ALBUM REVIEW: Big Country – Driving To Damascus Deluxe Edition (Cherry Red Records)
Driving To Damascus, originally released back in 1999, was Big Country’s eighth and final album with singer-guitarist Stuart Adamson.
He formed the band in 1981 after leaving Scottish punks Skids, and they enjoyed huge success in the UK, where they had four Top 10 albums, as well as in the US.
Like the previous seven albums, Driving To Damascus features the classic line-up of Adamson, Bruce Watson (guitar), Tony Butler (bass) and Mark Brzezicki (drums).
Cult status
By the time it came out their most successful days were behind them, but DTD has long enjoyed cult status among the Big Country faithful – and there are plenty of them.
I loved Big Country back in the day, but my attention had waned by the time DTD was released. I knew the singles Fragile Thing (featuring Fairground Attraction’s Eddi Reader as guest vocalist) and See You/Perfect World, but never heard the album (which wasn’t as easy as it is in these days of streaming services).
24 years later I’ve finally got round to it, and am happy to find it holds up well, but the singles are by no means the best songs on it. For me, Dive Into Me and Somebody Else, the single co-written with Ray Davies of The Kinks, were the standouts as I listened to it for the first time, and repeat plays haven’t changed my opinion.
The big guitar sound which they produced from The Buffalo Skinners album onwards remains present and correct in places, but there’s a definite shift in songwriting style towards the alt-country Adamson explored on his side project, The Raphaels.
Disc one is the original album, plus six songs from the live-in-the-studio Nashville Sessions, which include great versions of classics Chance and Look Away, as well as DTD tracks.
Hidden treasures
On disc two are B-sides and alternate mixes used on the US version of the album (retitled John Wayne’s Dream), which will be of interest to diehard fans and completists, if few others. But CD3 and CD4 more than make up for that; it’s like finding a treasure trove of undiscovered riches.
Most of these tracks were only to be found on the now-pricey Rarities VII 2CD released by Track Records almost 20 years ago, a couple were only available as downloads from www.bigcountry.co.uk, while another, Second Time Around, is previously unreleased.
Yes, there’s some repetition over the course of 4 CDs – and surely even the most ardent fan doesn’t need five versions of Fragile Thing and four of the title track, Dive Into Me and Perfect World.
But anyone who liked Supernatural, Adamson’s sole release with alt-country side project The Raphaels, will find lots to enjoy here, with songs like Birmingham, Cimarron, Medicine Show and Without Wings standing out from the pack.
Much of the material is as far removed from the early bagpipe-like guitars bluster as you can get, but it shows there was plenty left in the tank, even if Big Country were moving in a different direction – having their own Damascene moment, if you like.
It would have been interesting to see where they headed next, but sadly it was not to be, as Adamson took his own life in December 2001. Driving To Damascus stands as a fine epitaph to his talent. 8/10.
