Stuart Adamson: In a Big Country Paperback – June 4, 2011

I don't see any point in contradicting the reviews of this book that have already been published here, because some of the observations are true. However, rather than focusing on what this book doesn't seem to offer (and for those of you clamoring to hear interviews with Stuart's widow(s), I am not among you), I was much more taken with what it does have. As an American who has been captivated by Stuart and his work since I was thirteen, I know that I loved the music - both Skids and Big Country - and was saddened that most fans on both sides of the Atlantic failed to hear or appreciate much beyond the products of early success. For just a few days more than a decade now, I have struggled with the man's passsing, but I have also been somewhat incredulous as to why the music didn't reach a bigger audience. I've made my peace with that, to some extent, with the solace that his music will always be here, and new fans are born every day.This book does chronicle a great deal, and much of it was new to me, despite nearly three decades of devotion to Big Country and the Skids. After listening to each of those albums countless times, it was especially helpful and gratifying to get perspective and context from Dunfermline natives such as Glen and Rankin. And if it's a reach to suggest that such insights have helped me to appreciate memorized music on a different level - if only a little - than it's a reach I feel comfortable making. As it happens, I never fully appreciated what a producer does for a record until I heard rough cuts from the Crossing before Steve Lillywhite began working with the band in the studio. And I will always be somewhat stunned by the notion that Big Country's most artistically valid album, Steeltown, is what ultimately doomed them to commercial failure. You don't have to be a genius to realize that Peter Wolf had no business producing a Big Country album. (Dave Bates, you hack.) I realized as much when I was seventeen. But when you read about why "Fragile Thing" wasn't allowed to chart, or why Radio 1 wouldn't play Big Country songs, you begin to understand just how frustrating Stuart's last few years must have been. Those are insights I needed from this book. And they are well presented.So thank you very much for that, Mr. Glen. I, for one am quite grateful, and a bit confused by all of these tough critics here at Amazon. They seem to have loved Stuart, and his music as well. But like many of us, wallowing in the absence of a true virtuoso, bard and artistic genius, they are perhaps hoping for a sense of closure that we may never get. Stay alive.

Glen Allen, writing without the aid of interviews with key players (withheld) has compiled a timeline and background that comp!are the picture for fans and Fringe observers of Big Country and Stuart Adamson. The impact on their contemporaries and those that followed is undeniable, and echoes of Stuart's lyrics and songwriting are still heard and felt today. I was moved as the anniversary of his death passed in 2022 by the number of people who continue to be devastated by his passing.Allen's discography and documentation in this biography tell a fascinating take in themselves. For reference material it can't be beat.

I liked that the book covered the time that Stuart Adamson was with the Skids & then Big Country. The music was well documented as were the recording sessions, venues played & tours. As a fan of Big Country, I liked the author's perspective of this story from a fan himself & contemporary of Stuart Adamson. I would recommend this book to any Big Country fan.

Having not discovered Big Country until 2010, I'm a fairly new fan but passionate about learning more about the band and the Man. There's so little (easily accessible)information about Stuart himself (although "Big Country Info" (Website) is a phenomenal resource about the band). So after stepping into the picture 30 years later, I'm grateful that there is a book to help fans understand the sometimes beautifully simple other times complex personality of Stuart Adamson. The incredible amount of detail and name-throwing in this book can make a dizzying read sometimes, but much like Stuart's music, there are treasures here waiting to be found. Although I feel it's just the tip of the iceberg of Stuart's Story, I thank the author for taking the time create what is probably the best widely-available and complete resource about Stuart. It's certainly worth the read for any Stuart Adamson fan and is better than the alternative book from the band, which sadly does not exist at this time.

Although a very elaborately detailed account of the inner workings of the music industry as it pertained to Big Country's history as a group, I found Allan Glen's book far from cathartic. It seems that the author does not have access to the necessary details of Adamson's life that would help the reader better understand him and perhaps provide the listener with a deeper understanding of his music. I believe the only worthwhile biography will have to be written with the full participation and consent of the remaining band members and Adamson's family. That said, I am grateful to Glen for having attempted to honor Adamson by making a history that involves pieces of his life history more widely available to people across the globe.

I was listening to the radio the other day when "In A Big Country" came on.I had forgotten how much positive and happy energy that song had given me during my teenage years and found myself being called back to listening to all their albums I had. They were truly the most honest and brilliant band of the times in never selling out who they were at heart. I am so glad this book was written and wish I had only discovered it sooner. Big Country will always live in my heart and soul for forever trying to unite the world and humanity as one,something that was much needed then and is definitely needed now more than ever. Thank you Allen for this book and helping people understand Stuart in such a beautiful way.

As someone who became very late a fan of Big Country (in the late eighties and early nineties of the last century) I was always focused on the music less on the person behind. I love the music of Big Country and had luck to see the Band with Stuart Adamson in the mit nineties. Last year I saw Bruce Watson playing with Big Country in Germany in a small hall. It was a great show but different than with Adamson.As such this book provides a great insight to the musician Stuart Adamson and his career.

I'm still reading the book but the story it's amazing. It was a great lost!He was the best! RIP!

Ok. Your money would be better spent on some classic Big Country CDs instead.

I think Allan Glen has done about as good a job as he could with the material at his disposal, so I give it 5 stars despite the gaps. He's definitely a fan of Stuart Adamson's work, but manages to stay reasonably objective and avoids the trap of gushing hero worship. The fact that he covers Stuart's end in a factual manner and doesn't resort to unhelpful speculation was a relief and surely the right way to do it. I found the book easy to read and certainly learnt a lot about Stuart.However there are some big gaps. Pretty much all the main people in Stuart's life declined to contribute to this biography and in many cases that must have been because of an entirely understandable desire for privacy. Unfortunately it does mean that you don't get to know the real man, he's tantalisingly close, but always out of reach. It's a pity because with more material I think Allan Glen could have written the definitive biography and the sort of book which would have been a fitting tribute to the talents of Stuart Adamson.There's a quote in the book where Stuart says he can't see himself still performing Fields of Fire when he's 35. A part of me thinks (wishes?) that if he had managed to survive the demons that affected him he'd be with us now and performing new stuff certainly, but also comfortable playing old stuff like Fields of Fire because they were great songs and he was proud of them.

I remember reading an interview with Stuart Adamson around the time the 'Buffalo skinners' was released where he bemoaned the fact that his desire to make music was constantly at odds with management decisions that affected the band directly. That pretty much sums up this very thoughtful biography! What comes across is a man who was at odds with his profession. Stuart loved performing but wanted to shun the spotlight the rest of the time. Band mate Bruce Watson sums it up succinctly in that for Stuart it was all about the music, but once the show was over you always got the feeling he wanted to be somewhere else. As such, this biography makes interesting reading as it charts the early success of The Skids (where Stuart's issues with the business side of the music industry are high-lighted with him nearly leaving the band before the first album was released)and then Big Country. This is followed by the completely undeserved (in this writer's opinion) decline of the band and the pressure of management decisions on them throughout their career. What stops it from being a five-star review is that it lacks detail in significant places of the band's history. For example, 'No place like home' is dispatched with very quickly as a disappointing album, yet anyone who read the sleeve notes that were included in that CD would realise that Stuart saw this as a new beginning for the band (even if it turned out to be a failure in the long run commercially). The breakup of Stuart's first marriage is dealt with almost in passing as well is his desire to stop drinking in 1985 (his alcohol problems have been well documented) as is his presumably taking to the bottle again at some later date (when is not clear)! However, although these are significant gaps in Stuart's history the book does succeed in giving a picture of a man who was an idealist when it came to music which very much found its focus with the members of Big Country, but rather sadly was never fully recognised by the music buying public in general or had the ability to flourish due to the business side of the industry!