Search - Big Country :: Best of

Sinead M. (bookworm) from SAN JOSE, CA
Reviewed on 10/12/2006...

great collection of all their hits - relive the 80s !

This band should have been huge

John C. Adams | Alexandria Virginia | 10/18/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Big Country burst onto the music scene about the same time as fellow Isles rockers, U2. What is amazing after listening to this CD is that they didn't enjoy even slightly comparable sucess. The hard driving riffs and lyrical imagery of "Wonderland" is reminicant of U2's earliest work. Unlike U2, Big Country preserves more of the folk sounds of their native Scotland. "Harvest Home" roars; "Fields of Fire," another 80s US MTV hit, is one of the best on the CD; "In a Big Country" of course has the sounds that help define the brit pop new wave of the first half of the 1980s without the techno silliness of groups like Flock of Seagulls. As with many greatest hits CDs, some of the songs trail toward the end just as their careers did in the early 90s. To first time listeners, Big Country sounds like a cross between early U2, a bit of the Chieftans and maybe even a hint of the melodies and senisbilities of Dexy's Midnight Runners "Come on Eileen." In short, if you are looking for a good greatest hits CD that doesn't have the jumbled feel that many greatest hits CDs have, buy this one."

Great Music- Horrendous Remastering

John C. Adams | 02/19/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This album features some great music from an extraordinary band... Unfortunately it suffers from terrible remastering. Straying far from Big Country's trademark bass-heavy, echoey, drum-heavy mix (listen to the Crossing & Seer), the engineer on this reissue leans more for a brittle, clean, dry, highly treble sound that is altogether displeasing & far from Big Country's original vision. I recommend instead purchasing the reissue of "The Crossing" which has been masterfully remastered AND includes several stunning bonus tracks that date from Big Country's early & most prolific era!"