Country Redux Eastworld

Tracks: Kiss The Girl, Goodbye, What About Peace, The Hostage Speaks, Never Take Your Place, Troubled Man, God's Great Mistake (Part 1), Normal, Winter Sky, Eastworld, Pan American Irish Girl

Label: Absolute

Twenty-five years on from Stuart Adamson’s death, Big Country returns in a new guise: Big Country Redux. The name is an appropriately reflective one for Eastworld, a ten-track collection that reaches back into the band’s archives to resurrect songs Adamson wrote or co-wrote with Bruce Watson and former bassist Tony Butler. Some will be familiar to long-standing fans through live performances, demos and lesser-known releases; others have spent decades waiting for the treatment they receive here.

For Bruce Watson, the album represents something akin to musical excavation. These are not simply old recordings dusted off and repackaged, but newly constructed studio performances, fleshed out by the current line-up and given arrangements designed to place them firmly within the Big Country tradition. The result certainly sounds like Big Country: ringing guitars, muscular rhythms, sweeping melodies and that unmistakable Celtic-inflected guitar character remain firmly intact.

There is, however, an unavoidable absence at the centre of the record. Adamson's voice was inseparable from the band's identity, capable of sounding simultaneously defiant, weather-beaten and vulnerable. Tommie Paxton makes a committed contribution and handles the material with considerable energy, but there are moments when the performances underline just how distinctive Adamson was rather than disguising his absence. The production occasionally compounds this, particularly across the opening run, where the arrangements come at the listener with such force that some of the songs struggle to find room to breathe. A little more restraint might have allowed the songwriting itself to make a stronger impression.

When Eastworld relaxes, though, its strengths become considerably more apparent. Winter Sky is given an expansive new treatment, with accordion and additional instrumentation transforming what was once a much leaner, Celtic-flavoured piece. The involvement of Simple Minds' Mick MacNeil adds another welcome connection to the band's musical history. Kiss the Girl Goodbye and The Hostage Speaks provide the sort of driving, guitar-led momentum that will immediately resonate with anyone who grew up with Big Country's classic material.

The title track is one of the album's most convincing reconstructions. Its broad melodic sweep and underlying sense of urgency feel entirely at home in the band's catalogue, while the darker passage in the middle gives the arrangement some welcome dramatic tension. Troubled Man takes a different route, finding Adamson's songwriting in a more reflective and sombre setting. Guest vocals from Belly and Lorna of Pistol Daisies add another dimension to the song, and the contrast between the voices helps bring out the melancholy lurking beneath the arrangement.

Elsewhere, God's Great Mistake (Part 1) supplies plenty of forward momentum, while Normal and closing track Pan-American Irish Girl demonstrate the value of looking beyond the obvious material. These songs may not have the immediate familiarity of Big Country's better-known work, but their inclusion makes Eastworld feel more like an attempt to complete an unfinished chapter than simply another exercise in nostalgia.

That is ultimately both the album's appeal and its limitation. There is genuine affection here, and the performances are clearly made with respect for Adamson's writing and the band's musical heritage. Hearing these compositions finally receive full studio arrangements is rewarding, particularly for fans who have known some of them in incomplete or unofficial forms for years.

Yet Eastworld rarely possesses the sheer impact of Big Country's finest records. The melodies and musical signatures are present, but the particular chemistry that made the classic line-up so compelling cannot be reconstructed simply by returning to the songs. Adamson's death left a space that no singer, guitarist or production technique can truly fill, and Eastworld is at its best when it acknowledges that rather than attempting to overcome it.

As a result, this is a bittersweet record. It is a celebration of songs that might otherwise have remained buried, a heartfelt continuation of Bruce Watson's connection with the music, and a fascinating glimpse into another corner of Adamson's songwriting. It does not quite recreate the force of Big Country at their peak, but that was never going to be an easy task.

Instead, Eastworld works as an affectionate postscript: ten songs rescued from the margins and given a new life a quarter of a century after their principal author was lost. For devoted Big Country followers, there is considerable pleasure in finally hearing these pieces completed. For everyone else, it is a solid and spirited record that carries the unmistakable sound of the band, while inevitably reminding us of the extraordinary voice and personality missing from its centre.