Big Country “The Crossing” « Cool Album of the Day

Big Country “The Crossing”

Posted 25 Apr 2011 in 80s, Albums of 1983, Albums of the 80s, New Wave, Power Pop, Rock + Roll

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#355 in the Series) is Big Country, The Crossing

One thing that I had a good knack of doing when I was young was to be able to listen to albums and predict which band would fail or do well. In my early days I felt I could have made a decent A &R guy. I’d have no chance with today’s music, but back in the day, I had a great ear for what would sell.

One that I completely missed on was Big Country! When I first heard this album I was sure that this was going to be a gigantic act. Big, big we’re talking!! When this was released we’d already been introduced to U2 via, Boy and October, in fact, I had seen them in an 800 seat club not much before this time. When The Crossing was released, I remember telling everyone that this was the band to keep an eye on. U2 was good, very good, but Big Country was the real deal.

Well, in a couple months from now, U2, 24 years later will be playing a sold out Soldier Field here in Chicago in front of 70,000 of their closest friends. I wonder where Big Country will be playing.

Now, let’s not sell Big Country anymore short than I just did. They still can be awfully proud of their career. Not every band is going to have U2’s success. There are a zillion bands that would trade their careers for Big Country’s in a heartbeat.

Most of my predication was made from the ‘kinda’ title cut, “In a Big Country.” This was one of those unique tracks that I loved the first time I heard it and decades later it hasn’t diminished in my standings at all! It still sounds great to me! “Fields of Fire” still sounds great too!!!

If you’re wondering, The Crossing peaked at #18 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. The follow ups peaked at 72, 59 and 160. The actually did better in their homeland. The first four albums peaked at 3, 1, 2 and 9.