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by Pat Gilbert (Record Collector, February 1993) |
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| As any music hack will testify, meeting rock stars for the first time can be an odd experience. For a start, they're never quite the same in the flesh as they look in their publicity shots or on TV. With Big Country's Stuart Adamson, for example, I was expecting to meet a short bloke wearing a checked lumberjack shirt with the sleeves lopped off. Instead, the Chrysalis press officer introduces me to a tall, athletic figure, decked out in slim white jeans and a thigh-length leather jacket. And, more disconcerting still, the lean rock -n- roller before me has a guttural Scottish accent so broad it would take the Forth Bridge to span it.
But never one to be easily - fazed by these traits, or Stuart's new Peter Hooton-of-the-Farm-style hair-do - I press ahead with my questions about "The Buffalo Skinners", Big Country's impressive 'comeback' album, which is released on 22nd March. But before I begin, Stuart catches me off guard with an unsolicited commendation of the Black Stuff... "I really hate the fact that vinyl's disappearing in favor of CDs," he opines, flicking through a copy of RC. "I like the size of the format. I like album sleeves. With CD, everybody's album looks the same." What about the humble 7"? Are you a fan? "Yes," says Stuart, "but have you seen how much they cost to make? Compared with the price they end up selling for, they're far less viable than CD singles." He grimaces. "Or at least that's how the record companies put it to you!" The singer's hint that record company executives aren't his flavor of the month almost certainly reflects his recent bitter experiences with Phonogram. During the late 80s, Big Country's long-standing relationship with that company began to deteriorate steadily, resulting in the release of two albums, "Peace In Our Time" (1988) and "No Place Like Home" (1991), which neither party was pleased with. Worse still, these LPs failed to match the remarkable success of the group's previous albums, "The Crossing" (1983), "Steeltown" (1984) and "The Seer" (1986), which hit the No. 3, No. 1 and No. 2 spots respectively. "We were disillusioned, they were disillusioned, our writing wasn't focused," the singer wearily explains. "It got to the point where I was questioning my involvement with the band and the music business as a whole. I've always had a strong vision of what the band should be about, and it just diluted everything I wanted to do. They wanted us to be some pop group, and it got worse and worse." In November 1991, Big Country and Phonogram parted company amid much acrimony, ending a relationship that had lasted nearly ten years. Luckily, the group were snapped up a few months later by Chrysalis' Compulsion label, run by Chris Briggs, the A&R man who originally signed the band to Phonogram in 1981. The four-piece (with new drummer Simon Phillips - Mark Brzezicki had departed in 1989) immediately began work on "The Buffalo Skinners", which included re- shaping two tracks, "Ships" and "We're Not In Kansas", from "No Place Like Home". And the result is an album of taut, stonking, guitar-based rock songs. "Basically it's what we sound like when people get out of the way and just let us do it," Stuart enthuses. "It's organic, alive... I'm really pleased with it. I just think it's a great record. I just hope that people can come to it without too many preconceptions, and just take it for what it is, rather than what they think it might be." From the six tracks I've heard so far, the singer shouldn't have too much to worry about. Numbers like "Long Way Home" and the Psychedelic Furs-ish "Seven Waves", see the lads really let go, while the slower songs such as "Ships" still retain the natural pathos of early BC ballads like "Chance". But hang on a minute, "Seven Seas"? "Ships"? There seem to be an awful lot of nautical references... "It's just a recurring image," answers the affable Scot. 'There's no one thread that runs through the LP, either lyrically or musically. You use images like water and oceans and fires as metaphors for elemental things in life; strong, simple direct emotions." There's still a kind of Celtic lilt to your music, too... "It's something I'm not embarrassed about," he retorts sharply. "People expect you to be embarrassed about it. They look at it, then accuse us of using it as formula. It's just as natural as some kid who grew up in Detroit using soul or rap. People should fucking back off and let me be myself!" Er, calm down, Stu, I wasn't criticizing you for it... "I know, I didn't mean it like that! But you know what I'm saying. I think there's some inherent racism in those statements." What about the album's weird title? "I came across the phrase as the title of a poem. I see it as a metaphor for the raping of the earth's resources. The phrase seemed to evoke something that was special in its time, but is now passing on. The efforts of Greenpeace and the Friends of the Earth are just a drop in the ocean compared with what governments could do if they were really concerned with it." A knock at the door tells us that it's time to start winding things up. As a parting shot I ask him if he's interested in the new wave of Sub Pop American punk acts like Nirvana and Mudhoney? "Yes, I am! Isn't it great seeing young guitar bands running around wearing check shirts. Haven't we seen that before somewhere?" Big Country hope to rekindle their career with "The Buffalo Skinners", their first LP for Compulsion. Note the absence of checked shirts - now an essential grunge fashion accessory! A new single "Alone", appears on 1st March, with "The Buffalo Skinners" following on 22nd. An accompanying tour starts on 18th March at London's Town and Country Club. |
