Big Country: At Rockpalast – Live In Concert

Elly Roberts reviews

Big Country: At Rockpalast – Live In ConcertDistributed by
WDR through Wienerworld

• Cat.no: WNRD2355
• Released: January 2006
• Format: 2*DVD 9
• Rating: 4/10 (Disc 1), 8/10 (Disc 2)
• Running time: 85 minutes (Disc 1), 112 mins (Disc 2)
• Region: 2, PAL
• Fullscreen: 4:3
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 / Stereo 2.0
• Classification: E (Exempt)
• Languages: English & German
• Retail price: £17.99

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For the first time ever on DVD,come two Big Country concerts from Essen andBonn in Germany. Disc 1, Essen 1986, shows Scotland’s very own quartetstorming the Rockpalast with their inimitable fusion of punk and janglyguitar work.

Frontman Stuart Adamson born in Manchester in 1958 formed theband in Dunfermline in 1982 after the demise of the Skids in 1980. He tookBig Country on a 16 year journey of 23 top 100 hits. Despite their hugepopularity, the highest they peaked in the UK, was no.7 with Look Away in’86. They did score a chart-topper with album Steeltown in ’84.

Garbed in a silver suit, the easy-going Adamson charmed the pants off thefans. His often faltering voice was overshadowed by their trademarkbagpipe-like sound, pioneered by guitarist Bruce Watson, which, by thelatter ‘80s had lost its appeal.

Rolling out 8 singles and numerous albumtracks, it includes a preview of forthcoming anthemic single Look Away,their biggest hit. When they reach song 9, the crowd has effectively takencontrol – stomping and clapping prefix their most sublime song, Chance, fromthree years earlier.

In A Big Country, proves to be another crowd pleaser as the jangly guitarsgo into overdrive. The formulaic portfolio ends with a lacklustre cover ofSmokey Robinson’s Tracks Of My Tears.

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Six years later promoting new album No Place Like Home which failed toimpress, Disc 2, catches them in Bonn. Adamson, now donning black leatherpants, quaffed hair and sideburns, opens with a very different sound poweredby a smooth synth-player and rockier edge on We’re Not In Kansas. Soonadopting familiar territory, though not an obvious template, Look Away istransformed into a funkier rendition.

Republican Party Reptile, an out –and- out rocker, complete with bottle neckintro (a la Jimmy Page/Led Zep on In My Time Of Dying) shows an addeddimension to their new found repertoire.

We still get a mixed bag of hits, with a request type interlude whereThirteen Valleys wins hands down. An encore brought the rockers in them – apulsating cover of Muddy Waters’ Mannish Boy, impressively signing – offwith Neil Young’s Rockin’ In A Free World. By this time they had evolved intoa more polished act that took them right to the end in 1999. Suffering fromalcohol depression, Adamson left his hometown of Nashville. He was founddead in a hotel room in Hawaii, 2001.

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The full list of tracks included are :

Disc 1: Grugahalle Essen, 15 March 1986

1. Wonderland
2. Fields Of Fire
3. Where The Rose Is Sown
4. Rain Dance
5. Remembrance Day
6. Just A Shadow
7. Steeltown
8. Look Away
9. Chance
10. The Teacher
11. In A Big Country
12. Inwards
13. Harvest Home
14. The Storm
15. Lost Patrol
16. Track Of My Tears

Disc 2: Biskuithalle Bonn, 6 September 1991

1. We’re Not In Kansas
2. King Of Emotion
3. Look Away
4. Republican Party Reptile
5. Beautiful People
6. Winter Sky
7. Broken Heart (Thirteen Valleys)
8. Wonderland
9. Ships (Where Were You)
10. In A Big Country
11. Leap Of Faith
12. Chance
13. Peace In Our Time
14. Fields Of Fire
15. Mannish Boy
16. Rockin’ In Free World

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