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THE BEST OF
THE BIG COUNTRY MAILING LIST
5/94-11/95
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PART FIVE: GENERAL TRIVIA AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
A) What's An E-Bow?
B) What Is A B-Bender Guitar?
C) A Typical Truly International Tread
D) The Stuart Adamson Grunt
E) The Accent
F) Legal Trouble
G) Who Is Hugh Macdiarmid?
H) Who Is Bill Nelson?
I) Mixed Bag Of Trivia
PART FIVE: GENERAL TRIVIA AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
a) What's an E-bow?
A hand-held electromagnetic string vibrator - if used carefully, you can
produce eerie sustaining notes without touching the string - listen to
the start of "Close Action" for a primo example of a 2-Bow attack. Other
E-Bow exponents include Bill Nelson and Michael Manring. (I'm talking
about guitar - no relation to a normal vibrator!)
is the e-bow the metal thing Stuart uses in the Barrowlands 93-94
concert video? I don't remember the song(s) he used it on, but I
remember thinking how cool that was. originally thought an e-bow
would be some wild-looking stringed instrument.
Actually, I do remember seeing a BC vid once in which Stuart had a shiny
silver E-bow, but all the E-bows I've actually seen have been black...
Depending on where you hold the E-bow, it also has a tendency to produce
rather interesting harmonics. This can be annoying, though, if you're
trying to play a steady note.
E-bows can be fun to use on a bass too, but they only work effectively on
the D and the G string. When are they going to make a bass E-bow, that's
what I want to know. :)
An E-bow is a small black plastic thing that
looks something like a pocket-sized office stapler with a couple of LEDs on
it. It's shaped like a small, slightly asymmetric arch, and you hold one
fork of the arch in your hand and lay the other one along the guitar
strings, right above a pickup. The half in your hand has a nine-volt
battery in it, and the part on the strings has a magnet. The part that
sits on the strings actually sits on two strings, muting them, and vibrates
the one string between those two. Some dynamic control can be accomplished
by varying the force with which the bow is pressed against the guide
strings, and varying the position of the bow relative to the pickup, but
unlike a real bow, no movement is actually necessary to produce string
vibrations. One extremely effective use of an Ebow, in fact, is in tuning,
where you can simply hold it over an open string with one hand, and adjust
the tuner with the other, without any of the decay or detuning that happens
when you pick a string. They aren't that hard to find, at least here in
the US, so if you're curious you should just go to your local guitar store
and ask them if they can show you one. They generally go for around $75.
Of course, you'll want an electric guitar to use it with, as an Ebow by
itself is not very entertaining...
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b) What is a B-bender guitar?
It's probably the Parsons-White contraption -- it's usually a Telecaster
with this device attached to the upper strap button. When you push down on
the guitar, it raises the pitch of the B string through a series of levers
that run from the strap button through the body of the guitar to the
bridge. I haven't figured out yet what it's actually useful for...
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c) A Typical Truly International Tread
I've had a first chance to listen to this. It's a good concert - you will wish to add it to
your collections. Now, help required..... Just before BC start FOF on this CD they begin
another song that I don't know - the words go something like this:
Roads running (runner?)
Roads running (runner?)
Driving fast
Ten (?) miles an hour
It's always see, see, see (ci, ci, ci?)
See me walking around
I'm a boy about town
That could hurl out (?)
There a then follows an instrumental break, Stuart shouts "Scruggs" (as
in Lester Flats and Earl?) and then the band goes into an extraordinary
"wicker" section (like something out of "SHAFT"). A few bars later off
they go into FOF. Anyone got any ideas as to what this is about?
That sounds like Road Runner by Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers.
I seem to remember that a few years back when the rap craze was a slightly more
novel sort of annoyance that they mucked about during FOF doing what they
called a "Scratch" version, which Mike may well be describing here (you'll have
to amplify on where "wicker" comes from !)
Mike, could "Scruggs" be "Scratch"? I saw them do this once or twice, when
after yelling "scratch" Stuart (& Bruce) rasped away at the guitars with an
(atonal) frenzy while everyone acted like a loon.
Which is what it was, I believe, just a way of daffying about, injecting a bit
of humour, etc.
All that I meant by this was that they make a noise that sounds like
wicker wicker wicker wicker.
I seem to remember that the gizmo that was used to make the same sort of
noise in the various Shaft film scores was actually known as a wicker (or
possibly a wikka).
I agree with Steve's suggestion that what Stuart shouts is not Scruggs
but Scratch, though I'm not sure that it makes a lot more sense
"Scratch" is a particular feature of rap where the "player"
oscillates a record back and forth on the turntable while the
tone-arm is on the record grooves - producing what some folk
might refer to as:
Wicker Wicker Wicker Wicker Wicker Wicker"
But doesn't sound a great deal like "Shaft" to my ears (a
particular form of Wah Wah guitar? - I may have that totally wrong!)
Perhaps the rap folk have especially bad itches.
Or perhaps it's supposed to sound like the noise of someone
eating pork scratchings (I don't recall seeing THEM in the
USA - anyone care to amplify?)
Steve Bullman has asked me to explain "pork scratchings" to those
to whom this tem may be meaningless. = pieces of fried pig skin - they
end up either crisp and crunchy rather like chinese restaurant prawn
crackers or v. chewy/leathery like bits of old inner tube only not as
tasty. Sold in English pubs to take away the taste of the beer. Go with
cloth caps, whippets, pints of 'mild' and racing pigeons. How am I
doing, Steve?
> See me walking around
> I'm a boy about town
> That could hurl out (?)
This is from "Boy About Town" by the Jam.
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d) The Stuart Adamson Grunt:
"Where did Stuart get all those noises he makes during songs?"
I think these noises should be identified and cataloged.
Between the second and third verses of the song Where the Rose is Sown,
Stuart yells something which sounds to me like the big, bad f-word.
Is he saying it? If not, what is he saying?
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e) The Accent:
And now, speaking about accent.. Does anyone else sometimes have difficulties
understanding Stuarts accent? I think yes, because I think in the video
from Moscow Stuart says something like: "Does anyone understand what I'm
saying?" And the (russian) crowd yells of course "Yeah!" and Stuart then
replies: "That's good, because Tony doesn't".. Or was it Bruce..
I have to say I have never had any trouble understanding Stuart.
although that may have something to do with the fact that he only
got it about 50? miles from here ;-)
Actually, there are quite a few different accents within Scotland,
but I suppose its like all over the world, and people from outside
can't tell the difference (I think of American as one accent, and
have trouble telling where someone is from by their accent.)
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f) Legal Trouble:
>From today's London Times: 18-OCT-1995
Accountant Keith Moore jailed for six years for embezzling six million
pounds from Sting. Moore also acted for Queen, Freddie Mercury, Jools
Holland and BC. In 1984 BC discovered their earnings were almost
inaccessible in the complex web of accounts Moore created.
"He made it very difficult to access our money" Adamson said. "eventually
the accounts became a maze that only he had the keys for. He had
offshore and offshore companies, publishing ones, companies you buy your
socks from. It was almost impossible to know where our money was. Like
Sting's it was a difficult puzzle to understand."
There were "reams of paperwork" Adamson said, just to understand what had
happened to money from one tour. The group sacked Moore in 1985 after
their manager, Ian Grant, became suspicious at the rapid accumulation of
accounts and Moore's almost total control of them. Grant said "We nipped
the situation in the bud. It was the immediacy of the number of accounts
and the fact that Moore wanted to control the whole thing that made me
smell a rat."
They were forced to take Moore to the High Court to make him return all
their financial statements. "It took us many years to get the books back
in order" Grant said. Adamson added "Eventually we were happy to get out
with our fingers burnt."
BC and Queen both lodged complaints of professional misconduct to the
Institute of Chartered Accountants, one of which led to his temporary
removal from the register. After being restored to the register in 1979
he was again struck off in 1986 after BC complained of incompetence. The
sentence was substituted by a reprimand and a fine, on appeal.
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g) Who Is Hugh MacDiarmid?:
i have been meaning to post in regards to hugh macdiarmid the
scottish poet who inspired stuart adamson in writing 'eiledon'. i did
find "drunk man looking at thistle" in our university libray, however it
appears to be a series of poems which extends many pages, otherwise i
would post it here. "drunk man looking at thistle" was put out in 1926,
and all the poems are written in a scottish dialect, english with a heavy
dose of scottish.
"Before Eiledon Stuart commented that it was inspired by a poem by
Hugh MacDiarmid (Old man looking at thistle??) and that this was the
first tour on which they had played this song."
This may be coincidence, but if so it's a close one (especially considering
the song's lyrics and the thematic content of the Seer album). Quoting
from James Campbell's "Scotland From The Air" (Crown Publishers, Inc.
1984):
"Eildon Hills, Roxburgh, Borders
This area of the Borders is sometimes called Scott country, and the
compact Eildon Hills (only one of three is in view here) are the central
feature of the beauty spot known as Walter Scott's View. The hills are
well served by legend. Beneath them Thomas the Rhymer spent seven
years with the Faery Queen, who rewarded him with the gift of
prophecy; here also it is said that King Arthur and his Knights lie in
enchanted sleep; and in Melrose Abbey, just on the left of the road
leading to the town from the river, is the supposed tomb of Michael Scot
the wizard, who made the three peaks out of one. Scott the novelist
thrived on such stories and even contributed to the lore himself. Perhaps
the most frequently repeated anecdote concerns his horse, which
stopped before the hills on its way to its master's funeral at Dryburgh
Abbey, as had been its rider's habit. In the Bronze Age this
northernmost summit was a hilltop town; look hard and you will see its
remains. As many as a thousand people lived there. They were hostile
to the Romans, naturally, who after their arrival in Tweedale in AD 79
used the settlement as a signal station for the garrison at Trimontium, not
far to the left along the Tweed."
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h) Who is Bill Nelson?
[Bill Nelson produced some of the Skids material. He has remained a musical
influence on Stuart Adamson, as a guitar player. He is a very prolific
artist releasing over 40 solo albums, after recording with many bands
including Be Bop Deluxe. He has also worked with many other artists
including A Flock of Seagulls (produced first single), Yukihiro Takahashi
(ex-YMO), David Sylvian (ex-Japan), Cabaret Voltaire, Harold Budd,
Roger Eno, and was involved in a multimedia show during the early 1980's
called The Invisibility Exhibition with Richard Jobson and others.
Bill Nelson is so prolific that I own 25 of his albums and don't consider
myself a collector. My favorite releases include his guitar work on
Sylvian's "Gone to Earth", Harold Budd's "By Dawn's Early Light",
Channel Light Vessel "Automatic" and his newest domestic release
"Practically Wired". His music ranges from Ambient, to Techno,
and to progressive rock. There is a track on "Cocteau Signature Tunes"
that features vocals by Richard Jobson called " Leyasu". As you
see, I could go on... ]
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I) Mixed Bag of Trivia:
The following were questions posed and answered by list members:
"The Seer" has a song called "Remembrance Day", and both Mark Brzezicki and
Kate Bush appear on the album. What *non*-Big Country album shares all
three of these traits?
- It's Midge Ure's Answers to Nothing album. He loves
using Mark as a drummer (great work here). Kate duets with him on a song
called "Brother and Sister." And "Remembrance Day" happens to be one of the
best songs on this excellent album.
Who produced Big Country's first single, "Harvest Home"?
- Chris Thomas
What successful British band was Tony invited to join in the early 80's?
- The Pretenders
Big Country was initially signed to Mercury Records under what name?
- Angle Park
During the finale of a 1983 U2 concert, Stuart, Bono and Mike Peters
got together on-stage to sing what song?
- Knockin' On Heaven's Door
According to Bob Geldof, why was Big Country not invited to play Live
Aid?
- He thought they had broken up
What was Bruce's day job before hitting it big with BC?
- Cleaning nuclear submarines
Big Country lost the 1983 Grammy for Best New Artist to whom?
- Culture Club
What was the original title of "Fields of Fire"?
- 400 Miles
"Giant" is the instrumental version of what Big Country song?
- All Fall Together
What is a porrohman?
- According to Stuart a porroh man is "a West African witch doctor."
- I just checked the _Oxford English Dictionary_, and it says Poro (or Porro)
is a secret cult for men in Sierra Leone and some other West African country
whose name I forget.
What is Eleidon?
- Eleidon is just the name for a place everybody wants to be.
Who is Saopy Soutar?
- There was a song by the Skids called
"Monkey McGuire meets Soapy Soutar around the back of Lockire Institute"
and it seems to be the reply to this song.
Soapy Soutar is a character in a cartoon strip, called "Oor Wullie".
This runs weekly in a Scottish paper called the Sunday Post, and
there is also a book every 2 years (it alternates with "The Broons")
Wullie is the main character, and his pals are Soapy, Fat Boab, and
Wee Eck. They say things like "Jings, crivvens, help ma boab!" a
lot, and unless you are Scottish, you may not understand it!!!!
Why were 'We're Not in Kansas' and 'Ships' included on the
Buffalo Skinners album?
- I remember Stuart saying in an interview at the time that he wasn't
happy with the way they had turned out on NPLH, and was trying to do
them justice now. Apparently (I never saw them B4 the BS tour) the
BS version of Ships is much more like the version they have ALWAYS
played live.
- Stuart's wife Sandra is a former Highland dance champion ?
- Mark and Tony were in a band called "On the Air",
with Pete Townshend's brother Simon ?
- U2's Edge considers Stuart an influence on his guitar style ?
- for a while, Mark and Tony formed a duo called Rhythm for Hire ?
- Stuart did NOT name the band after the Gregory Peck movie "The Big Country." ?
- "Flame of the West" was written about Ronald Reagan ?
Who produced Big Country's first single, "Harvest Home"?
- Chris Thomas
[additions by list members]
I just checked the _Oxford English Dictionary_, and it says Poro (or Porro)
is a secret cult for men in Sierra Leone and some other West African country
whose name I forget. Anyway, it looks like Stuart knew what he was talking
about when he described a Porrohman as a W. African witch doctor.
I know you'll all sleep better knowing this.... ;-)
Is this the most obscure and least interesting BC snippet ever?
A drummer called Jim Melvin failed his audition to be BC's drummer; I
don't know whether this was at the time of Mark's absence or right back
at the initial formation of the group.
I remember reading an old issue of Melody Maker magazine in which Mark
reminisced about the early days. He said he couldn't afford a good set of
drums, so he made his own out of cardboard (or some similar light material).
The drums worked OK, but whenever someone opened a door in the club he was
playing, the drums would fly out the door.
If you don't believe this, you'll have to take it up with Mark.
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Anyone who has the IABC compilation notice a hilarious error in the
text? It referred to the third album as "The Steer." (Moo!)
Maybe a Freudian "country" slip?
When my spellchecker encountered STEELTOWN the only word it offered me
was STILTON.
P.S. Our British Gas spell checker offers "Stilton" as the most likely word I
wanted when I input "Steeltown" :-)
[for the record, when running the spelling checker over this document, the suggestion
for Russolini was "Mussolini". I'm sure Russtle is a nicer character.]
Spellcheck's first suggested replacement for "Eiledon" is "Aladdin", and
for "Eildon" is "olden".
Some songs have a magical theme, but the most outstanding is "The
Seer" from the album by the same name, about a woman who foretells
the Roman invasion of Scotland.
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But does anyone know anything about the Dobermann on WTLF? Whose dog is
this? What's his name? Why was he chosen? Did dogs have to audition for the
cover?! ;-)
This was discussed at the convention. As the album is entitled "Why The Long Face",
after the horse in the Emo Philips Joke (A horse is about to throw himself off a bridge
and someone says "Hey buddy, why the long face?"), there are lots of pictures of
animals with long faces all over the place. If you look carefully you'll see them in a
slightly lighter blue on the back cover too. The Doberman was chosen as it has a
'long face'. As to why it was chosen: Stuart chose it from a book of photos. The name:
he didn't know, but I suppose someone must know i.e. the dog and its owner!
Stuart said he just liked the photo....
BTW, the current concert programme says that "WHY" is the name of the
dog!!
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Lewis Crow wrote:
One reason Stuart may write a lot about ships and storms is the fact that
his father was a merchant seaman for many years.
Andrew Hutchings
Another good BC story .... I was a at a gig at the Newcastle City Hall way back in
1983ish, when everything gave up during the second song 'Wonderland'. After
about 15 minutes, things were fixed, and the band continued. Near the end of the
show, Stuart made an announcement that everybody should pick up a ticket for a
*free* show in two weeks time, before leaving the Hall, to compensate for the
bad sound/technical problems.
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> Jeff Patterson
Last evening my wife was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 (For those who
may not be familiar, it's a cable TV program which features a man and two robots
who are forced to watch really bad movies. They constantly make jokes (sort of Beavis
and Butthead style), and though it may not sound like it would, the show works really
well and never fails to amuse.). Anyway, the point is that there was a BC reference in
the episode that was shown last night. It was one of those truly bad Hercules movies,
and he was overlooking the vast landscape when one of the robots quipped
"In a Big Country, Dreams stay with you."
I think it's "Hercules Unchained" That particular episode turns up pretty regularly
on Comedy Central's schedule, for all you U.S. cable subscribers. You're right, Jason
- MST3K works much better than it sounds as if it should. And the BC reference
was delightful. Even better than seeing the IABC video turn up in the B&B episode
"The Butthead Experience."
Honorable Mention to MTV's Beavis & Butthead for airing "In A Big
Country". This is noteworthy, in some skewed cultural context,
because: 1) they didn't say "suck", 2) they said "cool" at least once
(during the mini-bike scene), 3) their background banter was confined
entirely to discussing the video (when their attention wanders it's the
same as saying "suck"), and 4) it was actually pretty funny. When it got
to the beach campfire and Stuart on the clifftop, the dialog went
something like: "This looks like an Irish Spring commercial." "Are yuh
strrronger than yuh want to be?" "It's uh manly way to bathe!" Well, I
guess you had to be there, but it was a hoot.
2)[Jeff, Kathleen and Michael referred to the "Butt-Head Experience"episode
of Beavis and Butthead which included the following music]
Butt-Head daydreams during work that he and Beavis are rock stars.
- "Seventeen" (Winger)
- "F-Sharp" (Nudeswirl)
- "I Love It Loud" (Kiss)
- "Put Your Mouth On Me" (Eddie Murphy)
- "Take On Me" (A-HA)
- "In A Big Country" (Big Country)
This episode includes the "Toad Licking" portion from "Sick" added on at the end.
------------------------------
< David Blewett>
On the Saturday Night Live thing ...
I saw this too. It was a commentary by David Spade. The topic was a
general complaint about performers not doing their hits in concert.
I don't remember what other examples he gave (there were about 5 or 6),
maybe something like "going to see Springsteen and having him not do
'Born in the USA'. Then he said "Went to see Big Country. They didn't do
'Big Country.' Come on, the band's called Big Country, the album's called
Big Country, the hit's called 'Big Country.'" He got both the album
title and song title wrong.
Then he finished with some kind of threat - "I'm going to see so-and-so next
weekend. If they don't sing 'whatever', things could get ugly."
It was a fairly funny bit, though of course I wish he had chosen someone else
to pick on instead of our guys.
< Todd Oberly>
Maybe this is nothing new to Country Club subscribers, but [James Birch]
told me something really interesting about "Fly Like An Eagle" and
"Rockin' In The Free World" from the "Beautiful People" single...they
were both mastered at the wrong speed!!! Personally, I didn't think
there was much wrong with RITFW, as this slower version sounds more
like the Neil Young version, but I never really liked FLAE, so maybe
it is the mastering and not really Bruce's singing! ;-) [The mistake was blamed]
on either Bruce or Tony, who supervised the mastering.
In February I saw them and it was definitely Mark. He has a beard now and
looked quite strange and old. But he belonged to the band and had a lot of
fun. So I think he is enjoying his return. One guy from southern Germany
who I met on the concert said, that Mark already wanted to appear on the
last CD (Buffalo Skinners), but was touring with Procul Harum at the time
the CD [photo] was taken.
Yeah. I saw them in late October at a small club in upstate New York
(an INCREDIBLE show I might add), and it was Brzezicki playing drums.
I think that show was one of the first dates on the U.S. tour for "The
Buffalo Skinners," and the whole band was really into the whole thing.
Stuart Adamson was talking about how the whole band wanted to get to
know American audiences again and things of that sort. Mark was
always there to help out Adamson's "monologues" with some sort of
snappy remark.