Customer Reviews

Come Up Screaming

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Big Country made some wonderful studio albums, but the concert stage was where they really came alive. I knew that this album was due for release about two months before its actual release date, and I haunted music stores until I found it. My heart sank when a sticker on the front informed me that it was recorded on something called The Final Fling tour. It didn't take a mental giant to realize that a stellar band was calling it quits.

They surely did not go out with a whimper. They put together a show that was studded with the band's best known songs, and then added in some of their best (but less well known) album tracks for good measure. The album covers material from every part of their career, from their debut album "The Crossing" right up to "Driving to Damascus".

There just aren't enough good things to say about this album. The performances are first rate, the pacing is great, the sound is excellent, and the crowd is with them every step of the way, egging them on. If you take a music fan who has never even heard of Big Country and play them just the final six tracks of this album, you will create a rabid Big Country fan.

From a purely selfish point of view, I find it unimaginable that a band that sounded this good, even while standing on the edge of oblivion, had to break up. In the back of my mind I harbored the hope for a reunion at some point in the future. Obviously that hope was dashed with the tragic suicide this past December of frontman/singer/songwriter/guitarist Stuart Adamson.

For me, the only downside to this album is the bitter irony of its closing seconds. At the end of the final number, Adamson addresses the crowd and thanks them for their support. His final words to them (echoing the lyrics to the song "In A Big Country") are "...remember, stay alive!" If only he could have followed his own advice...

He's gone. He wrote songs that spoke of good and bad situations, all the while telling the listener that time would make everything ok. Well, time has run out for Stuart Adamson. I sincerely believe this album features his best songs and best performances. If you have only one in your music collection, forget the greatest hits. Get this one. Stuart, hopefull the angels did indeed take you home!

It's amazing how many people thought Big Country split in the mid-eighties. In fact, the band carried on recording and gigging until 2000. It is a story of unrealized potential, lack of support from record labels, and a musical style that the music industry couldn't pigeon-hole. However, let's go back to the beginning.

The band formed in 1981 when hugely-talented vocalist/lead guitarist/songwriter Stuart Adamson left Scottish punk band The Skids and joined with long-time Dunfermline pal and ex-nuclear submarine cleaner Bruce Watson on rhythm guitar. In 1982 the original rhythm section was fired and Tony Butler (bass) and Mark Brzezicki (drums) were recruited from On the Air via session work. On the Air was a three-some with Simon Townshend, who's now helping brother Pete out in The Who.

The band signed up with Phonogram and released their first single `Harvest Home'. It introduced the band's distinctive twin-racing guitar sound. References have been made to a `bagpipe' sound. Let me tell you that most bagpipes I've heard would make a deaf dog cringe. We'll leave this stereotype to the ill-informed. The band's second single, `Fields of Fire', hit #10 in the UK charts in 1983. The excellent first album, `The Crossing', charted initially at #4 and eventually reached a peak of #3. Subsequent touring and singles releases confirmed Big Country as the hot new act in the post-punk music industry.

Big Country's second album, `Steeltown', hit the UK charts in 1984 and went straight in at #1. More successful singles and sellout gigs followed. The band then took a brief sabbatical to record the soundtrack to the movie Restless Natives.

The third album, `The Seer', was released in July 1986 and reached #2 in the UK charts supported by the success of their biggest hit single (at #7) `Look Away'. High profile live appearances followed at the classic 1986 Princes Trust Concert and at Knebworth, supporting Queen at their last ever UK gig in front of 200,000 people (including this dog!). Looking back, 1986 was the band's commercial peak.

Each of the five studio albums that followed had some elements of experimentation and achieved varying degrees of success. The sixth studio album, `Buffalo Skinners', was a classic twin-guitar hard rocking album that eventually reached #25 in the charts, but with proper support from the record label could have brought the band back into the big time.

Big Country's last studio album, `Driving to Damascus', encompassed many of the styles of the previous albums and had a more relaxed leaning consistent with Stuart Adamson's move to Nashville in the US.

So, what do we have in Come Up Screaming? A double live album of 22 of their best tracks taken from the Glasgow and London gigs on the `Final Fling' tour of May 2000. The album kicks off with the rousing `Harvest Home', quickly followed by the hard-rocking `King of Emotion' from the `Peace in Our Time' album. `John Wayne's Dream' and `Driving to Damascus' follow with Adamson and Watson in great form, supported by the tightest rhythm section in the business. Other classic tracks follow including `The Storm' with the unique E-bow intro; a quieter moment with `Come Back to Me', before cranking up again for the ever-popular `Look Away' and 'Wonderland'. The finale is formed of four tracks from `The Crossing' in rapid succession - the epic `Porroh Man', `Chance' with vocals as usual loudly augmented by the crowd; theme song `In a Big Country', and great favourite `Fields of Fire', all with the racing guitars on full throttle.

Where are they now? Sadly, Stuart Adamson took his own life in December 2001; Bruce `the man who invented the seagull' Watson is recording and touring with ex-Marillion-frontman Fish; Mark Brzezicki has been recording and playing in Procol Harum, and Tony Butler currently concentrates on remastering and music production.

It's always been a mystery why Big Country never made the big time commercially. They shied away from publicity-seeking at the height of their popularity, when many of their less-talented contemporaries sought the limelight. The band stayed together for most of their 18 years and continued to be a great live act to go and see. However, a band with four top ten albums and four top ten singles should not have been forgotten so easily. Their legacy is kept alive by the ever-supportive ex-Manager Ian Grant, the two websites he runs (Track and Big Country), and an enthusiastic group of fans across the world. Live and rarities albums continue to be released and some of the studio albums have been lovingly remastered by Tony Butler. The big stores in Thailand have seen fit not to import `Come Up Screaming', so the best bet is the Track Records website - www.trackrecords.co.uk or the Big Country website - www.bigcountry.co.uk

Mott the Dog.

this is probably the last album of one of the best and most ignored straigth ahead rock bands out there. In Spain we use to say "honey is not made for pig's taste". In other words, good music is sometimes ignored by the majority of people. It's a shame. Anyway, if your are reading this, is beacuse you've alredy know Big Country, so I'm not telling you anything new. If you don't own this double live album, run for it!

wow. what a farewell. Big Country is just one great freakin' band. ever since their "crossing" release in the early eighties, i have followed this scottish band...from "porrohman" through a "thousand yard stare"...from "east of eden" all the way to "eiledon"...man, these guys are (were) good. it's a shame about the break-up, but all incredible things must come to an end. and that is what "come up screaming" is all about...a time to celebrate one of the truly great rock bands of the eighties and nineties. and do they celebrate. a number of hits from the scottish music machine...the crowd is amazing...the egineering is top notch....this double live album kicks. it's that simple

their sound is undeniable. their passion is unmatched. i can't reccommend this CD enough. man, i wish i was at one these recorded shows! all BC fans out there...all true BC fans have this, or should...(or were at one these recorded shows on this CD!) if you haven't gotten it yet...well, GET IT. give these guys the sendoff they deserve.....

blast this, and smile.

thank you BigCountry! "night falls on the city like a blanket on a cage...." what song? what album? what year?

This is it. Big Country's definitive live album so far. I say, "so far" because if it, along with last year's studio effort, "Driving to Damascus", enjoy any radio and sales success in the all-important US market, it might not be their last. I don't much care for most live albums usually, and Big Country's mid-to-late career releases in the genre (with one exception, "Brighton Rock") seemed to miss the mark in light of the fact that this band built a huge reputation on the quality of its live performances.

This band blows away U2 for musical talent and integrity, in my opinion, yet U2 sells hundreds of millions of copies. It doesn't figure. This is arena rock that makes you think there might really be a band that could make a difference.

Fitting 2 CD live performance from one of, if not the best rock act of the past 20 years with material representative of 8 studio albums. If you lost touch with the group in the mid-eighties then this is a great album to reacquaint yourself with them doing what they do best LIVE!
In A Big Country and Fields of Fire have to be the two best encore songs it is possible to rock to.

I've followed BC since '83, and with good reason.. THEY ROCK.. Without doubt the best band ever. I have seen them live and listened to every track they have made. Early "Crossing" is best played at full volume in a convertible with the sun shining and the top down. Damascus is best heard chilling by the pool with a beer. There is something for all moods and conditions. Come up Screaming is a wonderful legacy to leave behind, the old saying about going out with a bang was never more true. To me BC was all about sing-along's. it's their trademark, so that is hardly worth criticism. I'll agree that "The Storm" is one of the all time great tracks, along with Come Back to Me. That was the song I chose for my wedding. Who cares what the packaging looks like, it's what's inside that is important. Like the others have said, it's truly one of the best live albums any band have done - ever. Moving from the UK to the US hasn't diminished my following at all. Just made it a little harder. Its great to see reviews from all around the planet. Just goes to show what universal appeal BC have. Go buy the album. In fact get two, and give one to your best friend, they will thank you for years to come. There's no way that you will regret buying it. Switch on the stereo, put the CD in, and ENJOY.

One of the best live albums ever recorded, as simple as that. The two CD's showcase how great this band was live (this was recorded on what was being considered Big Country's final tour of the UK in May of 2000 and as the album was being released the bass player announced his departure from the band) and how much the audience loved them. The song selection comes from all 8 studio albums ('cos one song was featured on two) and is a great representation of their wonderful song & music writing.

This album is really beyond description: it's awesome, amazing, mind-blowing, fun etc. It's also a sad album because it's the swan song of a band that was never realized and whose members after 18 years has decided to go their own way.

I've been playing this album so loud and often that my neighbors are starting to like it.

Big Country has left us, but not without a Final Fling. The album commemorating their final tour does not disappoint. With the exception of a few tracks, the Scottish/English rockers show that indeed, they preferred to go out with a roar rather than a whimper.

Highlights include "Somebody Else," co-written by BC frontman Stuart Adamson and Ray Davies of The Kinks. This song, like so many others off of Driving to Damascus, their last studio disc, shows a more balanced, melodic side to Adamson's songwriting. "Dive Into Me," another DTD track featured on this set, is another standout, with its swirling guitars and its theme of surrender to the timeless.

The Crossing, the band's 1983 breakthrough debut, is given ample coverage here, perhaps a little too much so. Although "Inwards" still has its zing, "Porrohman," The Crossing's finale, sounds tired on this disc, as does "Lost Patrol." However, "Where the Rose is Sown" and "Come Back to Me," from their second Steeltown disc, is given new "live" life.

All of BC's studio discs are represented, which is good, because often overlooked powerhouses like "You Dreamer" from Why the Long Face and "Kansas" from The Buffalo Skinners benefit greatly from the live treatment.

In a perfect world, BC would have become infinitely more popular than they were. They were quite prolific, with two rarities sets to their credit and bonus tracks aplenty on the re-releases, but they never got the popularity they so richly deserved. At least, with this live swan song, they once again give an example to the world of what a true guitar band should sound like.

Big Country was a one-off. I hope that their breakup is temporary. Even though not enough people hear their stuff (especially not enough Americans), the music world is better off with them in it. For now, I'll just bid them farewell and, of course, stay alive.