite a warm review from the Guardian, reaction to Joy was
pretty frosty and shortly after release the Skids were no more.
Brushing aside with a contemptuous snort all the usual stuff about legacies of fine
music, the great sadness in the demise of this most admirable of bands lies, for me,
in that in his search for Celtic identity and sound, Richard Jobson (nee Jolson)
overlooked the fact that it was precisely these elements that distinguished the Skids
from the post-punk herd in the first place.
If you don't believe me, listen again.
John Peel 1982
[If you are interested in hearing music from the Skids, many of us on the list have
their albums plus the Jobson Poetry albums, solo LP(s) and Jobson's subsequent
band "Armoury Show".]
The Skids compilation Dunfermline used to be available here in the States.
I don't know if it still is. It's a well-filled CD that includes all kinds
of material from those pre-BC years. I found it in a mom-and-pop used CD
store in Minneapolis for $6. 8-) Interested parties might want to go the
used-CD route or try the internet CD want list that's posted each week in
rec.music.cd.
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F) How Have Big Country Fared From The Critics?
BC reviews: [for more Big Country reviews and articles, see the main web page menu]
Two short-takes:
1) British music magazine Music Week ("For everyone in the music business")
published a short review of WTLF in its edition of 3 June:
"The men in check shirts stick to their Eighties formula but provide a
strong set of tunes. Thirty something's should lap it up."
2)October 1995
"Twelve years from their formation, former Skids front man, Stuart Adamson makes
an unsurprising return. The original line up of Adamson, Watson, Butler and Brzezicki,
totally intact once again, BC present 60 minutes of their now infamous Celtic Rock
ballads. It is blatantly apparent that these guys are enjoying what they do, the music
bounces with life and vigour, perhaps the production of this album was made easier by
the lack of expectations held of them, if you haven't forgotten their name by now, you
didn't know it in the first place. Nothing that will shock here, but did you really want it to."
Author unknown
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G) Do Big County openly support any social causes?
Big Country have linked up with Greenpeace to rush release an anti nuclear EP
"Non (Stop The Tests)" on October 16th and are dedicating their entire UK and
European tour to Greenpeace and the campaign to halt the French nuclear testing
programme at Moruroa.
The message of this record: Get active, get involved, be aware, do something,
every record is an action. We wrote "Post Nuclear Talking Blues" and "BOAGP"
very much with the Greenpeace and these kind of issues in mind says Stuart.
We know that other bands around the world are getting involved - that's why we
are also creating a site on the internet to link them up but we were astonished
to discover that no one in the UK at least had acted on the idea of crating an
action/awareness record for Greenpeace and against the French nuclear tests in
the South Pacific. All royalties from this EP will go to Greenpeace.
At every date on BC's tour (which kicked off yesterday in Belfast and continues
through Britain until November 6th) there will be a Greenpeace presence with
extra features, events and actions being added as the tour progresses and the
campaign develops.
I'm not sure why everyone (OK, not everyone) is down on the Non! EP. I
just picked a copy up today at Tower Records and I must say that I feel it
serves its purpose exceedingly well. First and foremost, we should
remember that its purpose is educational and activist, not to satisfy the
appetites of BC aficionados. In that light, the track selection (three of
the most energetic WTLF songs plus the plucky acoustic version of All Go
Together) is quite appropriate. I hope that everyone on this list will make the
effort to find it, or at least take BC's hint and send a few pennies to Greenpeace.
It couldn't hurt! What are YOU working for?
[more on this subject to come]