vol 5 no 11, 26th May 1983
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Smash Hits vol 5 no 11, 26th May 1983 |
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| Page 1 · Page 3 · Page 16 · Page 19 · Page 20 · Page 40 · Pages 44 & 45 |
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Front Cover Features an early picture of Stuart holding a Yamaha SG2000. Other features - Kajagoogoo, New Edition, The Police, The Creatures, Paul Weller & Blancmange. |
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Contents page SONGS In A Big Country Big Country (page 45) FEATURES & COLOUR Big Country: Crop Music (pages 44/45) COMPETITIONS SMASH HITS VIRGIN VIDEOS Plus 50 Ronco Double-LPs (page 40) COMPETITION WINNERS: Who Won What (page 40) PLUS BITZ: Hot Chocolate, Modern Romance, Abba & More (pages 16/17) |
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Page 19 BITZ Whatever happened to former Skids person Richard Jobson? Come to that, where's ex-Visage and Magazine guitarist John McGeoch these days? Seems they're both in a new band called The Arnoury Show, and will soon be playing "a few select dates" around the nation. Imagine Top Of The Pops crossed with the Old Grey Whistle Test, and what do you get? You get Countdown, Australia's most important music programme. Recently they announced their annual awards for Australian music, and some familiar names cropped up among the winners. Iva Davies from Icehouse won the Most Popular Male Performer category while the Most Astounding Achievement award went to Men At Work. Meanwhile, just pipping ABC, Simple Minds and Madness past the post, Duran Duran scooped the Best International Act trophy. |
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Page 19 Full-page advert for "In A Big Country" In A Big Country & All of us New 7" Single Also available on 12" with extended version |
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Page 20 SINGLES reviewed by Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet BIG COUNTRY: In A Big Country (Phonogram) "Fields Of Fire" Part 2 but a new and improved version. Big Country live up to their name wih a more tuneful, folky piece of hardware. I particularly like the vocal harmony duet that goes through the whole song and of course the distinctive guitar of Stuart Adamson who, unashamedly, is bringing back 'The Riff'. |
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Page 40 COMPETITIONS The Smash Hits Virgin Video is a compilation of 15 of the finest videos made by Virgin Records artistes. There's TEN of these videos, they've been specially made up for us by Virgin Records, aren't for sale and can ONLY be won in this competition. And here's the track listing:- SIMPLE MINDS, "Promised You A Miracle", "Glittering Prize". |
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Pages 44 & 45 Two-page spread entitled "Country Life". Photo caption: Big Country in corny rural pose: (left-right) Stuart Adamson, Mark Brzezicki, Bruce Watson, Tony Butler. (Photo: Steve Rapport) In the words of Big Country, "there's nothing like a REAL band". Mark Steels tells a traditional tale of hope, optimism and rather a lot of checked shirts. The first time I heard "Fields Of Fire" in all its raging 12-inch glory was, somewhat surprisingly, at London's notorious pleasuredome, the Camden Palace. As the little hairs on my arms stirred to attention and the cockles of my heart warmed to the sight of a thousand bodies manically gyrating to this thundering anthem, I checked the list of ingredients: they included real drums, real bass and no less than two guitars. Not what you might call the recipe for Flavour Of The Month. "Technology," argues Big Country's drummer Mark Brzezicki, "just creates temporary trends. I remember when Anita Ward's 'Ring My Bell' came out in summer '79 and for a while afterwards every record had that boo...boo...boo syn-drum somewhere in it. Now everything goes bomp-tsh...bomp-tsh...bomp-tsh and people are already getting tired of that and you're starting to hear brrr...ts-ts-ts...brrr...ts-ts-ts. In a couple of months, they'll all sound like that. It's quite clever and all that but there's so much more you can do with acoustic drums." Bass player, Tony Butler agrees. "You don't fall into that 'flavour of the month' trap if you're playing traditional instruments. Mostly, synths are used as a means of copying real instruments - you know, 'wow, how to get a string sound' or 'yeah, a guitar sound'. Worse, though, it takes away the human element and it's that spirit which we've got which people can identify with." "You see," continues Mark, "there's nothing like a real band. Every time I listen to Yazoo - who I actually really like - I keep waiting for the band to come in. It's just like listening to a well-produced intro. Live, of course, it's even worse. I saw Soft Cell which seemed to consist of a singer, five amplifiers and some guy playing an ironing board for a synthesizer. When you see a 'show' like that, you wonder why they don't go all the way and have a show which is all tapes. You'd probably have more fun at a disco anyway!" Such comments, it must be noted, are not aimed with any malice at any of the electro-pop outfits but rather at the technology which, as they see it is taking the life and soul out of pop. "We always thought there was something missing in the charts - a bit of emotion if you like," says Mark. Tony names U2 and Stuart mentions the Fun Boy Three, Wham!, Culture Club, Dexys and The Style Council as bands Big Country particularly admire. Words like 'passion', 'emotion' and 'spirit' are always near the top of the list when talking about Big Country and even in the idyllic surroundings of the Manor studio in Shipton-on-Cherwell, where the band are recording their debut album, I half expect to see a battalion of Scots Dragoons come marauding over the hill every time producer Steve Lilllywhite plays back the first fruits of their labours. It's pretty awesome stuff. With half the band from the other side of the Hadrian's Wall, it's hardly surprising that Big Country should sound not only passionate but also distinctly Scottish. But Stuart Adamson sharpens his sword at such suggestions. "I get really mad every time someone says the guitars sound like bagpipes!" he laughs in mock anger. "Just because it's not like an American rock 'n' roll style of guitar playing, people immediately think of some ethnic British instrument to compare it with... 'it's the bagpipes!' Personally, I think it sounds more like the fiddle." So, they're not a Scottish U2 after all. More a Jock's Midnight Runners? "We're not even Scottish!" Stuart exclaims in his broadest Fifeshire accent. "Bruce was born in Carlisle and I was born in Manchester." Then, obviously feeling a rush of tartan blood to the head, he relents. "Oh, alright, we're not technically Scottish. I suppose the Scottish influences are there but they're not so much musical as emotional." Stuart claims he spent a long time after the demise of The Skids trying to find people who felt the same way about music as he did. "What brought us all together," says Tony, "was not that we all gloriously followed one band or one style of music" - he himself was an ardent supporter of Gensis and Yes - "but that we have a common attitude: we all believed that music should be to raise the spirits whether on record or live." It's the band's uplifting nature which Stuart belives is the reaon behind Big Country's success. "We like to make people feel important, give them hope and optimism... even if the lyrics are not always 'up'. Y'see, as far as I'm concerned, people who buy our records or come to our gigs are as much part of the group as us. Without them, there wouldn't be a Big Country. That's why you'll never find us shooting off after a show and playing the horrible pop star game. Just because I've been on television it doesn't make me a better person than the next man." Nevertheless he is a pop star - to some, even, an idol - and he's also something of an advert for checked shirt work-wear. "I don't think of myself as a pop star and nobody should ever be carried along by a media-created image of themselves. As for the clothes, I started wearing this gear because it was smart and hard wearing and if our fans feel that by dressing like us they 'belong' to Big Country then that's great. I'd much rather them be involved than roll up in jeans and t-shirts." When the album appears in the summer, it should showcase Stuart's songwriting talents to great effect. "A mixture of adventure stories and personal observations," he calls it. "It sounds a bit cheesy to say 'social comment'." Apart from the the three singles, "Harvest Home", "Fields OF Fire" and the just-released "In A Big Country", there's "Angle Park" which Stuart says "is about the feelings I have on Mental Institutions", "Close Action" ("about families who get split up because of work... working on oil rigs"), "The Crossing" ("an adventure story based on Victorian morals"), "lost Patrol" ("straight adventure, a Foreign Legion story") and "Heart And Soul" ("about the things that are important to you when you are young"). "I think," he says, summing up for the defence, "you've got to put music into perspective: sometimes it can seem like the most important thing in your life, especially after you've seen that group you really like; other times it doesn't mean a thing. I write to communicate but I don't think everyone will find my ideas important all of the time. Some will like Big Country because of the stirring sound. Others will just find us good to dance to. I think we'll affect different people in different ways. "For those reasons I don't think we could be categorised as simply 'Scottish Dance Music'." To the right of the article are the lyrics to "In A Big Country". |