Review: Big Country "The Buffalo Skinners"

I rescued this CD from the bargain bin at a local store, thinking it might be a rare find. I recognized the name of the band as the one who did the hit song by the same name.

The CD turned out not to be rare or of monetary value, but - whoa! It is INCREDIBLE. "The Buffalo Skinners" was released in 1993, and I was expecting to hear more songs that had that Duran Duran sound, much like their one big hit. But I got an education...Big Country is no Duran Duran on this record, but a monster power house of rock with intelligent lyrics, sizzling guitar, driving melodies, and huge hooks. It just goes to prove...even when you think you know it all about music, there is always someone out there who'll surprise you.

The first 5 tracks just bite right into your neck and shake you around like a rag doll. They bounce back with "We're Not in Kansas" and "Ships" and then the rest of the disc, while still great, doesn't quite have the holding power of the first two thirds. Amazing stuff, and the lead singer Stuart Anderson is brilliant. There is such an urgent passion in his art and I am bewildered this CD has not a huge hit. Big Country reminds me of another Scottish band called Gun, but they are even more melodic and powerful at times. They seamless fuse a hint of traditional sounding Scottish music and sounds in their tunes to great effect (check out "All Go Together"). And as Mike Myers has taught us, if it's not Scottish...

These are epic songs, many of which clock in somewhere between 5-7 minutes, but they are so good you don't even notice how much time has passed. It is very hard to pick a favorite, but I think I'd go for "The One I Love" (not a cover of R.E.M. ). It is probably one of the most insightful songs about aging relationships ever written.

Doing some research on the band, I was heartbroken to read that Stuart Anderson committed suicide in 2001. A true talent has been lost, no thanks to a business that seems engineered to disallow talent like this to shine. The silver lining is that Big Country has an extensive discography with which I look forward to becoming very familiar.

Big Country at MySpace. Official site.

iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12

Check out the video for "Ships"
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