The Crossing (Big Country album)

For other uses, see The Crossing (disambiguation) § Music.
The Crossing
Studio album by
Big Country
Released 29 July 1983
Recorded January, May 1983
Studio The Manor (Oxfordshire)
RAK (London)
Genre
Length 48:24
Label Mercury
Producer Steve Lillywhite
Big Country chronology
The Crossing
(1983) 		Steeltown
(1984)
Singles from The Crossing
  1. "Harvest Home"
    Released: 17 September 1982
  2. "Fields of Fire"
    Released: 18 February 1983
  3. "In a Big Country"
    Released: 20 May 1983
  4. "Chance"
    Released: 26 August 1983

The Crossing is the debut album released by Scottish band Big Country in July 1983. The album reached #3 in the UK; overseas, it hit #4 in Canada on the RPM national Top Albums Chart and #18 in the US on the Billboard 200 in 1983. It went on to be certified platinum in the UK and Canada. It contains the song "In a Big Country" which is their only U.S. Top 40 hit single.

Background

In May 1982, Big Country signed a recording contract with Phonogram and soon began recording what was supposed to be their debut album with producer Chris Thomas. However, the entire recording session would eventually be scrapped when Big Country felt Thomas wasn't fully committing to the band due to other production commitments. Three songs were salvaged from the sessions – "Harvest Home", "Balcony" and "Flag of Nations (Swimming)" – and released as the "Harvest Home" single in September 1982 through Phonogram's imprint Mercury Records, reaching #91 in the UK Singles Chart.

With new producer Steve Lillywhite, the band recorded the single "Fields of Fire" in early 1983, which became a UK Top Ten hit. In May, on the back of the single's success, Lillywhite and the band proceeded to record The Crossing, which would include a re-recorded "Harvest Home".

Stuart Adamson and fellow guitarist Bruce Watson used the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 effect pedal to create a guitar sound reminiscent of bagpipes. Also contributing to the band's unique sound was their use of the e-bow, a hand-held device which, through the use of magnets, causes the strings of an electric guitar to vibrate producing a soft attack which sounds more like strings or synthesizer.

The album has been remastered and reissued on three occasions. The latest version released by Universal in 2012 in advance of the album's 30th anniversary includes a second disc of previously unissued demos. Also included in the set are tracks produced by Chris Thomas from the first abortive attempt to record the band's debut album. The demos include the earliest recordings done by Adamson and Watson, some of which were recorded on four-track prior to recruiting either a drummer or bassist for the band.

The set also includes a booklet with interviews (new in the case of the current band members and archived in the case of the late Stuart Adamson) by the journalist and author Tim Barr. Lyrics for all of the key songs are also included, and the album has been remastered by Paschal Byrne from the original master tapes. In total, ten previously unreleased tracks were included in the deluxe, digitally remastered edition.

Music and Lyrics

The songs on The Crossing deal with topics including loss ("Inwards," "Chance"), separation ("Close Action"), dehumanization ("Lost Patrol"), and the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion ("The Storm"). Many of the songs are characterized by Mark Brzezicki's highly-compressed drums and the heavily effects-treated, layered guitars of Adamson and Watson. The music often demonstrates a clear influence of Scottish traditional music, particularly obvious in the pipe-band rhythms of "In a Big Country" and "Fields of Fire" and the swirling, Gaelic guitar intro to "The Storm." This caused the band to be categorized as a Celtic rock band, which sometimes led to unfavorable comparisons with other bands such as Thin Lizzy.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Classic Rock 10/10
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Q
Record Mirror
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Smash Hits 4/10
The Village Voice B

Critic Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone gave the album a glowing review, writing:

Here's a big-noise guitar band from Britain that blows the knobs off all the synth-pop diddlers and fake-funk frauds who are cluttering up the charts these days. Big Country mops up the fops with an air-raid guitar sound that's unlike anything else around, anywhere ... Like the Irish band U2 (with whom they share young, guitar-wise producer Steve Lillywhite), Big Country has no use for synthesizers, and their extraordinary twin-guitar sound should make The Crossing a must-own item for rock die-hards.

Track listings

All songs written by Stuart Adamson, Mark Brzezicki, Tony Butler, and Bruce Watson, except as indicated. On the US vinyl LP, the songs "1000 Stars" and "Fields of Fire" are in reversed order. The US CD release keeps the same order as below.

Side one
  1. "In a Big Country" – 4:44
  2. "Inwards" – 4:36
  3. "Chance" – 4:26
  4. "1000 Stars" – 3:50
  5. "The Storm" – 6:19
Side two
  1. "Harvest Home" – 4:19
  2. "Lost Patrol" – 4:52
  3. "Close Action" – 4:15
  4. "Fields of Fire (400 Miles)" – 3:31
  5. "Porrohman" – 7:52
Additional tracks (cassette release)
  1. "Angle Park" (Adamson, Watson) – 4:08
  2. "Fields of Fire (400 Miles)" (Alternative Mix) (listed as '12" Mix') – 5:19
  3. "Heart and Soul" – 5:13
  4. "In a Big Country" (Pure Mix) (listed as '12" Mix') – 6:19

Wonderland EP (US, 1984)

  1. "Wonderland" – 3:56
  2. "All Fall Together" – 5:05
  3. "Angle Park" (Adamson, Watson) – 4:07
  4. "The Crossing" – 7:04

Wonderland EP (Canada, 1984)

  1. "Wonderland" – 3:58
  2. "Angle Park" (Adamson, Watson) – 4:08
  3. "All Fall Together" – 5:16
  4. "Chance" (Extended Re-Mix) – 6:10
  5. "Heart and Soul" – 5:13
  6. "The Crossing" – 7:10

Wonderland EP (US only, 2002)

Wonderland EP cover
  1. "Wonderland" – 3:58
  2. "All Fall Together" (Jimmy Iovine remix) – 5:16
  3. "Angle Park" (Adamson, Watson) – 4:08
  4. "The Crossing" – 7:10
  5. "Chance" (re-recorded single version) – 4:37

1996 re-issue bonus tracks

  1. "Angle Park" (Adamson, Watson) – 4:08
  2. "All of Us" – 4:09
  3. "The Crossing" – 7:09
  4. "Heart and Soul" – 4:33 (This version fades out earlier than the version on the 1983 cassette release)

2012 30th anniversary deluxe edition

Disc 1 (bonus tracks)
  1. "Balcony" (Adamson, Watson) (B-side of "Harvest Home") – 3:55
  2. "Flag of Nations (Swimming)" (Adamson, Watson) (B-side of "Harvest Home" 12")
  3. "Angle Park" (Adamson, Watson) (B-side of "Fields of Fire")
  4. "All of Us" (B-side of "In a Big Country")
  5. "Heart and Soul" (B-side of "In a Big Country" 12")
  6. "The Crossing" (B-side of "Chance" 12")
  7. "Tracks of My Tears" (live) (Smokey Robinson, Warren Moore, Marvin Tarplin) (B-side of "Chance")
Disc 2
  1. "Angle Park" (4-track demo, 1981) (Adamson, Watson) *
  2. "Harvest Home" (4-track demo, 1981)*
  3. "We Could Laugh" (4-track demo, 1981) (Adamson, Watson)*
  4. "In a Big Country" (demo, 1983)
  5. "The Storm" (demo, 1983)
  6. "Big City" (demo, 1983)
  7. "Fields of Fire" (Riverside, BBC TV, 1983)*
  8. "Lost Patrol" (demo, May 1982)*
  9. "Inwards" (demo, May 1982)*
  10. "1000 Stars" (Chris Thomas sessions, June 1982)*
  11. "Lost Patrol" (Chris Thomas sessions, June 1982)*
  12. "Inwards" (Chris Thomas sessions, June 1982)*
  13. "Close Action" (Chris Thomas sessions, June 1982)*
  14. "Fields of Fire" (demo, September 1982)
  15. "1000 Stars" (demo, September 1982)
  16. "Ring Out Bells" (demo, September 1982)
  17. "Chance" (demo, September 1982)

Personnel

Big Country

with:

  • Christine Beveridge – additional vocals
Technical
  • Steve Lillywhite – producer
  • Will Gosling – engineer
  • Steve Chase – assistant engineer
  • Mike Nocito – assistant engineer
  • Julian Balme – sleeve
  • Paul Cox – photography

Production notes for deluxe edition bonus tracks

Disc 1
  • Tracks 11-13 and 15 recorded in June 1982 at AIR Studios, London. Tracks 11, 12 and 15 produced by Chris Thomas, engineered by Bill Price; track 13 produced by Steve Churchyard and Big Country.
  • Track 14 produced by Steve Lillywhite, Will Gosling and Big Country.
  • Tracks 16 and 17 produced by Steve Lillywhite; track 17 recorded live on 4 July 1983 at Locarno Tiffany’s in Glasgow.
Disc 2
  • Track 7 recorded at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, for BBC2's Riverside; broadcast on 17 January 1983.
  • Tracks 8 and 9 recorded by John Brandt in May 1982 at Phonogram Studio.
  • Tracks marked with an asterisk (*) are previously unreleased.
  • Tracks 4-6 and 14-17 were previously released on Rarities IV, 2003.

Chart performance

Album

Chart (1983) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart 21
Canadian Albums Chart 4
Dutch Albums Chart 11
New Zealand Albums Chart 8
Swedish Albums Chart 17
UK Albums Chart 3
U.S. Billboard 200 18

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1982 Harvest Home UK Singles Chart 91
1983 Fields of Fire UK Singles Chart 10
1983 In a Big Country Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play 37
1983 In a Big Country Billboard Mainstream Rock 3
1983 In a Big Country Billboard Hot 100 17
1983 In a Big Country RPM 50 Singles (Canada) 3
1983 In a Big Country UK Singles Chart 17
1983 Chance UK Singles Chart 9
1984 Fields of Fire Billboard Hot 100 52

Certifications

Organization Level Date
BPI – UK Gold 15 September 1983
CRIA – Canada Gold 1 November 1983
CRIA – Canada Platinum 1 December 1983
RIAA – USA Gold 19 January 1984
BPI – UK Platinum 9 February 1984