Customer Reviews

Restless Natives & Rarities

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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"Restless Natives & Rarities" is excellent. Having been a BC fan since the early eighties, i jumped all over this collection of true, spirited classics from this Scottish band. The soundtrack to "Restless Natives" (an indie film from Scotland) is worth the price of the CD alone. The soundtrack is amazing...taking you deep into the heart of the Big Country sound and musicianship. The ghostly moan of the guitars...that bagpipe sound filtering through like a floating image on a foggy night...the pounding, heavy drum section....the beautiful interwoven bass lines...the soaring vocals...the powerful images of the frontier, the harsh seasons, the clouds of grey, "the winter sky" and of course the words...those lyrics....i know, i sound ridiculous. but i'm telling you, if you love Big Country...or if you've only heard a couple of tunes from this great band ("In a Big Country", "Look Away") this 2-CD set is a must...great b-sides previously unreleased ("The Longest Day", "Kiss The Girl Goodbye", "On The Shore") and of course, the soundtrack to "Restless Natives" that will leave your jaw on the floor for about 36-minutes ....i can't get this CD out of my stereo system...i have it at work...i have it at home...it never leaves my car...it is the ultimate collection of classic Big Country...Restless Natives and all.

I bought this CD collection because I absolutely have to have every Big country album ever made. "Restless Natives" will put you "alone upon the hills and snow" and will guide you "through summer sun and winter snow" where the "eagle was lord above". If you are a big fan of BC you will LOVE this CD.

I stumbled on this one,I knew it was out there on the web but never really expected to be lucky enough to find a CD store owner with enough old fashioned common sense to actually have one in stock, I really bought it for the title track which I had on very old 12 inch vinyl. This is a gem and as soon as you turn down the lights, rip the top off a McEwans extra and skip to track 6 on CD 1 you will be transported to another place , I had to wait about 25 minutes until the passage came in and although there is a different , instrumental rendition early in track 6 the version with lyrics is the best, Adamsons voice sounds the best it could and better than any other song I have heard of BC, worth the search.Other stand outs are Äll fall together, (also released as "giant" on a B side but with no vocals), On the shore, plus many others. If you see this available here, grab it QUICK!
Thank you.

From the title you might think this was a collection of lesser material. But it brings together a lot of stuff that the Big Country fan will find absolutely essential.

It also serves as a rather complete introduction to what the band has been all about over the past two decades.

One note: People who don't know about the film, "Restless Natives", might be puzzled by the soundtrack-like music on one of the disks of this two-CD set. Well, it is soundtrack music to a very fine, funny, moving Scottish film (if you liked the much more famous "Trainspotting", you will like "Restless Natives").

Standout cuts from the 2 CD set: Song of the South, Kiss the Girl Goodbye, The Longest Day. All of these are great guitar rock songs and you have to wonder how they got to be rarities/album outtakes.

However, this double CD is worth it just for the "Restless Natives" music, which I keep playing over and over. It brings in a lot of Celtic folk sounds as well as harder rock, but there is a cinematic coherence to it all, even if you haven't seen the movie. If you like Aztec Camera or some of the soundtrack work Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits has done, this music is for you. Although "Restless Natives" was directed by Michael Hoffman, it is clearly influenced by Scottish director, Bill Forsyth.

If you don't have this Big Country l.p., along with the band's studio l.p.s, "Buffalo Skinners", "Why the Long Face", and last year's "Driving to Damascus", you are missing out on some of the best music of the 1990s. Perhaps the lost rock chords of the 20th century.

I mean that with something like the earnestness that this band writes and plays music (I hope).

This is really good. If you liked anything Big Country has done then have no fear buying this, its all good. In the liner notes it claims that some of the songs have an "unfinished" feel to them. If anything I think thats a plus. As much as I like Big Country I sometimes thought were a little overwrought. The songs here show that Stuart Adamson and co can write really powerful songs, and just let those songs speak for themselves. Its a little mellower and more cheerful than some their early stuff, and I still haven't heard a better rythmn section than what Big Country kicks out! These guys fill the valleys and shake the hills!

I love this cd its made up of unreleased tracks and B sides previously unavailible on cd before now. I guess the track I thrash the most is Restless Natives from the film of the same name.

I love this soundtrack to the movie "Restless Natives." It's well worth it just for this alone. I wish they had produced more soundtracks like this in their years. I suppose they still can, but it just wouldn't be the same without Stewart, may he rest in peace. I love this soundtrack! I just wish the movie were available on DVD in the US.

I loved the first CD of this 2-CD set (a collection of outtakes, demos, etc), then became slightly disappointed when I saw that the second CD only had 7 songs on it. What I didn't know until I played the second CD was that one of the songs --- the Restless Natives "song" --- is about 30 minutes long and includes some of the finest music you would want to hear. Awesome guitars and percussion. I haven't seen the movie, but this makes me want to go rent it.

TO BE HONEST, I HAVE NOT HEARD THE CD BUT I HAVE HEARD THE TRACK " RESTLESS NATIVES". THE THING THAT REALLY STRUCK ME HARD WAS THE SCOTS ACCENT HAD NOT BEEN FILTERED OUT. IT IS THERE IN ALL IT'S THICK, STICKY GLORY. THE OTHER RECORDINGS BY THE BAND COULD HAVE BEEN SUNG BY AN AMERICAN, BUT NOT THIS ONE. ITS PURE SCOTS AND THE GUITAR WORK (I'M NO EXPERT) SOUNDS RAW AND VERY INTRICATE AT THE SAME TIME. I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND ITS VERY HARD TO FIND BUT WORTH THE SEARCH. IF I COULD HEAR THE CD I MOST DEFINITELY WILL BUY IT.

This CD is one of Big Country's best. Not for the actual song content but for the fact that it mirrors the haunting Scottish Highlands background, portaryed in the film.

Don't want to say too much more, see the film, then go back to the CD and you'll be a fan for ever.

I had this on a recording taken from 2 B-Sides years ago, and it brought it all back when I saw the repackaged CD.

Sheer Class.