The Crossing is the debut album by Scottish band Big Country, released in July 1983. The album reached number three in the United Kingdom; overseas, it hit number four in Canada on the RPM national Top Albums Chart and number 18 in the United States 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 US top 40hit 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 on 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 EBow, 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 a 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 was remastered by Paschal Byrne from the original master tapes. In total, ten previously unreleased tracks were included in the deluxe, digitally remastered edition.
Music and lyrics
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]
In a glowing review for Sounds, Johnny Waller found that Big Country had developed their own "uniquely recognisable" musical style and said that their "spirit and determination... have a ring of truth and integrity", concluding that his "slight reservations about The Crossing are ultimately cut through with the lionheart vigour of a major new band only slightly in too much of a hurry."[20] Writing that "Stuart Adamson always manages to use his taut vocals to good effect", Simon Hills of Record Mirror considered The Crossing, "if a little one dimensional", to be "a worthy debut album" and "all in all sterling stuff".[16]
Kurt Loder commented in Rolling Stone that Big Country "blows the knobs off all the synth-pop diddlers and fake-funk frauds who are cluttering up the charts these days", 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)," Loder noted, "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."[17]
Track listings
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.
↑"RPM 100 Albums". RPM. 39 (11). archived at Library and Archives Canada. 12 November 1983. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
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