The Crossing | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 29 July 1983 [1] [2] | |||
Recorded | January and May 1983 [3] [4] | |||
Studio | The Manor (Oxfordshire) RAK (London) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 48:24 | |||
Label | Mercury | |||
Producer | Steve Lillywhite | |||
Big Country chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Crossing | ||||
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The Crossing is the debut album released by Scottish band Big Country in July 1983. The album reached #3 in the UK; overseas, it hit #4 in Canada on the RPM national Top Albums Chart and #18 in the US on the Billboard 200 in 1983. It went on to be certified platinum in the UK and Canada. It contains the song "In a Big Country" which is their only U.S. Top 40 hit single.
In May 1982, Big Country signed a recording contract with Phonogram and soon began recording what was supposed to be their debut album with producer Chris Thomas. However, the entire recording session would eventually be scrapped when Big Country felt Thomas was not fully committing to the band due to other production commitments. [6] [9] Three songs were salvaged from the sessions – "Harvest Home", "Balcony" and "Flag of Nations (Swimming)" – and released as the "Harvest Home" single in September 1982 through Phonogram's imprint Mercury Records, reaching number 91 in the UK Singles Chart. [10]
With new producer Steve Lillywhite, the band recorded the single "Fields of Fire" in early 1983, which became a UK Top Ten hit. In May, on the back of the single's success, Lillywhite and the band proceeded to record The Crossing, which would include a re-recorded "Harvest Home".
Stuart Adamson and fellow guitarist Bruce Watson used the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 effect pedal to create a guitar sound reminiscent of bagpipes. [11] Also contributing to the band's unique sound was their use of the e-bow, a hand-held device which, through the use of magnets, causes the strings of an electric guitar to vibrate producing a soft attack which sounds more like strings or synthesizer. [11]
The album has been remastered and reissued on three occasions. The latest version released by Universal in 2012 in advance of the album's 30th anniversary includes a second disc of previously unissued demos. Also included in the set are tracks produced by Chris Thomas from the first abortive attempt to record the band's debut album. The demos include the earliest recordings done by Adamson and Watson, some of which were recorded on four-track prior to recruiting either a drummer or bassist for the band.
The set also includes a booklet with interviews (new in the case of the current band members and archived in the case of the late Stuart Adamson) by the journalist and author Tim Barr. Lyrics for all of the key songs are also included, and the album has been remastered by Paschal Byrne from the original master tapes. In total, ten previously unreleased tracks were included in the deluxe, digitally remastered edition.
The songs on The Crossing deal with topics including loss ("Inwards," "Chance"), separation ("Close Action"), dehumanization ("Lost Patrol"), and the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion ("The Storm"). Many of the songs are characterized by Mark Brzezicki's highly-compressed drums and the heavily effects-treated, layered guitars of Adamson and Watson. The music often demonstrates a clear influence of Scottish traditional music, particularly obvious in the pipe-band rhythms of "In a Big Country" and "Fields of Fire" and the swirling, Gaelic guitar intro to "The Storm." This caused the band to be categorized as a Celtic rock band, which sometimes led to unfavorable comparisons with other bands such as Thin Lizzy.[ citation needed ]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Blender | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Classic Rock | 10/10 [14] |
The Philadelphia Inquirer | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Q | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Record Mirror | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Smash Hits | 4/10 [20] |
The Village Voice | B [21] |
Critic Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone gave the album a glowing review, writing:
Here's a big-noise guitar band from Britain that blows the knobs off all the synth-pop diddlers and fake-funk frauds who are cluttering up the charts these days. Big Country mops up the fops with an air-raid guitar sound that's unlike anything else around, anywhere ... Like the Irish band U2 (with whom they share young, guitar-wise producer Steve Lillywhite), Big Country has no use for synthesizers, and their extraordinary twin-guitar sound should make The Crossing a must-own item for rock die-hards. [18]
All songs written by Stuart Adamson, Mark Brzezicki, Tony Butler, and Bruce Watson, except as indicated. On the US vinyl LP, the songs "1000 Stars" and "Fields of Fire" are in reversed order. The US CD release keeps the same order as below.
with:
Album
Chart (1983) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums Chart [24] | 21 |
Canadian Albums Chart [25] | 4 |
Dutch Albums Chart [26] | 11 |
New Zealand Albums Chart [27] | 8 |
Swedish Albums Chart [28] | 17 |
UK Albums Chart [29] | 3 |
U.S. Billboard 200 [30] | 18 |
Singles
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Harvest Home | UK Singles Chart [6] [31] | 91 |
1983 | Fields of Fire | UK Singles Chart [32] | 10 |
1983 | In a Big Country | Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 37 |
1983 | In a Big Country | Billboard Mainstream Rock | 3 |
1983 | In a Big Country | Billboard Hot 100 | 17 |
1983 | In a Big Country | RPM 50 Singles (Canada) [33] | 3 |
1983 | In a Big Country | UK Singles Chart [32] | 17 |
1983 | Chance | UK Singles Chart [32] | 9 |
1984 | Fields of Fire | Billboard Hot 100 [34] | 52 |
Organization | Level | Date |
---|---|---|
BPI – UK | Gold | 15 September 1983 |
CRIA – Canada | Gold | 1 November 1983 |
CRIA – Canada | Platinum | 1 December 1983 |
RIAA – USA | Gold | 19 January 1984 |
BPI – UK | Platinum | 9 February 1984 |
Steeltown is the second studio album by Scottish band Big Country. The album was recorded at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm with Steve Lillywhite producing. It was released on 19 October 1984, in the UK and 29 October 1984, in the United States. It was released on CD only in Germany, as well as remastered and reissued there.
The Seer is the third studio album by the Scottish band Big Country, released in 1986. The album featured very traditional Scottish musical settings, reminiscent of the band's debut album The Crossing (1983). Kate Bush worked on the title song in a duet with lead singer and lyricist Stuart Adamson. The album's first single, "Look Away", was an Irish number one, and was also the group's biggest hit single in the UK, reaching number 7.
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William Stuart Adamson was a Scottish rock guitarist and singer. Adamson began his career in the late 1970s as a founding member and performer with the punk rock band Skids. After leaving Skids in 1981, he formed Big Country and was the band's lead singer and guitarist. The group's commercial heyday was in the 1980s. In the 1990s, he was a member of the alternative country band the Raphaels. In the late 1970s the British music journalist John Peel referred to his musical virtuosity as a guitarist as "a new Jimi Hendrix".
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Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981.
"Fields of Fire" is one of the biggest hits by the Scottish rock band Big Country. It was first released in the United Kingdom in 1983 as the second single from the band's debut album The Crossing.
"Harvest Home" is the debut single of the Scottish band Big Country. It was first released as a single in September 1982, then re-recorded for the band's debut album The Crossing.
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