Big Country

Why The Long Face cherry red

Four-CD round-up of band’s mid-90s low.

As with Elliott Smith, it’s hard not to see foreshadowing of Stuart Adamson’s suicide in his lyrics. It’s fairer to admire the themes of vulnerability and reassurance the singer brings to 1995’s Why The Long Face on the wry You Dreamer, I’m Not Ashamed and especially Take Me To The Moon, in which the singer hears a voice ‘I used to know’ on the radio as he drives through the night (maybe it’s the Adamson of those giant 80s hits). When that romanticism is matched by the yearning skirl of Big Country’s signature guitars, they still sound like contenders. With the rock mostly dialled down by Adamson’s introspection, the album began a steady slide.

Also included on this Deluxe Edition, 1996’s aptly titled live album Eclectic explores Big Country’s broad hinterland, and exposes their limitations. Amid numerous unlikely covers, a folkmotorik version of Eleanor Rigby is ballsy, if hardly an improvement. Among this album’s extras, a clanking, metallic cover of Neil Young’s Hey Hey My My and their comfort with Creedence’s Down On The Corner stand out. Demos and a raft of B-sides round up the sound of a good band starting to sink, but still waving, not drowning.